The Bay Area's Oldest
How many golf courses in the expanded San Francisco Bay area were built in the 19th Century? That’s in the 1800’s, if you’d rather not try and figure out what years belong to what centuries, like me.
The number is eight! There are eight great monuments to golf that were in play in 1800’s in the expanded Bay Area. Wrap your mind around teeing it up with your work buddies at say, Mare Island Golf Club, in 1892.
Mare Island and Aetna Springs GC in Pope Valley both began play in 1892. A year later, Burlingame CC joined the lineup. 1895 saw the emergence of two very important golf venues in the San Francisco area. Presidio GC, and the esteemed San Francisco GC were “born” that year.
Two years later, in 1897, Del Monte GC made its debut, as did Claremont CC in Oakland. The immortal Alister MacKenzie designed Claremont, and went on to create a magnificent portfolio of courses in the Bay Area including Cypress Point, Pasatiempo, Sharp Park, Green Hills in Millbrae, and Meadow Club in Fairfax.
The youngest of the 19th Century courses is San Jose CC which was established in 1899. It completes the “elite eight.”
It’s quite incredible to think that we have these wonderful and historic golf courses in our “backyard.” I have had the pleasure to play a number of them. They are indeed special and worthy of our respect. They got golf started in the Bay Area.
