construction with help from Jack Fleming. Egan mar- veled at the site’s “remark- able seascape,” prompting local reporters to refer to the course as “a second St. Andrews.” Everyone associ- ated with the project fully intended it to become “the finest municipal golf course in America.” When the course opened
for play on April 16, 1932, newspaper reports hailed the course as nothing less than a patch of Scotland trans- planted to the Pacific Shore: “A seaside municipal course of outstanding character akin to those of the English and Scottish coasts.” Urban legend long had it
that portions of the original course were washed away in the 1930s by powerful winter storms. But in fact,
Sharp Park’s beauty
on full display
PHOTO: GEOFF SHACKELFORD
the course weathered the storms until 1941, when the original strand holes (Nos. 3 and 7) were replaced by an unreinforced sea wall, three other holes were abandoned and four excellent substi- tute holes were built east of Highway One by Jack Fleming, who by then had become San Francisco’s supervisor of golf.
Sharp Park Today
In 2010, twelve of Sharp
Park’s current 18 holes are MacKenzie originals, and an additional two holes lie in original fairways, but without original greens. From championship tees, the par-72 course plays a modest 6494 yards. In its 78 years, the course has seen trees mature, traps grassed- in, a stream or two filled
in, and endured decades of deferred maintenance. Nev- ertheless, its classic routing, great beauty, and landscape architecture endure, with Monterey Cypress framing picturesque views of the hills and headlands surrounding the low-lying links. Over the last few years, the course has been threat- ened by political controversy. Though located in Pacifica, the course is part of a 400- acre park owned by San Francisco. And San Fran- cisco politics are complex. Culminating a six-month scientific study and three months of contentious public hearings and de- bate, in December, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Commission approved a plan to save Sharp Park as part of a larger project to re-
store habitat for the endan- gered San Francisco Garter Snake and California Red- legged Frog in and around the ponds at the western end of the golf course. This was the third San Francisco golf study since 2007 to recommend keeping the golf course open. The third study came
as the result of a unani- mous April 2009 Board of Supervisors resolution to study possible closure of the golf course. That resolution came about after the Center for Biological Diversity (“CBD”), a Tucson-based organization that specializes in Endangered Species Act litigation, threatened to sue San Francisco over alleged frog and snake kills at the golf course.
00 NCGA Golf SPRING 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80