Over 150 Years of Fostering Amateur Athletics in a Spirit of Close Harmony
In
1918, the Club assumed control of the operations of the financially
distressed Lakeside Golf Club, thus gaining the 18-hole golf course
designed by Wilfred Reid. By 1922, the Club purchased enough acreage
to replace the original golf course with two 18-hole golf courses, as
well as build a new clubhouse. The Lakeside clubhouse, designed by
famed architect Arthur Brown, Jr. (who also designed the San Francisco
City Hall) opened in 1925. Willie Watson designed and Superintendent
Sam Whiting constructed the first Ocean (Pacific Links) and Lake Courses
in 1924. Due to storms during the winter of 1925/1926, the second Lake
Course (today’s) and Ocean course were designed by Sam Whiting and
opened in 1927.
The
Club built a tennis complex in 1936, which opened with an exhibition by
tennis stars of the day Don Budge, Gene Mako, Helen Wills Moody and
Alice Marble. The Club hosted a Davis Cup event the following year when
the US team defeated Japan. Over the years, the tennis facility expanded
to include six hard and two clay courts.
Lakeside
went through several major renovations to modernize and upgrade the
facilities. A new 9-hole par 3 Cliffs Course overlooking the Pacific
Ocean was added in 1994. The Ocean Course went through a few
renovations, but a new, fresh course, designed by Tom Wieskopf, opened
in 2000. The Club completed the latest Lake Course renovation in 2009,
which featured the creation of a new 8th hole and bent-grass surfaces on
all the putting greens. The Lakeside Clubhouse itself was extensively
updated in 1995.
In
1955, the Club had the honor of hosting its first U.S. Open. Robert
Trent Jones, the USGA golf course architect, arrived prior to the US
Open to prepare the Lake Course, which included lengthening it, altering
par on several holes and adding a fairway bunker to #6. The 1955 Open
came down to a playoff between Jack Fleck and Ben Hogan; Fleck, an
unknown golf professional, took the championship over Hogan, already a
legendary golf figure. When Billy Casper won over Arnold Palmer at the
1966 US Open, the Lake cemented its reputation as a host of upsets and
“a graveyard of great golfers.” The course lived up to its reputation in
both 1987 and 1998, when Scott Simpson won the 1987 Open over Tom
Watson and Lee Janzen won over Payne Stewart in 1998. We are currently
preparing to host our fifth US Open in June 2012.
However,
the Club remains much more than just a country club. Among many other
recent accomplishments in recent years, members have brought home
Olympic medals, international water polo titles, Masters swimming
records and built a national competitive basketball program. In a
growing variety of ways, Olympians of all ages continue to build
memories with their families and friends at the Club.
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