Located at intervals a parkland, San Francisco’s presidio golf links is famous for its spectacular forest setting, further as its difficult play. Once restricted to military officers and personal club members, nowadays the 18-hole course is receptive the general public. Presidio G.C. offers a full service building, a golf range and follow facility, and a souvenir winning golf shop that provides the most recent in golf equipment and apparel. fort golf course could be a contributive feature of the Presidio’s National Historic Landmark standing. it’s additionally notable for its environmentally sensitive management practices.
HISTORY
One of the oldest courses on the West Coast, the Presidio golf links encompasses a storied history. it absolutely was inbuilt 1895 once commissioned military officer William M. Graham, the Presidio’s commander at the time, allowed a bunch of businessmen referred to as the point of entry Golf and order to make a nine-hole course inside the post. Greens fees were simply 50 cents.The Presidio’s signature trees were initially absent, since the massive stands of eucalyptus and Pinus radiata had not big in. The founders hoped for a fast enlargement, that the military failed to at once approve. several of the initial members therefore left the fortress for a brand new course close to Lake Merced. the rest shaped the personal Presidio Golf Club (PGC), whose members were allowed an equivalent “courtesies and privileges” that officers enjoyed.
Although nobody is aware of surely what these privileges were, it’s clear the link was amiable. The course was ultimately dilated to a full eighteen holes in 1910. typically the course was referred to as into service for non-recreational functions. President Roosevelt reviewed the troops on the links in might 1903. 3 years later, the course was used as a shelter for survivors of the 1906 earthquake. a happening in 1912 vulnerable to destroy golf within the Presidio.
Reportedly, a military officer ordered 2 civilians off the inexperienced as a result of they weren’t members of the PGC. The quarrel resulted in orders that forbade golf on the presidio. Representative Julius Khan and Secretary of the inside Franklin K. Lane interceded on the PGC’s behalf, and therefore the Army eventually relented. In 1913, the PGC took responsibility for course maintenance and management. Dues collected from each the PGC and therefore the United Service Golf Club, whose members consisted of commissioned officers of varied branches of the military, helped to fund the whole price of operation.
The club continued to grow, and then did the course. In 1920, the London golf discipline firm of Fowler & Simpson enlarged the course and put in a watering system. Thousands a lot of trees were planted on the course within the 1930s once the Works Progress Administration designed a tree nursery within the presidio. In 1956, the requirement arose for an automatic system that will price $100,000. the military funded the repairs, however needed that the PCG transfer operational responsibility for the course to the military.
Throughout the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies, makes an attempt were created to scale back or eliminate civilian membership. However, the spirit of unity and commitment to an agreement created decades before between the 2 organizations continuously prevailed. once the presidio became a park site, the course was opened to the community, and a replacement public building was inbuilt 1999. However, the personal presidio Golf Club still exists and operates its own building simply outside the park. The building is therefore shut that the sunshade over the front paseo hangs over the boundary, and a final go out places one on presidio grounds. With all the history reverberant down its fairways, it’d appear not possible to overlook such a big piece of the presidio. Yet, in keeping with the book Defender of the Gate, the military discovered in 1964 that the historic course had ne’er been superimposed to the Presidio’s list of realty. The omission was quickly corrected: “Item seventy one, June 30, 1964-Golf Course, 18 holes, 149.6 acres, designed 1905 (sic)
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