World War I had come to its conclusion and the Roaring ‘20s opened up a whole new era of good times throughout America. Music and movies were suddenly big deals with the inventions of the phonograph and the movie camera, radio was starting to take a communications foothold, the automobile was a brand new way to travel, and the post-war economy was booming. Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Red Grange, Babe Ruth, and others were the entertainment icons of the day. Golf too was gaining a foothold in America with new courses being built on a regular basis. The USGA had been established in 1895 and the public had a trio of American golfing stars to root for, namely Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, and amateur great Bobby Jones.
President Warren Harding was in the White House and he, too, represented the new American spirit as an avid golfer. A popular president who was caught up in personal and political scandals during his two years in office, he died of heart failure and pneumonia in the summer of 1923 while visiting San Francisco.
That same summer, the City and County of San Francisco began work on its second municipally owned golf course. Lincoln Park Golf Course had opened for partial play in 1914, had been completed in 1917 by Tom Bendelow, the Johnny Appleseed of American golf who is best known for his design of Medinah Country Club, a past U.S. Open, PGA, and Ryder Cup site. Because of the game’s early popularity, a new course on the southwest corner of San Francisco was going to be built on land much more conducive to golf than the ultra hilly Lincoln Park site had been. It would be the equal of a country club, but open to Joe Six Pack and his friends.
Golf course architect Willie Watson was signed on to develop the new San Francisco course. Three sides of the new golf course would sit adjacent to Lake Merced while the northeast side of the course would be the future site of San Francisco State University. Watson had begun his career in the Midwest. He designed Chicago area courses South Shore and the Olympia Fields number three course as well as Interlachen in Minnesota, the course where Bobby Jones would win the 1930 U.S. Open during his grand slam season. Over the course of his decade or so on the west coast, Watson is credited with the design of such East Bay gems as Berkeley Country Club (Mira Vista), Orinda Country Club, and Diablo Country Club. He would also design all 36 holes at the neighboring Olympic Club’s Lake and Ocean courses.
The new San Francisco municipal golf course opened to great fanfare in July of 1925. The front nine weaved through parkland with cypress tree lined fairways while the largest stretch of the back nine played alongside the cliffs of Lake Merced. From the left side of the holes on the back nine, one could look across Lake Merced towards the future site of the Olympic Club. The course was named Harding Park after the late president who had died in the city two years earlier. It was immediately regarded as a great test of golf for the area’s public golfers.
Harding Park hosted its first national tournament with the playing of the 1937 United States Public Links Championship, the blue collar version of the U.S. Amateur. The Publinks would also return to Harding Park in 1956. The PGA Tour’s Lucky Invitational was contested at Harding from 1961 through 1969 with winners including Billy Casper, Gary Player, Jackie Burke Jr., George Archer, Ken Venturi, and Chi Chi Rodriguez. It was also the long time host of the San Francisco City Amateur, one of the top amateur tourneys in America for the last 100 years.
I began playing Harding Park in the 1980s. I played in the 1983 S.F. City during an El Nino winter. That year, 14 of the 18 greens were temporary settings because of the heavy March rains. I also played more than one dozen Public Links Qualifiers during the 1980s and 1990s. As the years went on, Harding Park fell in disarray and the course lost much of its charm. In 1998 it suffered the ignominy of serving as the parking lot for the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club.
San Francisco attorney Sandy Tatum, a former NCAA champion when he played golf at Stanford University as well as a past president of the USGA, began a crusade to revitalize Harding Park to bring it back to its past glory. The SF Board of Supervisors stalled for two years and the Harding Park project became a political football. Finally in the spring of 2002, Tatum got consensus from the Board to spend millions to rejuvenate Harding Park. The big card in Tatum’s hand was that he had induced the PGA Tour and the PGA of America to partner up with him with the promise of big time golf tournaments coming to Harding Park. After 15 months of improvements to Harding, the course reopened. It was lengthened from 6,700 yards to just under 7,200 yards and the irrigation system, the bunkers, and the greens were all rebuilt to modern specifications. It was back as one of America’s top muni courses.
Two years later Tiger Woods defeated John Daly in a three hole playoff to win the World Golf Championship American Express tourney. In 2009 Team USA won the President’s Cup at Harding Park against the International squad. In 2010, 2011, and 2013 it was the setting for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the season ending money grab for the PGA Champions Tour. In 2015 Rory McIlroy captured the World Match Play Championship when it was held at Harding Park. Big time professional golf was now a part of the Harding Park legacy.
In 2010 Harding Park became part of the PGA Tour’s Tournament Players Club network. The tour manages the course for the City and County of San Francisco. The new clubhouse is also a highlight with seating overlooking the 18th fairway. The lobby has a section dedicated to local hero George Archer, a past Masters champ, and the building is called the Sandy Tatum Clubhouse. Once again, Harding Park is the gem course of the San Francisco park system.
For those of you who might be wondering why this week’s column is about Harding Park, it’s because this weekend would have marked the conclusion of rounds three and four of the PGA Championship there. Because of the pandemic, the PGA has been delayed for the time being with the tournament scheduled to be held from Thursday, August 6 through Sunday, August 9. It’s still not clear whether the PGA will be contested with or without spectators, but you can be sure that Harding Park Golf Course will be up to the test with the greatest golfers in the world trying to capture what will be the year’s first major championship. Yes, at Harding Park.
