Avid golfers enjoy the game in a myriad of ways. Some play every weekend at the local public course with their friends. Others compete and play on some sort of a tournament circuit, whether they are a scratch golfer, a senior, or a net player. Still others belong to their local country club, make business connections, and play their home course over and over so that they get value out of their hefty dues. Another type of golfer, rarer than most, is the course collector. He or she has an avid-golfer-resume that includes playing lots of different courses. The subgroup of the course collector is the avid golfer who attempts to experience the great golf courses of the game. It’s fun to watch the pros play a course that you too have played. It’s fun to talk to other golf course collectors about your experiences and compare notes. It’s fun to analyze designers like Mackenzie, Crump, Tillinghast, Ross, Dye, Jones, Devries, and Doak.
Earlier this week I sat down with Ron Garcia of Buckingham. I contend that no one living in Lake County has played as many of America’s top ranked golf courses as the 86 year old Garcia. Although he doesn’t travel to favorite destinations such as Long Island or Scotland anymore, he still plays five days per week at Buckingham Golf and Country Club, plays from the senior tees, always plays nine holes with his longtime friend, 82 year old Richard Tracy, and still plays well enough to carry a single digit handicap. Ron has shot his age multiple times.
Garcia was born in Tucumcari, New Mexico. He was the middle child of three boys. His family moved to the East Bay community of Brentwood when he was four years old. He attended Liberty High School in Brentwood and then moved to Cobb Mountain after graduation. Ron and his family had vacationed at Hobergs Resort when he was a teen ager and he decided to take on a job as the bar tender of the recently opened Hobergs Golf Course. Garcia spent his early 20s serving in the United States Army. He spent the majority of his assignment stationed in Germany. He left the military at age 25 and decided to return to Cobb.
Early on Ron Garcia formed a fast friendship with the son of the resort and golf course owner, George Hoberg Jr. Hobertg Jr. was a Kelseyville High School graduate who would take over the family business as his father aged. An outstanding athlete, Hoberg took up golf in a very serious way and was arguably the best and most talented golfer in Lake County from the 1960s through the 1980s. Hoberg encouraged Garcia to take up the game and within 18 months Garcia was shooting in the 70s at Hobergs. They were the ultimate golf buddies, playing all the time.
George talked to Ron in 1980 about taking a golf trip to the Monterey area to play some of the area’s great courses. Playing 36 holes each day, Hoberg and Garcia teed it up at the Pebble Beach Golf Links, both courses at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Old Del Monte, Spyglass Hill, Pacific Grove, and the Sistine Chapel of Golf, Cypress Point. The one week trip was a big success as Hoberg and Garcia developed a kindred brotherhood for playing lots of golf at great golf courses. They were avid golfers who were beginning to become course collectors.
Hoberg was well known for his ability to plan long term. He was interested in traveling with Garcia to different parts of the country to play great golf courses. Hoberg would write to the general manager or professional of highly ranked courses, explain that he would be in the area in October, state that he owned and managed a golf course, and would invariably get invited to play…at no cost…as a guest of the club…oftentimes at a world class golf course.
Hoberg and Garcia drove from Cobb to New Jersey in three days, stopping each evening in a town with public golf courses so that they could play that evening. They ultimately arrived at the highly regarded Pine Valley Club, oftentimes ranked as the number one course in America. They saw a sign in the parking lot stating that the course “was closed for the season.” The trip was in mid-October when business started to slow down after a busy summer at Hobergs Resort. Yet some courses on the East Coast closed down well before Thanksgiving and definitely prior to the first snows. However as George and Ron drove through the lot, they saw a single car parked near the pro shop. A man came up to them, welcomed them to Pine Valley, was a longtime member of the club, and an administrator of the USGA. It was nothing short of a first class introduction. Garcia quoted his Pine Valley mantra that “the caddies all wear white and Pine Valley just might be heaven on earth.” On that same trip they teed it up at Winged Foot, Shinnecock, and Baltusrol, all U.S Open sites as well as the National Golf Links and Maidstone.
The trips became a regular 15-20 day October occurrence, always driving, always playing 36 holes per day or more. Garcia and Hoberg made a trip to the Atlantic side of Florida and South Carolina, playing TPC Sawgrass, Harbour Town, and the great courses of Myrtle Beach. During a trip to Chicago they played Beverly, Cog Hill, and the Chicago Golf Club, one of the founding members of the USGA. A Texas trip included Colonial Country Club, known as Hogan’s Alley. Shorter trips to Arizona included TPC Scotsdale and Troon North.
Hoeberg ultimately agreed to fly because he wanted to play the great courses of Scotland. The golfing pals played the Old Course at St. Andrews, the New Course, the Jubilee, the Edens, and Ladybank along with British Open sites Carnoustie, Turnberry, Troon, and Ryder Cup venue Gleneagles. On multiple trips to Scotland they would connect with a past caddie who would set up a different itinerary for them, traveling to hidden gems alongside the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Garcia strongly contended that there were a lot of great golf courses in Scotland that aren’t as well known but are well worth the experience.
My final question for Ron was “If you had just one course to play, what would it be?” He said it would have to be Pine Valley with Cypress Point a close second. His thoughts about Pine Valley included the uniqueness of its design with a strategic as well as penal element on every hole. He added that the putting surfaces at Pine Valley were the toughest in the world. We’ll get a chance to see Pine Valley next year as it hosts the Curtis Cup between amateur women’s teams from the USA and Great Britain. He reiterated that Cypress Point was a close second.
Lake County’s ultimate golf course collector is Ron Garcia. His love affair with the game continues to this day, but most importantly, he has a treasure trove of great memories. He’s teed it up at many great golf courses. Such is the life of Ron Garcia, collector of golf courses.
