At one time or another in our lives we have been involved in some sort of a sporting endeavor, whether it was playing youth soccer or T-ball when we were six years old or from the other end of the spectrum when we were playing senior golf or pickle ball. Of course sometimes the sport chooses us.
Say what you will about making your dreams come true, there is pretty much zero opportunities for someone with the dream of becoming a thoroughbred jockey if you stand over six feet tall and the same holds true at the other end of the spectrum for a five footer with the desire to be a nose tackle on the local high school team.
Aside from the physical components to athletic activity, there is also the psyche of certain games. From an early age onward, basketball players are used to performing in from of crowds that hoot, holler, cheer, and boo. The same is not true for someone who gets started in competitive tennis where the rule of the day is silence during serves.
For golfers of all ages, sizes, and ability levels, it is a mixed bag. Tournament golf is relatively quiet except for those magical moments when Scottie Scheffler birdies his last five holes to snag an Olympic gold medal. I recall some past Ryder Cups when two time Masters champion Bubba Watson was readying to tee off on the first hole and he encouraged the crowd to get loud and then louder. Yet you’ve also got golfers on all levels who will back off from a shot even though the gallery or playing partners have zero idea as to why. I derisively have been known to state that perhaps the rabbit-eared golfer must have heard a butterfly passing gas.
Which brings me to the story of the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in the city of Sacramento. When local golfers complain to me about loudness coming from the outer decking area where dinners are talking or someone is loudly celebrating their birdie putt on an adjacent hole, I always ask if they have ever been to Haggin Oaks? If not, I begin my brief explanation.
Haggin Oaks is a golf factory with two 18 hole golf courses, the earlier one designed as a Depression-era get back to work project by well known architect Alister Mackenzie. It has hosted a pair of United States Public Links Championships and the 1963 edition was won by a very young future PGA professional by the name of Bob Lunn. It also has a massive driving range that is approximately 450 yards deep with hitting stations for 60 or more golfers on both ends. It has practice putting greens, chipping greens, and a pair of pro shops that are larger than a Safeway store. It has approximately 12 PGA of America teaching pros on staff.
As far as distractions go, I’m not so sure that there are more distractions available to the average golfer than the ones he or she will experience at Haggin Oaks. On its northern boundary is Interstate Highway 80. On its southern end sits Business Highway 80. With horns honking, brakes squealing, and music blaring, it can sometimes be distracting to the more focused golfer. On top of that, there is a very active Amtrack line alongside the northern end of the property. Nearby is McClellan Air Force Base with its high speed jets overhead alongside low flying cargo planes hovering over the golf courses on its flight plan to the great beyond. I have gone to Public Links Qualifying, the Sacramento County Championship, and the State Fair Amateur at Haggin Oaks numerous times and will always love the place, regardless of the occasional fender bender alongside the second fairway.
So it was shocking, yet not all that surprising, when word got out that a single engine Piper PA-28 crashed onto the Mackenzie Course’s enormous practice putting green and skidded into the pro shop and the dining facility after dropping some 400 feet out of the sky. Luckily the pilot was uninjured and no one on the ground was hurt. The incident occurred last Sunday afternoon and was covered by Monday evening’s national news on all three major networks. There were approximately 200 golfers on the two courses.
Because you can’t have hospitals, schools, shopping centers, and other areas of human congestion near airports of any sort, the land around them is prime land for golf courses. Fly into Prestwick Airport in Scotland and you see Royal Troon Golf Club, the site of the recent British Open. Fly into Midway Airport in Chicago and Beverly Country Club is on the landing route. Go somewhere much smaller like the Livermore Airport in Alameda County and you can park your private plane closer to the first tee at Las Positas Golf Course than you can by using the regular parking lot for cars. Fly into Oakland International and you’ll see Alameda Muni to the north and Metropolitan Golf Club to the south. Fly into Sacramento and you’ll see Teal Bend GC adjacent to the northern runways.
Golf courses are oftentimes built on land that is of no use to urban or city planners, be it airports, flood plains, or mountain meadows. Just anticipate that your next round of golf may feature water bubbling up from the fairways, low flying aircraft, or the sound of the incoming Amtrack train. Just realize that an airplane landing onto the practice putting green probably just won’t happen this time next around.
