Sharp Park Golf Course is a public

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

in Pacifica in

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

in the United States. It was designed in 1931 by

Alister MacKenzie Alister MacKenzie (30 August 1870 – 6 January 1934) was an English golf course architect whose course designs span four continents. Originally trained as a surgeon, MacKenzie served as a civilian physician with the British Army during the ...

and is owned and operated by the city of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. It is the only public oceanside golf course designed by MacKenzie in the United States. U.S. Open champion

Ken Venturi Kenneth Paul Venturi (May 15, 1931May 17, 2013) was an American professional golfer and golf broadcaster. In a career shortened by injuries, he won 14 events on the PGA Tour including a major, the U.S. Open in 1964. Shortly before his death in ...

described the course as "Dr. MacKenzie's great gift to the American public course golfer."

History

The park was originally owned by George Sharp a wealthy lawyer who came to San Francisco from New York in 1849. The coastal property bequeathed to the San Francisco Park commissioners Reuben Lloyd and Adolph Spreckels in 1917 by George Sharp's widow Honora Sharp. She stipulated it was to be used as a “public park or playground.” At the time of its donation, the site primarily consisted of

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s, artichoke fields, and

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

. Through 1931, the property's ocean

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

was deepened and converted into a fresh-water lake, and fairways and tees were sited on islands and spits. In 1930,

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...

Superintendent John McLaren commissioned the Scottish course architect Alister MacKenzie to design San Francisco's third municipal golf links. The course was built on 120 acres and was designed by MacKenzie in-between designing his two most famous courses,

Cypress Point Club Cypress Point Club is a private golf club located in Pebble Beach, California, at the northern end of the Central Coast. Its single 18-hole course has been named as one of the finest in golf, best known for a series of dramatic holes along th ...

and

Augusta National Augusta National Golf Club, sometimes referred to as Augusta National, Augusta, or the National, is a golf club in Augusta, Georgia, United States. It is known for hosting the annual Masters Tournament. Founded by Bobby Jones and Clifford Rob ...

. MacKenzie included several of his signature design tropes, including cross bunkering, double fairways, multiple tees, mounded greens, undulating fairways, and optical illusions. The course was opened to the public in 1932. The

Spanish Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (), often known simply as Spanish Revival, is a term used to encompass a number of Revivalism (architecture), revivalist architectural styles based in both Spanish colonial architecture and Spanish archi ...

-style clubhouse was designed by an associate at Willis Polk's architecture firm and includes murals by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

. The course debuted in 1932. In the early 1940s, large storms washed out parts of MacKenzie's original routing, resulting in the construction of a

seawall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation, ...

to protect the course. From 1942 until 1946, the area east of the golf course was used by the

War Relocation Authority The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a United States government agency established to handle the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also operated the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, which was t ...

as a Japanese internment camp. In 2011, San Francisco mayor

Ed Lee Edwin Mah Lee (May 5, 1952 – December 12, 2017) was an American politician and attorney who served as the 43rd Mayor of San Francisco from 2011 until his death in 2017. Born in Seattle to Chinese American parents, Lee was a member of the D ...

vetoed a measure for the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

to take over operations at Sharp Park.

Layout

Sharp Park's routes feature

Monterey cypress ''Hesperocyparis macrocarpa'' also known as ''Cupressus macrocarpa'', or the Monterey cypress is a coniferous tree, and is one of several species of cypress trees native to California. The Monterey cypress is found naturally only on the Centr ...

, with views of the Pacific

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

s and surrounding mountains. Twelve of the course holes retain their original routing. Changes have included an added seawall at holes 12 and 16, which are directly on the shore, as well as an additional four holes designed in 1934 which are accessible via a tunnel.

Historic Status

In 2017, Sharp Park Golf Course was designated a Historic Resource Property under the

California Environmental Quality Act The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA ) is a California statute passed in 1970 and signed in to law by then-governor Ronald Reagan, shortly after the United States federal government passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), ...

. In a statement to

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, architect Jay Blasi stated, "They are not making any more MacKenzies near the Pacific... This is a one-of-a-kind in the world of golf."

Environmental concerns

The area around the course is home to two endangered species, the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog. As a result, the city of San Francisco faced multiple lawsuits by environmental organizations to protect the species, sparking what became known as the “Save Sharp Park” movement. In 2017, the

San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the board of supervisors, legislative body within the government of San Francisco, government of the San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco in the U.S. state of California. Government and polit ...

voted 9-to-1 to certify an

environmental impact report An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An EIS ...

to modify three holes to protect the species' habitats.

References

External links

Sharp Park Golf Course
via

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its TNT Sports unit. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competitive golf. The magazine started by John F. ...

Sharp Park Golf Course
via GolfPass
Sharp Park Golf Course
via Leading Courses {{San Francisco attractions, state=collapsed Golf clubs and courses in California Sports venues in San Mateo County, California 1932 establishments in California Pacifica, California Parks in San Francisco Sports venues completed in 1932 Golf clubs and courses designed by Alister MacKenzie