[Sean_Tully]

I have some aerials that I will post for you to test your knowledge of California courses.
Act 1:



Original routing is intact but a major renovation changed this course from a classic into a more modern design. The par three in the bottom left hand corner is my favorite hole here, even more so in this aerial.


Tully

[Mike Benham]

The modern design features include containment mounding ...

There is a mission, race track, and drag strip nearby and during the fall, a lot of crushing going on ...

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven

Spent some time on the drag strip near there.

Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven-Eleven

[T_MacWood]

Is it William P. Bell?

[David_Tepper]

My favorite course in the North Bay, although I am not as big a fan of the par-3 (#4) in the lower left-hand corner as Mr. Tully. I did see Bob Charles ace that hole in the 2004 Schwab Cup. My favorite par-3 is in the top center of the photo, the 7th hole.  

[Steve_ Shaffer]

From the club's website:

Playing just over 7,100 yards from the championship tees, this classic layout offers strategic choices and challenges that excite golfers swinging graphite and titanium just as it did when they were carrying hickory and persimmon.

At its heart, is a treasured "core golf" experience set on 177 acres of rolling terrain highlighted by massive oaks, lakes and sweeping vistas of the Mayacamas Mountains and neighboring vineyards. You're sure to appreciate how the balance and blend of long and short holes creates a perfect rhythm as you move through the round. Considered a fair but formidable test, unique challenges help keep you focused on the task at hand. We believe you’ll particularly enjoy the distinctive set of Par 3’s that offer a great diversity of aesthetic beauty and personal challenge. In fact, three of them are over 200 yards from the back tees.

The back nine offers the intrepid golfer some extra excitement with the reachable Par 5 13th and 16th holes. The uphill 11th is a wonderful, short Par 4 followed by the lengthy Par 4 12th that is fairly difficult to stick in two. The finishing hole demands that you navigate a stretched dogleg with a prominent fairway bunker to a green guarded by huge oaks and fronted by a small creek. At the end of each round, you’ll know you’ve been treated to an unforgettable golfing experience. Just like the premier wines from the nearby vintners, the course has aged well. In fact, the Club has been selected as the home of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. This prestigious season-ending tournament of the PGA Champions Tour usually determines the winner of the season-long competition for the $1 million Charles Schwab Cup.

[Bill_McBride]

Oh my gawd I do love this course.  Take a look at the Muirfield routing - clockwise front nine outside the property, counterclockwise inside.  Sam Snead once referred to it as his favorite routing of a golf course.  Until about ten years ago you could walk any time for $30-40, now it's inaccessible unless you pay a prodigious initiation fee or stay at the S__ M__ Inn.  I played high school matches there (Novato H.S. vs S__ High School, 1956-1959).  Probably my favorite course until I began to experience the MacKenzie classics of the West Coast.

Is anybody else old enough to remember the beautiful white horse country fences that surrounded each tee?  Not very easy to mow around, so they disappeared maybe 20 years ago.

Thanks, Sean, many great memories.  

[Joel_Stewart]

Is it William P. Bell?

Sam Whiting.  Often misunderstood and underrated.

[David_Tepper]

The course was renovated 15-20 years ago by Robert Muir Graves, with our own Neal Meagher having major input on the project.

[Sean_Tully]

The course is Sonoma Golf Club it opened in 1928. Sam Whiting and Willie Watson are credited by some as the architects. I have not found much that says that Watson was involved, but I have not gotten to the 1927-28 in the papers to investigate. Whiting, as Joel mentioned is very underated and I will take it one step further, he is and has been underappreciated. He was at Olympic in 1922 makes changes to the course as soon as he got there and was heavily involved in the work on the Lake and Pacific courses.
He was all over the place getting work at a number of courses in the area. He even partnered up with Max Behr on a job in the Bay area, so he must have been good!

Sonoma was renovated in 1990-91. As I understand it, the lakes were put in and the fill was added onto the course. IF you look at the aerial the first hole was shifted from a slight dogleg right to a dogleg left to make room for a driving range.

The Snead story is more likely myth, as I have been told that his first visit to the course was with Graves during the renovation. Bill, your mention of the routing is different from the story that his favorite par three in golf is the 7th.

The routing is great and the course is in wonderful shape thanks to Mat Dunmyer and his crew. Mat had found a reference that at one point the course had 150 bunkers. I had hoped that there would have been more on the aerial. Hopefully someone can dig up an early routing of the course someday, or just as good, photos. I only have one that shows an actual hole and it is a pretty poor photo.

Tully

[Bill_McBride]

Tully, I heard the Sam Snead story a lot earlier than 1990!  Don't remember exactly when, but I am pretty sure Snead would have been there earlier when there were more tour stops in the Bay Area.

#7 is a wonderful par 3 down in that valley between the left side of #6 and the climb up to #8 tee, with the creek all down the right side.  I also like #4 but the back nine par 3s are probably the weakest holes on the course, along with #13 par 5 that's pretty straight forward.  #1 was a poor starter before the mod work, and is an okay hole now.  The big problem with Sonoma's routing in the old days was the big crowd that you encountered on the second tee after playing the first hole!  Occasionally there would be three groups on the tee of that par 5, and a couple more scattered down the fairway.  Not sure why, as it never was particularly reachable with the uphill second shot.

[T_MacWood]

That's interesting, I know next nothing about Whiting. What are some of the courses he was involved with?

[Sean_Tully]

That's interesting, I know next nothing about Whiting. What are some of the courses he was involved with?

He was obviously involved at Olympic. OC had Max Behr come out and look at his work and they ended up working on a course together called Caphuchino Golf Club it was developed in the 1940's. He was also involved at Harding Park to a greater responsibility than most people give him. He was involved at Sonoma and also worked on the Stockton Golf Club. There is more of his work that I am leaving out as I still have to catch up on my research.

He was a top player and worked for JH Taylor and Peter Lees. He was from Wales and won some big tourneys there before being brought over to Berkeley CC by Robert Hunter. When D. Ross came out to california to work at Beresford he visited some courses and he toured Whiting's work and spoke very highly of it. The Pacific Links(OC) was in the running for a 1926 US Open but did not get it for reasons I have not come across.

His stature has only increased as I have come across more information. I have been trying to track down a relative, but have been unsuccessfull to date.

Tully

[Sean_Tully]

Tully, I heard the Sam Snead story a lot earlier than 1990!  Don't remember exactly when, but I am pretty sure Snead would have been there earlier when there were more tour stops in the Bay Area.

Bill-

Thank you for that bit of info. History is hard enough already and then people start throwing around oral history and my head just starts to spin.  

Tully

[T_MacWood]

Sean
Good stuff. I recall you and Tommy discussing Caphuchino Golf Club near Union League a while back.

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