Hotel San Rafael Golf Club, 1899

[Pete_Pittock]

Anyone know the history? I ran across an item in the upcoming PBA auction catalog. #309 is a 16 page 6x9 brochure with photos.

Not in Cornish/Whitten. Don't know if it is NLE, moved , renamed, the architect. 

[Bill_McBride]

San Rafael, California?

Best of my knowledge the Meadow Club is all that was north of Mill Valley until the '60s when both Peacock Gap and Marin Golf Club were built.

Of course there was also the world famous Las Gallinas pitch-and-putt where GCAer Bill Shulz and I both learned to play.  Alas it's NLE today, that was too high end real estate to remain a driving range and par 3 course!

[Pete_Pittock]

I found a Golf Illustrated article that mentioned Macdonald Smith's older brother George had a job (pro?) at San Rafael.

Those small sepia history books in bookstore may shed some light. (I just bought one on Aiken/Augusta), the one titled Early San Rafael.

Ain't the Meadow Club, too late.

[Bill_McBride]

I found a Golf Illustrated article that mentioned Macdonald Smith's older brother George had a job (pro?) at San Rafael.

Those small sepia history books in bookstore may shed some light. (I just bought one on Aiken/Augusta), the one titled Early San Rafael.

Ain't the Meadow Club, too late.

......and certainly no hotel anywhere in the vicinity!

[Joshua Pettit]

Pete,

Yes the course you are referring was in Marin County, somewhere in the Las Gallinas area near to where the Marin Civic Center is now (The giant Frank Lloyd Wright building).  I believe it was some sort of an 18 hole executive course, but I don't know any details.  However I do know that Sean Tully has found some info about the course, and perhaps he would be so kind as to elaborate a bit.  If I remember correctly Sean told me that there was a fire that burned down the hotel.  I can't recall what happened to the golf course, but I don't believe it survived for very long. 

I would be very interested to see that brochure.

[Sean_Tully]

The San Rafael Golf Club was not associated with the hotel from what I could tell they just had privileges. The course was 9 holes in 1898 and then they quickly added another nine. The "greens" were sand and about 60 feet in circumference with the home green being closer to 120!. It was one of the big four in the Bay area playing against the SFGC, Oakland Golf Club, and Burlingame. It was one of the first courses to have 18 holes in NorCal.

It would later move to another site 1905-1909 and take on the name of Marin Golf and Country Club, the clubhouse is still there. Robert Hunter shot a 67 over the course in the early 1920's. The formation of Meadow Club stems from the fact that MGCC only had 9 holes and some wanted 18. It was in a pretty neat area still called the "Country Club." I have a lot of research to do for this time frame and have been looking forward to it.

I recently did a indexing of all the trophies at Meadow Club and went into the Ladies locker room to look at the their trophies. To my surprise, they had a trophy from San Rafael Golf Club! It has some pretty amazing font and just was a true beauty to behold. If there is one thing that I have found out about during my research is the amazing fonts and drawings found in some of the older magazines.


Cornish and Whitten are a good start, but as you may have noted as well, an updated edition would be quite a treat. I have a handful of courses to add and changes to make.

George Smith was the pro there for a period and made a name for himself within weeks of taking his job, but not on the course. He made a hissing noise at what he felt was a little too nationalistic sentiment during a play and made such a scene that he and his party left before things turned ugly. There was a big write up in the paper. The funny things that you find when doing research.

The Hotel burned down in 1928.

Tully

[Sean_Tully]

Pete

Take a little closer look at the item in question it will answer some of your questions.

Tully

[Pete_Pittock]

Josh and Sean,
Thanks for the input. I looked at the full size picture of the brochure on the auction website.

[Bill_McBride]

The San Rafael Golf Club was not associated with the hotel from what I could tell they just had privileges. The course was 9 holes in 1898 and then they quickly added another nine. The "greens" were sand and about 60 feet in circumference with the home green being closer to 120!. It was one of the big four in the Bay area playing against the SFGC, Oakland Golf Club, and Burlingame. It was one of the first courses to have 18 holes in NorCal.

It would later move to another site 1905-1909 and take on the name of Marin Golf and Country Club, the clubhouse is still there. Robert Hunter shot a 67 over the course in the early 1920's. The formation of Meadow Club stems from the fact that MGCC only had 9 holes and some wanted 18. It was in a pretty neat area still called the "Country Club." I have a lot of research to do for this time frame and have been looking forward to it.

Tully, not the Marin Golf & Country Club near old Hamilton AFB, that course and clubhouse were built in the late '50s.  I caddied on opening day.

That course in on a pretty site but not particularly inspired.

[Joe Bausch]

Here's an early mention of the San Rafael Golf Club from the October 22, 1898 edition of the San Francisco Call (courtesy of the Library of Congress early newspaper web site):

[Joe Bausch]

And this from the October 31 issue:

[Sean_Tully]

The San Rafael Golf Club was not associated with the hotel from what I could tell they just had privileges. The course was 9 holes in 1898 and then they quickly added another nine. The "greens" were sand and about 60 feet in circumference with the home green being closer to 120!. It was one of the big four in the Bay area playing against the SFGC, Oakland Golf Club, and Burlingame. It was one of the first courses to have 18 holes in NorCal.

It would later move to another site 1905-1909 and take on the name of Marin Golf and Country Club, the clubhouse is still there. Robert Hunter shot a 67 over the course in the early 1920's. The formation of Meadow Club stems from the fact that MGCC only had 9 holes and some wanted 18. It was in a pretty neat area still called the "Country Club." I have a lot of research to do for this time frame and have been looking forward to it.

Tully, not the Marin Golf & Country Club near old Hamilton AFB, that course and clubhouse were built in the late '50s.  I caddied on opening day.

That course in on a pretty site but not particularly inspired.

Bill what are you smoking! Too many days in LA, get out while you can man.

The MGCC that I'm talking about is NLE, not sure of the date but it may have lasted into the 1940's, but it struggled as a number of members left for Meadow.

To see where the club used to be do a google search of San Rafael and you will see "country club" its close to Dominican College just off the 101.

Tully

[Bill_McBride]

The San Rafael Golf Club was not associated with the hotel from what I could tell they just had privileges. The course was 9 holes in 1898 and then they quickly added another nine. The "greens" were sand and about 60 feet in circumference with the home green being closer to 120!. It was one of the big four in the Bay area playing against the SFGC, Oakland Golf Club, and Burlingame. It was one of the first courses to have 18 holes in NorCal.

It would later move to another site 1905-1909 and take on the name of Marin Golf and Country Club, the clubhouse is still there. Robert Hunter shot a 67 over the course in the early 1920's. The formation of Meadow Club stems from the fact that MGCC only had 9 holes and some wanted 18. It was in a pretty neat area still called the "Country Club." I have a lot of research to do for this time frame and have been looking forward to it.

Tully, not the Marin Golf & Country Club near old Hamilton AFB, that course and clubhouse were built in the late '50s.  I caddied on opening day.

That course in on a pretty site but not particularly inspired.

Bill what are you smoking! Too many days in LA, get out while you can man.

The MGCC that I'm talking about is NLE, not sure of the date but it may have lasted into the 1940's, but it struggled as a number of members left for Meadow.

To see where the club used to be do a google search of San Rafael and you will see "country club" its close to Dominican College just off the 101.

Tully

Honest, your honor, I haven't been near a bong for years!   

Only part of one day in LA, in Santa Barbara most of the 8 days.  Two rounds at VC of M and two at La Cumbre.  Life was good, golf not so good.  But who could complain?

So the late '50s "Marin G & CC" was an entirely new club, but same name.  Interesting if the original lasted into the '40s with no connection at all.