David, the San Francisco Golf Club was formed in the latter part of 1895. On December, 22, 1895, an article in the San Francisco Call reported that, "The great game of golf...is soon to be...in San Francisco. Already the grounds have been prepared in a crude way on a tract of land west of the Presidio."
The San Francisco Chronicle further reported, "Permission has been secured from General Graham to use the Presidio grounds for playing the game which has taken such a hold on the Eastern people."
The original 9-hole course was designed by one of SFGC's founding members, the Scotsman, William Robertson, and its building overseen by another of its founding members, John Lawson, who were inspired by the memory of the golf courses in their native Scotland.
The 2,143-yard course was first played on May 23rd, 1896. SFGC would be forced off the site in 1904 by Brigadier General Arthur MacArthur who President Taft let it be known that he would never become Taft's Chief of Staff for political reasons. And so Macarthur took his anger out on the members of SFGC by using the grounds where the Presidio golf course was to be used as the site for the largest war games in U. S. History up to that time. The course itself was used by the cavalry and the site for artillery practice. He did this because a number of the members knew Taft and were supporters of him.
The members SFGC were able to lease land in Ingleside and began building their new course. It opened for play on November 26th, 1905. It would be the course on which the 1915 Panama-Pacific-International-Exposition golf tournament would be contested.
During 1916, the Club realized that they needed to move once again and leased the land on which the Club is now. The golf course was designed by several members and, along with its brand new clubhouse, officially opened for play on Washington's birthday, February 21st, 1918.
The tale of how the course changed from that to the Tillinghast designed course is far too long a story to tell here.
SFGC's Ingleside Golf Course would be used by the new Cal Club who, after they left to go to their current site, the new Ingleside Golf Club built their own new course. The land used was next to the SFGC Ingleside/Cal Club course site and some of it may have been incorporated into the final course for the Ingleside golf club.
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