9th Hole at Agua Caliente...NLE?

[Jeff Doerr]

Doing some late night reading through old American Golfer issues and notice this hole listed by a number of pros among the very best par 3s.

Does anyone know the history, images, etc?

[Jeff Doerr]

Any historians have a clue on this one? I think in Tijuana, but maybe no longer in existence.

[David Stamm]

Jeff, there were 2 courses there at Agua Caliente, a par 3 18  and a full length 18. Only the full length remains and it is now known as Tijuana CC. They promote the fact that it is a MacKenzie course, but in fact Billy Bell designed both. For some time, the tournament held there was the richest in the world with a $25,000 total purse and $10,000 (1930's to 1940's, with the purse rising as time passed) to the winner. Hogan would tell stories of how golfers would come from across the Atlantic to compete.

[Jeff Doerr]

Thanks David.

From World Golf:
You'll finish, curiously, with a par 3, a 229-yard tempest with a cross breeze, a water hazard, and a couple of greedy bunkers. Margaritas await in the clubhouse, where it tends to be a little quieter.

From Golfweek:
Post-round, we sat down with golf director Ernesto Perez Acosta. The name might sound familiar: Acosta won the 1971 and ’76 Mexican Opens and represented Mexico on eight World Cup teams.

Acosta told us that MacKenzie came to Tijuana in the late 1920s and teamed with William P. Bell to design the course. Those were Tijuana’s halcyon days: It had legalized gambling, drinking, horse and dog tracks, bullfighting and fishing. People came in droves, including professional golfers lured by big purses. Acosta told us that when Gene Sarazen won the first tournament held at TCC, first prize was 5,000 silver dollars in a wheelbarrow.