Sharp Park 4th Hole … Photo Of What It Looked Like

[Patrick Kiser]

I was doing a little reading and catching up on Sharp Park and thought I’d post a thread regarding the lost 4th at Sharp Park … plus a little on the 8th.  BTW, this is nothing new technically and anyone could have put this together on their own if they had the inclination and a little time on their hands.  What is new is … the photo and that’s because it did not become available really until after the essay from Richard and Bo had been posted.

Before I get started however, I’d like to thank the kind folks over at the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance.  In particular, permission was granted by Richard Harris to post this photo for this thread.  The photo is on the SFPGA site itself and I’d recommend  checking the site sometime.  There are other pertinent photos there as well: http://www.sfpublicgolf.com/

Another person I’d like to thank is Daniel Wexler for bringing to our attention the 1941 aerial, because as you will see … it was an eye opener back then and even more so now.  He even suggested its existence on the March 2003 interview!  Finally, Sean Tully showed me previously what I’ll call the “plan” and the map/routing some time and they are critical pieces I feel.  I believe Tom MacWood might have posted the plan at one time or another as well.  You can refer to the SFPGA site to see the plan and the work done by Jay Blasi for this.  The map/routing is on Richard and Bo’s essay.

In a way, this thread piggybacks onto Richard and Bo’s essay and I’m just providing another perspective I guess.

Onto the show…

First, I’d like to briefly go over the plan and the map/routing.  I wish I knew for certain the dates to both, but it appears the plan dates back to when the course was being envisioned (e.g. 1930-31 or so?).  The map/routing might be post construction, but could be prior.  The reason I’m suggesting this is because when you look at the plan and the map/routing side by side … you’ll find they are quite different.  Especially in regards to the so called Lido design holes no.5 and no.10 and … how they would play.  In fact, a good exercise is to compare the plan, the map/routing, and the Lido design hole side by side.  This is perfect timing, because Sean has the following Lido thread going on right now that shows the Channel design hole from MacKenzie.  You’ll see the plan to be closer to the Lido design, while the map/routing departs a little … for the tees and angles of play in particular.  You can argue which of the 5th or 10th comes closest to the submitted Lido design, but to me they look like two attempts at the same kind of Channel hole concept … except with two different tee shots in mind.  The 5th calls for what would appear to be a fade whereas the 10th would be a draw.  If you’re the purist, I guess the 10th would be closest to the Lido submission:

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,46651.0/

So I tried to figure out which one was more correct: the plan or the map/routing?  My observation and therefore suggestion is simply this: the plan was just a plan.  It was not based on what turned out to be actual.  Certainly it was close, but I see the plan as what was envisioned and the map/routing as what turned out to be.  The only possible exception I can think of that would prove my suggestion wrong is if between the time the plan was drawn and when the aerial from 1941 was taken that the course changed.  I guess it’s always possible that with enough storm surging and/or tweaking / adjusting over the years that it could have changed.  But I doubt this based on how holes no.5 and no.10 look like from the aerial.  The other piece backing my suggestion up is if you try to overlay the plan and the map/routing against the aerial … you’ll find the plan doesn’t fit anywhere near as well as the map/routing.  In fact, the map/routing almost looks like a carbon copy of the 1941 aerial.  It is that close.  Even the humps, bumps, trees, bunkers, etc. on the map/routing mirror the aerial.  Could the map/routing been derived from the 1941 aerial?  Who knows, but they are awfully close.  To show this, I took the time to overlay the map/routing on top of the aerial for the tees and lines of play.  Please note two things from my rendering…  One is I’m missing a red segment to the line of play on what was hole 17 (today’s 9th).  I only show two segments instead of three.  The 17th is a par 5.  Also, I did not label what was the 7th hole as being today’s 16th because technically it runs parallel now.  I’m sure someone with much better skills could do much more (like a transparent overlay of the aerial and the map/routing), but I think the point gets across:

1941 Aerial (Photo courtesy of Daniel Wexler)


Thoughts?

Notice how on the on the plan there’s the suggestion of an immediate fairway option off the island like tee (off the right side of the 4th green) to the 5th hole.  Do you see this in the aerial?  Doesn’t look like it to me.  

But this thread is intended to be about the 4th hole and to a limited extent the 8th.  When I saw the 1941 aerial for the first time, I of course drew my immediate attention to the 5th and 10th to see what they really looked like.  Sure they caught my attention, but the 4th really caught my attention as well (e.g. the bunkers really stand out).  What a cool looking par 3!  Notice how the 4th is also the only hole really bordered side and back of the green by trees.  This is important because if helps confirm the photo you’ll see.  Here’s a closeup of the 4th from the 1941 aerial:



I then remembered how Richard and Bo mentioned in their essay how amongst the dunes the 4th was still there in some form.  So I decided to take a look from above using a current Google map.
  


Placing the 1941 aerial side by side with the Google overhead and narrowing it down got me to the following:



Low and behold … all of it is still there.  Clearly what’s left of the green is still showing.

Side by side now:



I had no idea how much of it was still there…

Now to the photo…

As I was saying, I was reading up and catching so it led me to the SFPGA and this is where I came across the photo of the women on a tee at Sharp Park in the 1930’s.  I immediately knew it had to be 4th because of the trees.  What a revelation!  Also, the Cypress trees shape to the wind and as you can see … they are shaped to an onshore wind, but coming from the left.  This would tell you the hole is directed South to North.  The only other par 3 on the course that could have qualified from the trees is the 2nd, but the trees would NOT be shaped as on the photo because the 2nd is head on and the 2nd does not present as many trees.

Woman Golfer On Sharp Park 4th Tee (Photo courtesy of SFPGA)


Finally, I had to blow up the green and surrounds to get a closer look at Egan’s work.  Folks, I think for the GCA geeks this is an important find.  To my knowledge, this is the first time I’ve seen an actual hole from the original course.  I’ve never seen anything this clear posted on GCA or elsewhere.  So there you have it…  I think this also might back up some of what Tom MacWood stated in that the holes would NOT have been natural dunes.  Rather, whatever was there would have been moved around.  Plus keep in mind the dredging was mentioned and that could have been used in some fashion for shaping this hole.  Who knows…



I’ll cut to the chase now on the 8th, but again as mentioned by Richard and Bo … the left overs are still there.  Just like for the 4th … the green shows.  Here’s the side by side to confirm this.  I’m not trying to make this an afterthought.  I’m just tired on banging out this post and I have no photo for the 8th unfortunately, but is sure looks like a cool hole:



I tried to do the same for the par 3 6th and I’m convinced at this point that the green would have been somewhere between the edge of the burm and the beach.  So it’s gone for good I think.  Same thing goes for the 3rd obviously.  Maybe a variation of the 7th could be done with where the 16th stands today, but it would not place correctly.

Having played Sharp Park many times … I have to say I agree with Richard and Bo that much of whatever was Sharp Park in the early days is sort of still there.  The difference is much of it has been softened over time.  Interpretive restoration for what is in place is not out of the realm of possibility I think.  With the help of additional research, who knows what might turn up.  Plus Sean needs to put something together at some point.  I might start another thread in time regarding this and in particular focus on the holes closer to the clubhouse.  We shall see.

Hopefully everyone finds this thread someone interesting or at a minimum entertaining.  The beard pullers out there can discuss…

[Neil_Crafter]

Nice post Patrick 
There must have been some nice holes at Sharp Park in its early days.

[Patrick Kiser]

Neil,

Thanks.  I have a feeling the ocean holes were probably the most interesting.  The clue to this is in Fleming's comment as noted in Richard / Bo's write up.  Per the San Francisco Call-Bulletin from 1932, Fleming states the following upon passing the clubhouse from the 12th green to the 13th tee:

...   The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth are all holes of a different type than the lakeside and ocean holes.

If you go to the SFPGA site and lookup the clubhouse photo dating from 1930's ... you'll notice how radically different the topography looks like for the holes near the clubhouse (e.g. 15th green, 16th/18th fairways and 17th fairway in the distance).  In fact, it is not too dissimilar from what you would see today!  And by this I mean ... surprisingly flat.  I wonder if that had anything to do with what Fleming meant by "of a different type".

I actually went down there today because it was such a clear and beautiful day.  The big surprise was ... by how much the burm had changed since I was last atop it.  The last time I had been on it was maybe sometime between 2000-2003.  I'd say the burm has gone down a tad, but more evident was the rise of the beach.  Before, you could step off the burm but would be making a decent jump down.  Now ... it's just a large step down from the burm onto the beach.  It's just a matter of time before the beach creeps over the burm I think.

I also noticed how the typical seasonal flooding is already starting on the current 14th (previously the 10th) towards the green.  We had some rain yesterday + a couple of weekends ago and I wonder if that's contributing.  That or over watering perhaps.  Not sure.  It's hard to imagine how high the fairway would have been for this Channel like hole.  Fleming for example mentions how the 17th is on 15 feet of fill!

[PCCraig]

Wow, great stuff thanks for posting. The older picture from the 4th tee makes the hole look like fantastic fun!

[Kevin_Reilly]

Very interesting Patrick.  One strange thing though is what appears to be a power pole on the right side of the closeup picture of #4...it would seem an odd position for power lines to run through the course.

[TEPaul]

"This is perfect timing, because Sean has the following Lido thread going on right now that shows the Channel design hole from MacKenzie."


Patrick:

The Channel hole at the Lido (#4) and sometimes called the "Lagoon" hole as in the article Sean Tully posted, was not Mackenzie's design. It was Macdonald's and as he explained in his book it was a hole he had wanted to do previously but could not find the place for it. Since he could create anything he wanted at Lido (with fill pumped out of the channel) he was excited to do it. He explained the idea for it came from the sixteenth at Littlestone even though he explained that Littlestone's 16th did not have the high risk alternate fairway in its dunes as the Channel Hole Macdonald created at Lido obviously did.

Someone on here asked if the Lido's Channel Hole was ever copied. Flynn did a mirror image copy of it at Opa Locka (the high risk fairway was on the left and basically the long way around so I'm not sure I understand the risk/reward strategic point of it).

Macdonald also mentioned in his book that he had Raynor make a contour map of the golf course before construction. What you see in Tully's posted article may be the illustrative version of it. This is pretty danged amazing really since Macdonald and Raynor visualized and drew a PRE-construction topographical contour map for a site that was naturally pretty much flat and partially marsh and/or under water.

Macdonald also mentioned in his book that after first refusing the principles entreaties to do the project he agreed to take it on when they told him it offered him a blank canvas to create anything he wanted. He said he took it on because 'It really made me feel like a creator.'

I guess Charlie felt if anyone could or should play God it should probably be him! 

[TEPaul]

Bob Crosby and I spent about half a day at Sharp Park this year on the Saturday before the US Open on our way to Pebble Beach. We went over the course carefully and we spoke with the man who seemed to run the place and we were told knew more about its architectural history than anyone. He gave me a book about the history of Sharp Park going back to the Chinese land grant people before the course. It had the entire history of the course including those lost holes near the beach. Unfortunately, I can't find that book. I think when I was being comprehensively frisked by the security people in one of the airports coming home for apparently looking like an ultra suspicious character it may've fell out of one of my bags and I neglected to pick it up. My advice to everyone on that note would be do not---I repeat DO NOT EVER try to carry as much hand luggage onto an airplane as I did just to avoid checking luggage and having to pick it up at baggage claim. Bob Crosby was about four hours late from Atlanta meeting me anyway meaning I had four hours to pick up checked luggage!

But in our opinions, Sharp Park is today a mere vestige of its once and former glory.

[Patrick Kiser]

... He gave me a book about the history of Sharp Park going back to the Chinese land grant people before the course. It had the entire history of the course including those lost holes near the beach.

TEPaul,

Thanks for the Lido background.

I think I did read a post about your visit recently.  Thanks for the invite BTW 
Did this book have illustrations or actual photos by chance?  Really curious to know.  PMing you now.