Olympic Club

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Olympic Club
Club Information
Location: San Francisco & Daly City California
United States
Established: 1860
Type: Private
Total holes: 45
Tournaments hosted: U.S. Open 1955, 1966, 1987, 1998
U.S. Amateur 1958, 1981, 2007
U.S. Junior Amateur 2004
Website: www.olyclub.com
Lakes Course
Designed by: Sam Whiting
Willie Watson
Par: 71
Length: 6,842 yards
Course Rating: 73.9
Ocean Course
Designed by Tom Weiskopf
Length: 6,925 yards
Course Rating: 73.5
Cliffs Course
Designed by Jay Morrish
Tom Weiskopf
Par: 27
Length: 1,800 yards

The Olympic Club is an athletic club with three golf courses located in Daly City, California. The club's main "City Clubhouse" is located in downtown San Francisco. The club's "Lakeside Clubhouse" is located in Daly City. The two clubhouses are separated by about 10 miles. The three courses at The Olympic Club are the Cliffs, Lake, and Ocean courses. The Lake and Ocean are eighteen hole par 71 courses, and the Cliffs is a nine hole par 3 course that is on the bluffs of the Pacific Ocean. All three courses are lined with many trees (almost 40,000 on the Lake course) and offer views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The United States Golf Association recognizes the Olympic Club as one of the first 100 golf clubs established in the United States.

The City Clubhouse is located at:

524 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
+1 (415) 345-5100

The Lakeside Golf Facility is located at:

599 Skyline Boulevard
Daly City, CA 94015
+1 (415) 404-4333

Contents

[edit] History

The Olympic Club is the oldest athletic club in the United States. The Olympic Club was established on May 6, 1860. James J. Corbett, the heavyweight boxing champion from 1892 to 1897, joined the club in 1884. He later went on to coach boxing at the club for many years. On January 2, 1893 the club opened its first permanent clubhouse on Post Street. That building did not survive the San Francisco earthquake.

[edit] Golf club

In 1918, the club took over the Lakeside Golf Club, which had just opened in 1917 but was struggling financially. Lakeside had one 18-hole golf course designed by Wilfrid Reid, but following additional land purchases the club decided to replace it with two courses. These were designed by Willie Watson, a well-known Scottish architect, and the Lake and Ocean courses opened in 1924. The Ocean course was shortly thereafter damaged by landslides, and Sam Whiting (who had constructed the two courses, and would remain as superintendent until 1954) remodeled and rebuilt both courses in 1927. In 1953, the Lake course was modified by Robert Trent Jones in preparation for the 1955 U.S. Open. The Ocean course was altered several times over the years, and following heavy storm damage in 1996 was completely redesigned by Tom Weiskopf and reopened in 2000.[1]

The Cliffs Course opened in 1994 with Jay Morrish and Tom Weiskopf as the course architects. Club member Maureen O'Toole won a silver medal in water polo at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Two Olympic Club members have won the Dipsea Race. They include Norman Bright in 1970 and Shirley Matson in 1993.

The Olympic Club hosted the 2004 U.S. Junior Amateur (won by Sihwan Kim) and the U.S. Amateur in 1958 (won by Charles Coe) and 1981 (won by Nathaniel Crosby, son of Bing Crosby). The Lake and Ocean Courses were used for the 2007 U.S. Amateur, which was won by Colt Knost of Dallas, Texas, who earned a 2-and-1 victory over Michael Thompson of Tucson, Arizona.

[edit] Competition

In 1909, Olympian and club member Ralph Rose set a world record shot put throw of 51 feet.

In 1915, the club's amateur basketball team won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Basketball Championship. In 1934, club member Fred Apostoli won the National Amateur Middleweight boxing title. In 1937, the Olympic Club track and field team won the Track and Field National Championships. In 1941, club member Hank Luisetti helped lead the Olympic Club basketball team to win the AAU Basketball Championships again. In 1950, Olympic Club member Arthur Larsen won the U.S. Open of tennis in Forest Hills, New York. The Olympic Club water polo team won the 1959 Water Polo National Championship.

Cycling is one of the sports with the longest tradition at the Olympic Club. From 1893-1903 the Olympic Club Cycling Team was one of the club's premier teams. Although the sanctioned cycling team disbanded in 1903, many Olympians participated in cycling on an individual basis, and the most illustrious of these was Ernest Ohrt. Ohrt capped his cycling career by being named coach of the United States Olympic Games cycling team in 1924.

Beginning in the mid-1990's a revived Olympic Club cycling team supported several cyclist who went on to become professional road cyclists. Former Olympic Club cyclist who have later become professionals include Skyler Bishop, Nick Kelez, James Hibbard, Jackson Stewart, Mike Tillman and Zach Walker.

In addition to being a springboard for aspiring professional cyclists, The modern cycling team also boasts some of the finest masters-age cyclists in the nation including Brian McGuire, Cynthia Mommsen and Lisa Hunt.

In 1992, the Club set up the Winged "O" Foundation, which changed its name to The Olympic Club Foundation in 2002. Its purpose is to fund youth sports programs which primarily target less advantaged youth who live in the Bay Area.

[edit] Winged-O football and Rugby

The Olympic Club fielded a football team that played Bay area colleges such as Stanford, Cal, St. Mary's, and Santa Clara.[2] From 1891 through 1934, Olympic club had a 12-30-8 record against Stanford[3] and a 6-49-5 record against Cal.[4]

In 1913, the Olympic Club's top rugby union side held the All Blacks of New Zealand, then (as now) one of the world's top teams in that sport, to a draw. Olympic Club members would later form the core of the US national team that would win gold medals in rugby at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics, the last two times the sport was part of the Olympic program.

In 1926, Percy Locey played football at the Olympic Club. He was a member of the Olympic's "Winged-O" football eleven that handed the University of California's "Wonder Team" their first loss in five seasons.[5] In 1928, Locey took over as the head football coach at the Olympic Club.[5] In his first year with the Olympic Club, his team posted an undefeated season, with wins over future Pac 10 schools Stanford and 1929 Rose Bowl bound California. After the success of that season, Locey was promoted to head coach of all sports at the athletic club. He was named the coach of the West team in the annual East-West Shrine game in 1929, though his team was defeated that year, 19-7.

[edit] The Courses

[edit] General Course Information

Poa annua grass covers the greens. The fairways are a rye and poa annual grass combination. The roughs also have a bit of bluegrass mixed in.

SETUP for the 2007 U.S. Amateur Championship

PAR AND YARDAGE - The Lake Course played at 6,948 yards and par 35-35—70. The Ocean Course, which was used for the first two days of stroke play only, played at 6,786 yards and par 35-35—70.

COURSE SETUP – The Lake Course was set for green speeds of approximately 11 feet, 6 inches on the Stimpmeter. The primary rough was grown to 4 inches, with a strip of intermediate rough cut to 1½ inches in height.

USGA SLOPE RATING AND COURSE RATING – The Lake Course carried a USGA Course Rating of 74.8 and a USGA Slope Rating of 143. The Ocean Course carried a USGA Course Rating of 74.0 and a USGA Slope Rating of 136.

[edit] The Lake Course

18th hole at the Lake Course
18th hole at the Lake Course

The Lake Course has been recognized by GOLF Magazine in its list of the Top 100 Courses in the U.S. It has also been recognized in GOLFWEEK's category of "America's 100 Best Classical Courses." In Golf Digest's list of the U.S. 100 Greatest Courses for 2007-2008, the Lake Course was ranked 23.

The regular yardage of the Lake Course is 6,842 yards from the championship tees, with a course rating of 73.9 and a slope rating of 138. From the next set of tees forward, the course measures 6,529 yards, and has a course rating of 72.3 and a slope rating of 132. From the next set of tees forward, the course measures 6,235 yards, and has a course rating of 70.9 and a slope rating of 129. From the front tees, the course measures 5,593 yards, and has a course rating of 68.6 and a slope rating of 122.

The Lake Course has been lengthened in preparation for the 2007 U.S. Amateur. The par 4 2nd hole has added 40 yards. The par 3 3rd is 30 yards longer with a recent construction of another new tee. The par 4 5th, once 457 yards, now plays over 500 yards from the back tee. The par 4 12th is the most recent to be lengthened.

[edit] The Ocean Course

The Ocean Course has seen many changes over its history. Winter El Nino storms in 1983, and 1997 caused significant damage, and required major changes to the course and layout. During the mid 1990s, the club built 4 holes west of Skyline Blvd. along the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Holes of par 4, par 3, par 5, and par 4 had dramatic views. These holes were lost due to erosion in 1997. The current course was finished in 2000.

The regular yardage for the Ocean Course is 6,925 yards from the championship tees with a course rating of 73.5 and a slope rating of 133. From the next set of tees forward, the course measures 6,496 yards and has a course rating of 71.1 and a slope rating of 129. From the next set of tees forward, the course measures 5,898 yards with a course rating of 68.8 and a slope rating of 121. From the front tees, the course measures 5,386 yards with a course rating of 66.5 and a slope rating of 115.

In preparation for the 2007 U.S. Amateur, the 14th hole has been changed, to allow the 15th hole to be lengthened.

[edit] The Cliffs Course

The 9-hole, par 3 Cliffs Course is the windiest because it is set on the bluffs above the Pacific Ocean. Though it is short, it is very challenging. Designed by Jay Morrish and Tom Weiskopf, it is the most scenic of all three courses. It measures 1,800 yards.

[edit] The U.S. Opens

The Olympic Club has hosted four U.S. Open Championships in 1955, 1966, 1987, and 1998. It is scheduled to host the U.S. Open again in 2012.

Jack Fleck won the 1955 U.S. Open. He defeated Ben Hogan in an 18-hole playoff after the two had tied at the end of 72 holes with scores of 287. Billy Casper defeated Arnold Palmer in a playoff to win the 1966 U.S. Open. In 1987, Scott Simpson won the U.S. Open by one stroke over Tom Watson.

Lee Janzen won the most recent U.S. Open at Olympic in 1998 with a score of 280 (even par, as the course played a par 70 for the U.S. Open). In the 1998 U.S. Open, players complained about the pin position at the 18th hole in the second round. The pin was set at the top of a ridge, and, with the U.S. Open's knack for making hard, fast greens, many balls rolled on way past the cup. Kirk Triplett incurred a two-stroke penalty when he used his putter to stop the ball from rolling. Payne Stewart, the runner-up to Janzen, complained as he three-putted the hole. The putting green was flattened around 2000 as a result. The narrow green now is slightly wider at the front, allowing for more pin placements.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ History of Olympic Club Golf.
  2. ^ Olympic Club at a glance, 2004
  3. ^ Stanford Football Media guide (PDF copy available at www.gostanford.com)
  4. ^ California Golden Bears Football Media guide (PDF copy available at www.gobears.com)
  5. ^ a b Carry Me Back. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.

[edit] External links