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Coordinates: 37°43′26″N 122°29′35″W  /  37.724°N 122.493°W  / 37.724; -122.493

The Harding Park Golf Club (commonly known as Harding Park ) is a municipal golf course owned by the city and county of San Francisco. It sits in the southwest corner of San Francisco, California - west of San Francisco State University and surrounded by Lake Merced on the other three sides. The entrance is at Harding Road, which connects to Skyline Boulevard on the east.

History

Harding Park Golf Course was opened on July 18, 1925, named after U.S. President Warren G. Harding, an avid golfer, who died while visiting San Francisco two years earlier. The course covers 163-acre (0.66 km ² ) along the shores of Lake Merced, in the city's southwest corner. Willie Watson and Sam Whiting, who also designed the nearby Olympic Club Lake Course, drew a plan for a course at Harding Park for a price of $300.

The golf course quickly attracted national attention when the park hosted a number of important tournaments, including The U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in 1937 and again in 1956. In the 1960s, Harding became a regular stop for the PGA tour and produced many big-name winners, including San Francisco native Ken Venturi, Gary Player, and Billy Casper. Johnny Miller, another San Francisco native, also was a Harding regular in his youth. But by the end of the decade, after the San Francisco Open Invitational in 1969, the PGA Tour left Harding due to deteriorating conditions and antiquated facilities. Course conditions worsened during 1970s and 1980s as the city budget cuts wreacked havoc on course maintenance. The low point came in 1998 when Harding was used as a parking lot during the U.S. Open in the nearby Olympic Club.

Finally, a turning point for the course came when Sandy Tatum, a prominent San Francisco attorney and former United States Golf Associaton president, led the crusade to restore Harding to its former glory. He eventually got the approval from former mayor Willie Brown to allow Arnold Palmer Golf Management, a Florida company, to renovate and operate the park. In 2001, however, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, namely former District 7 Supervisor Tony Hall, opposed the project based on fear that Arnold Palmer's involvement in the project represented privatization of a municipally-owned golf course. As opposition grew, Arnold Palmer backed out, primarily over concern about revenue estimates. Palmer Golf and the city could not agree on a greens fee schedule. The city's proposed management contract, at the urging of the Harding Park Mens Club, specified a percentage of tee times that would be held for city residents at a greatly reduced rate, albeit a modest increase over the previous rate.

When hope to renovate Harding seemed unrealistic, Sean Elsbernd, Hall's Chief of Staff who later succeeded Hall, helped to revive the project. He and Tatum convinced Hall that the renovation could be a revenue producer for the city by attracting the PGA Tour back to town. They also addressed funding concerns by tapping grant money from Proposition 12, a measure passed in 2000 to fund parks across California. But advocacy groups like the Neighborhood Parks Council continued to oppose the project, claiming that renovating the golf course was not a priority for the city and that those state grants should be used to help improve other recreation facilities across town. In spite of the opposition, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the resolution to use Prop. 12 money in 2001, citing potential revenue for the city should Harding become a regular host of professional golf events.

Renovation finally began in the spring of 2002. The 15-month long project expanded the course from 6,743 to 7,200 yards (6,600 m) and upgraded the driving range and clubhouse to PGA standards. The course property remains under the ownership of the city and county of San Francisco. The city's parks and recreation department is responsible for course maintenance, which remains an ongoing concern, for everyday players as well as PGA Tour officials looking to conduct future events at the course.

KemperSports operates the course, including the pro shop and tee-time reservations. Facilities include a modern clubhouse and restaurant capable of hosting special events, and a full-sized practice range. The renovation budget also covered the park's picturesque and challenging nine-hole layout, The Fleming 9, named for John Fleming, the long-time San Francisco Park's superintendent. The fee schedule includes a substantial discount for San Francisco city residents, and a smaller discount for residents of Bay Area counties.

Since the renovation's completion, Harding Park has hosted two men's professional golf tournaments. On August 22, 2003, the Harding Park was officially reopened. On October 6, 2005, Harding hosted the WGC-American Express Championship, its first PGA Tour event since 1969, drawing top golfers like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson from around the world. In a thrilling finish, Woods outlasted John Daly, when Daly missed a short par putt on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff. Over the next ten years, several more PGA Tour events are scheduled to be hosted at Harding according to an agreement between the City and the PGA Tour. Harding Park hosted the Presidents Cup in October 2009 won by the U.S. team in convincing fashion, with a five-point margin of victory. Again, showing a strong affinity for the course, Woods led the U.S. side with a perfect 5-0 match record.

References

1. ^ Harding Park SF Recreation and Park
2. ^ Reinventing Harding Park Sfgate.com, San Francisco Chronicle , retrieved on June 6, 2007.
3. ^ Bringing Harding Park Golf Course up to par Sfgate.com, San Francisco Chronicle , retrieved on June 6, 2007.
4. ^ Mayor Brown leads opening Sfgate.com, San Francisco Chronicle , retrieved on June 6, 2007.
5. ^ San Francisco course no longer below par USATODAY.com, USA Today , retrieved on June 6, 2007.
6. ^ PGATOUR.com - Harding Park to Host Future TOUR Events
7. ^ Tournament Information - The Presidents Cup 2009, Harding Park Golf Course, San Francisco

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