Golf Historical Society – Page 11 – Original articles relating to the History of Golf.

The 1960 Los Angeles Open at Rancho

1960_34th_la_open_cover_sm — 34th L.A. Open program cover

For the sixth Los Angeles Open at Rancho (Park) in 1960, Tournament Director Gene Whitlock allowed the golf course to be re-routed. For the previous five years, the course was played with the nines reversed, but in 1960, while still starting on the back-nine 10th tee, the round finished on today’s par-five 4th hole!

The round started on our 10 (#1), but after 17 (#8), they played 9 (#9), and then played 5 (#10,) through 8 (#13), followed by 18 (#14), 1 (#15), 2 (#16), 3 (#17), and finally 4 (#18)!

1960-la-open-rancho-map-program-1 — The 1960 LA Open Re-Routed Rancho golf course map

The long walk from the 8th green (#13), to the 18th tee (#14) must have been fun!

“There are shots from that first tee (#15), that go into the gallery at the 4th #(18), and those bleachers alongside 4th (#18) green are going to get a lot of the second shots on that hole.” said Dow Finsterwald in the Los Angeles Times.

Harvey Raynor of the P.G.A., said that the field was the best ever assembled for a Professional Golfer’s event, with 58 winners of PGA tournaments playing.

1960 was the year that California Attorney General Stanley Mosk told the PGA to remove their caucasian-only-clause, if they were going to hold tournaments on public golf courses in the State. Mosk learned about the rule while playing golf with band leader Billy Eckstine and future L.A. Open winner Charlie Sifford, next door, at Hillcrest Country Club.

Ohio University graduate Dow Finsterwald went on to win the rain delayed 1960 Open with 280, after Hillcrest C.C. teaching pro Eric Monti collapsed and shot 80 in the fourth round, having led the first three days!

1958_laopen_practice_dow_finsterwald_sm — 1960 LA Open and 1958 P.G.A. Champion, Dow Finsterwald, practicing at Rancho in 1958.

Other moments of madness in 1960 involved the USGA changing “stroke and distance” to “distance only” for a Ball Out of Bounds.
I wonder if the eleven holes on Rancho with out of bounds helped sway their decision? Too bad they didn’t keep the rule for 1961 when Arnold Palmer took his 12 at the 18th!

During 1960, clubs could also enact a local rule allowing players to take a drop near the point that the ball went into a hazard or out of bounds, and add a stoke. The Southern California Golf Association continued the distance-only rule through 1961.

And to make matters more interesting, 1960 was the year of the lively new balls that allowed Mr Palmer to reach the 346-yd. first green at Cherry Hills in the U.S. Open, and also when a seven-handicapper, on the old Roosevelt links in Griffith Park, drove three par-4 greens, and put “a billion and half dollars worth of golf courses in the country” in peril. Sound like today? It was reported at the time that Mr. Palmer actually won the 1960 Masters with a banned ball…

On the brighter side, 29-year old Barbara Eden was LA Open Queen for 1960! Here she is in Jimmy Thompson’s pro shop with L.A. Junior Chamber of Commerce President Bob Meyer.

1960-01-04-la-open-barbara-eden-bob-meyer — 1960 L.A. Open Queen Barbara Eden and LAJCC President Robert Meyer.

Long Live the King! Arnold Palmer, 1929-2016

The Rancho Park golf club, and the golfers of Los Angeles and the World, are sad to hear of the passing of our greatest champion, Mr. Arnold Palmer, on September 25, 2016.

Arnold Palmer will always be remembered on our fairways for his booming drives and personality. With his “army” on his side (“they arrive at dawn to cheer on their general”), Arnold won the Los Angeles Open at Rancho three times: 1963, where he came from three strokes behind to win : 1966, where he shot a course record 62 : 1967, where he won by five strokes.

But, before those wins, the number-one golfer in America scored his infamous 12 on the fence-lined 18th hole at Rancho in January 1961, and missed the 36-hole cut. This single hole had a lot to say about the man, who, when asked how he did it, said, “I missed the putt for an 11”.

A plaque was placed on the tee of the 18th in 1963, to “commemorate” the humility of our greatest golfer, and every time he played the course he stopped and had a look at his plaque. In later years he said, “It is difficult for me to play that hole without thinking about the 12…it’s the first thing you see when you walk onto the tee.”

53 year old Arnold Palmer played his last Los Angeles Open at Rancho Park in 1983, where he was followed by thousands of fans, one even falling out of a tree. On the final day he was ten under par, and one shot out of the lead, but his putter let him down and he finished 10th.

Mr. Palmer returned to Rancho in 1990 for the L.A. Senior Open, and to take a final bow for his L.A. army. When asked about the 12, he said he would play it the same way he had done in 1961.
“I think you could say there was no lasting effect. I won the next two tournaments on the tour and then had three winning tournaments at Rancho in future years. I’ve always enjoyed playing there.” His last Los Angeles open at Rancho was in 1992, when he scored 74, 69 and 67.

This year we have been working with Mr. Palmer and the First Tee of Los Angeles to restore and remount the plaque at the 18th tee. The original bronze plaque was stolen many years ago, and a reproduction of the original, along with a relief of Arnold, and the names of the donors, will be installed at the time of the Los Angeles Open next February.

Long live the King!

Los Angeles Parks MyTreeKeeper

The Recreation and Parks Department of Los Angeles have a website that has every tree at every park in Los Angeles on a map.

You Zoom in on the park, and click on individual trees, many of which have detail information and photos of the species, including the cost and benefit of each tree in dollars!

MyTreeKeeper

I will stop complaining about the trees at Rancho now!

Awesome!

note – The search was weird. I always have to zoom out from where it puts me…

Rocky Road – Golf and the Olympic Games

1900ParisDamesgolfing — Women golfers at Club Compiègne in 1900

A new article in PlusFore digital magazine for August 2016, that I contributed to, about Olympic Golf history, can be found here – Rocky Road – Golf and the Olympic Games

Jack Nicklaus at Rancho Park

Jack Nicklaus was 21 years old when he played in his first golf tournament as a professional, on January 4, 1962, at the season opening Los Angeles Open at Rancho Park golf course in west Los Angeles.

The 1949 William Johnson and William P. Bell Rancho golf course was designed as a championship tournament layout from the start, with ample spectator paths, viewing mounds, and parking, but with an inadequate clubhouse (left open to the public on tournament days), and very poor practice facilities.

Never the less, Rancho hosted the L.A. Open 18 times between 1956 and 1983. Rancho also hosted the Los Angeles City Championship, USGA, LPGA, Senior PGA, SCGA & PLGA). Arnold Palmer won all three of his L.A. Opens at Rancho.

Nicklaus, always a golf record and trophy hunter, who thought the oldest professional tournament on tour should be “classier”, wanted a change from it’s “Muny” location and a return to Riviera Country Club, where Hogan had won the U.S. Open in 1948, as well as the L.A. Open in 1947 and 1948.

Jack made the cut in his debut, but ended up with a 289 in a three way tie for $100 last place, with Billy Maxwell and Don Massengale. His cheque was for $33.33. He took a 9 on Arnie Palmer’s infamous par five 9th (#18), by hitting two shots out of bounds, during the pro-am.

1962 01 08 - Jack Nicklaus - Check from LA Open - LAJCC - Rancho Twenty three year old Phil Rodgers won the 1962 tournament with a 67-71-68-62 – 268, nine shots in front of the field, and a record low for the L.A. Open’s played at Rancho. (Lanny Wadkins 264 at Riviera in 1985 is the record low for all L.A. Open’s)

1962 also marked the year that the Rancho Golf Course was renamed the Rancho Park Golf Course after successful lobbying of the Recreation and Parks Commission by the Rancho Park Chamber of Commerce.

In 1967 Jack came to Rancho after winning the Crosby at Pebble Beach, fighting a hook. He aimed right to compensate, but mostly mostly ended up in the trees.

Jack Nicklaus’ record in the Los Angeles Open at Rancho Park Golf Course:

1962 – T50th ($33.33) 74-70-72-73 – 289 (Phil Rogers 268)
1963 – T24th ($525) 71-74-68-69 – 282 (Arnold Palmer 274)
1967 – T58th ($0) 71-74-68-69 – 286 (Arnold Palmer 269)

This page and it’s contents are the property of J.I.B. Jones/Golf Historical Society
Copyright ©2010-2016

Golf Historical Society

Holmby Park Pony Golf Course is 87 Years Old Today!

May 18, 2016
Armand Hammer/Holmby Park golf course’s 87th birthday!
by J.I.B. Jones

1926_artist_drawing_proposed_Holmby_Hills_Park — 1926 Proposal for Holmby Park

Before California statehood in 1850, Holmby Park was part of the 4438 acre Rancho San Jose de Buenos Ayres, where cattle were raised under Don Benito Wilson. In 1884 the land was purchased by John Wolfskill, a forty-niner and former state Senator, who also owned the 13,000 acre Escondido ranch in San Diego county. The land was known as the Wolfskill ranch, before and after the failed boom town of Sunset.

In 1919 Arthur Letts, Sr., the merchant prince of Los Angeles, and the founder of Broadway Department Stores, bought the 3296 acre Wolfskill Ranch for a real estate development. The boundaries were roughly Bel Air on the north, with Pico south, and from the Los Angeles Country Club west to Sepulveda boulevard. The area was marketed by the Janss Investment Corporation and named Westwood. The south eastern section, which included the future Century City, was called Westwood Hills.

1905_letts_holmby_house — Holmby House, Laughlin Park, Rancho Los Felis

L.A.C.C. member Arthur Letts named the Holmby Hills area, as he had his nearby home in Laughlin Park; Holmby House. In 1927, his golfing mad son; Arthur Letts Jr., built his own rambling English type house overlooking the country club. It became the infamous Playboy Mansion West in 1971.

It was the company of Letts’ son in law Harold Janss who donated the land in 1926 to the city of Los Angeles, and it was Park Commissioner Van Griffith, son of Griffith Park donor Griffith J. Griffith, who was the father of the new idea of a bowling green and a pony golf course for the park.

1936_holmby_bowling_ad_clip — 1936 Janss Investment Corporation advert

It is likely that William P. Bell and or George C. Thomas Jr. designed the original layout, which was revamped in 1940 under Parks superintendent William Johnson. Alterations, mainly due to providing common park areas at the north end of the park, have reduced the size of the course over the years.

In 1981 Holmby Park Golf Course was threatened with closure, due to a city of Los Angeles budget crisis, but was saved at the last minute by neighbors Hugh Hefner of Playboy Mansion West (the Arthur Letts Jr. house), and Occidental Petroleum billionaire Armand Hammer, whose name now adorns the course.

2012 - holmby - hole and clubhouse sm — Holmby Park green and clubhouse in January 2012

The Golf Division of the Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) of the City of Los Angeles has been operating the 18-hole pony course and bowling greens since 1926.

Happy 87th Birthday Holmby Park!

Golf Historical Society

100 Years of Golf at Griffith Park (FORE)

This is my article about the history of municipal golf in Los Angeles.

A Centennial Celebration – 100 Years of Golf at Griffith Park by JIB Jones – FORE Magazine

Golf Historical Society

What is golf? (Reading 1889)

"the game of Scotland is in danger of deteriorating by some new fangled notions and artifices, which new players and Clubs are introducing with unreasonable keenness. The mania for record-breaking has discolored the purity of the game; distinction by scoring instead of matchplaying has weakened the spirit of the contest; and the substitution of force for scale and the corresponding alteration of the clubs and style, have lowered the standard of this fine art. Real golf, as played in Scotland during the 60s and 70s, is to some extent a thing of the past."

Reading the Golfer – What is Golf? (1889)

Golf Historical Society

Celebrating 100 Years at Brentwood C.C. (FORE)

Classic Course: Brentwood C.C., Los Angeles. An article from the Fall 2015 edition of FORE magazine.

Jay Stuller interviewed me for his excellent article on the early, and mostly unknown, history of Brentwood Country Club.

An Enduring Legacy – Celebrating 100 Years at Brentwood C.C.

Tournament Hostess Marilyn Monroe at Brentwood CC in 1947 — Tournament Hostess Marilyn Monroe at Brentwood, 1947

Golf Historical Society

100 Years of Golf in Griffith Park (book)

by J.I.B. Jones

The First edition, third printing, of the paperback book; 100 Years of Golf in Griffith Park, 1914-2014, is now available to purchase on lulu for $12.00.

cover for 100 years from lulu - product_thumbnail 100 Years of Golf in Griffith Park, 1914-2014 by J.I.B. Jones

Golf Historical Society