British China diplomat Alexander Robert Campbell Johnston
Alexander Robert Campbell Johnston was a British diplomat who served “many years in China under H.M. Foreign and Colonial Offices.” He visited Los Angeles in 1883, where he bought the 2000 acre San Rafael Ranch, subdividing the first part of it as the Annandale Tract in 1886.
He was the son of Sir Alexander Johnston of the Clan Johnston who was Chief Justice of Ceylon. He married the daughter of Sir William Campbell of the Clan Campbell who descended from the Duke of Argyll, and who was the last British Governor of South Carolina. Together they had ten sons and two daughters.
Alexander Campbell Johnston left three of his sons, along with their cousin Robert Lindsay, to manage the San Rafael Ranch. Other sons were dropped off in Canada, Australia, Liberia, Fresno, and South Africa.
Led by number one son Conway and Robert Lindsay, the Campbell Johnston’s were the first to bring coursing, hunting, riding, driving, horse racing, tennis, cricket, croquet, polo, and golf, to California in the 1880’s, founding the Pasadena Hunt Club and its Rose Parade, and the Southern California lawn tennis association in Santa Monica.
Alexander Robert Campbell Johnston died at San Rafael Ranch, Los Angeles, January 21st 1888.
The UCLA football star turned base ball superstar stood up for equal rights for all people, and despite the amazing contributions he made to America in his lifetime, I am sure Jackie Robinson would still be speaking, writing, and campaigning to change the plight of the many underprivileged members of our society who are still fighting the ongoing status quo. Racism never went away. We still hear and see it every day.
Even though Jackie “broke the color barrier” and became the first “person of color” to play in the white professional base ball league, he continued to be treated as less than human, unable to travel, sleep or eat with his team mates in public. Robinson even ended up living in Connecticut, because Westchester wouldn’t let him or Harry Belafonte buy a home there.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s our family drove through the southern states at Easter on our way to Carolina or Florida for our winter holiday. The overwhelming memory we all have of that time was the total segregation we saw at restaurants, gas stations, corner stores, and hotels. We were ashamed to be white. We were ashamed to be human beings. Black is just a color. Love thy neighbor. Jackie Robinson was a saint.
AUGUSTA (Ga.) March 19. – This masters’ tournament at Augusta, starting on Thursday, will carry more than one important chapter from the blue book of golf. (H. Grantland Rice, March 1934)
Henry Grantland “Granny” Rice, the sports writer for the New York Herald Tribune, syndicated columnist, and editor of The American Golfer magazine, was also a founding member of the Augusta National Golf Club, and very close friends with Bob Jones and Clifford Roberts. It was Rice and Roberts who asked Alister MacKenzie to design the 19thhole at Augusta.
But more importantly, it was Granny Rice who called the Augusta National Golf Club Invitation Tournament the “masters.” And he did so before the first contest was held in March of 1934.
Clifford Roberts wrote a different story in his 1976 autobiography, not mentioning Rice. But either Roberts had forgotten, or he never read any of Granny’s articles!
“The Old-Time Parade” was in reference to the large number of golf’s amateur and professional masters who were invited to play in the inaugural Augusta National Golf Club Invitation Tournament. Here are some from Grantland Rice’s list:
Professionals: Freddie McLeod – 1908 U.S. Open champion Macdonald Smith – 1910 U.S. Open runner-up Walter Hagen – The Legend! Long Jim Barnes – 1921 U.S. open, 1925 Open, 1916 & 1919 P.G.A. champion Jock Hutchison – 1920 P.G.A., 1921 Open champion Leo Diegel – 1928 & 1929 P.G.A. champion
Amateurs: Johnny Goodman – 1933 U.S. Open champion George Dunlap – 1933 U.S. Amateur champion Ross Somerville – 1932 U.S. Amateur champion, Six-Time Canadian Amateur champion Chick Evans – 1916 U.S. Open, 1916 & 1920 U.S. Amateur champion Jess Sweetser – 1922 U.S. Amateur, 1926 British Amateur champion Gus Moreland – Texas Star Johnny Dawson – California Star
The 1932 United States amateur golf champion, and Canadian legend, Charles Ross “Sandy” Somerville, became the first golfer to score a hole-in-one at Augusta National golf club, which he did during the second day of the first masters invitation tournament on the 145-yard, par 3, seventh hole (now the 16th, after the nines were reversed).
Augusta National Golf Club hole No. 7 circa 1934.
“Somerville used a niblick. The ball hit in front and bounced into the cup.”(A niblick is like the modern 9 iron, or wedge) – NYT March 24, 1934
Somerville, who was a six-time Canadian amateur champion from London, Ontario, was not otherwise having a stellar day, as his front nine 39 became a 78 by the end of it.
Robert T. ‘Bob’ Jones and C. Ross ‘Sandy’ Somerville at Augusta National G.C.
Earlier in the week, “Sandy” was paired with Bobby Jones in the two ball foursomes. The duo scored 76 and were not in contention. The 1934 “masters” was the first, and was Jones’ return to competition since he had retired after winning 3 1/2 legs of the so-called “grand slam” in 1930.
The new Annandale Golf Club course and club house at San Rafael Heights was formerly opened on April 10, 1907. The 18-hole golf course was 5,417 yards long, and ran north from the new club house following the routing of the existing Campbell-Johnston golf course before crossing Eagle Rock Road (Colorado Blvd) and heading further up into the foot hills.
A drawing of the Annandale course layout, circa 1907
“The opening was most auspicious and the finest club house and the finest golf course on the Pacific coast were liberally praised by the hundreds who attended the opening.” (L.A. Herald –April 11, 1907)
The new Annandale Golf Club was three years in the making and the third attempt by hotel and real estate men to take over the Campbell-Johnston’s historic San Rafael Ranch golf course, the first golf course in California and possibly one of the first in the United States. The oil and sand-green links was laid out before 1890, and was counted as one of Pasadena’s five pre-1900 courses, even though the ranch was in Los Angeles at that time. When the new club chose to be supplied with electricity and gas from Pasadena, rather than from the L. A. Gas & Electric Co., the course was set for its future annexation to Pasadena.
By 1906, the Pasadena Country Club course at Oak Knoll and Pasadena’s Hotel Green links were being lost to residential development. A new golf course was badly needed for the throngs of millionaire tourists visiting Pasadena.
The Hotel Green, Pasadena, circa 1895
A new organization, the Pasadena Golf Club Association, was a land company formed in 1906 by Hotel Green manager J.H. Holmes and owner G.G. Green, Colin M. Stewart and Colonel Wentworth of the Hotel Maryland, D.M. Linnard of the California Hotel Co., Conway S. Campbell-Johnston (land owner), the C.L. Hunter golfing family of Chicago, Pasadena real estate men E.H. Strafford & James Campbell, and R.H. Hay Chapman and E.B. Tufts of the Los Angeles Country Club.
The Annandale Golf Club house, circa 1907
$100,000 was raised to buy 127 acres from the Campbell-Johnston’s to build a club house and expand the old course to 18-holes. Once completed it would be leased to the new Annandale Golf Club, which was made up of the same directors and officers as the Pasadena Golf Club Association, but with Colin Stewart the club president, and James Campbell the secretary and head of the promoting company.
The association hired Hotel Green Golf Club professional Al Naylor, George O’Neil of Pasadena Country Club and Arthur Rigby of Los Angeles Country Club to lay out the links. Charles Orr and E.H. Strafford led the of the Annandale Golf Club green committee.
In April 1959, six foot five inch George Bayer won the long driving contest on the first fairway at Augusta National for the second straight year. Bayer was last to go, and his first drive went 304 yards, but his second went 321 yards. In 1959… here is a link to an S.I. article about George’s long-drives.
George Bayer winning the 1959 Masters long-drive competition
Two years earlier, in 1957, Mike Fetchick won the Master’s long drive when he hammered his ball 351 yards from the 1st tee. In 1957…
Jack Neville teeing off from the first hole at Pebble Beach in March 1918
“Undoubtedly the golfer on his first visit to Pebble Beach has a delightful surprise in store, for he will find an all-grass links, tees, fairways, and greens.“ (R.H. Hay Chapman, April, 1918)
The story of the Hotel Del Monte No. 2 golf course at Pebble Beach has been smudged into propaganda, which is not likely to change, especially in 2019, with the onslaught of publicity for Pebble Beach’s “100th anniversary,” and the holding of the U.S.G.A.’s Open Golf Championship in celebration thereof.
The Hotel Del Monte circa 1900
The truth is, the Hotel Del Monte was the grandest resort in California history, and the center of California golf competition since the Del Monte Cup in 1899. The Pacific Coast Golf Association was founded at Del Monte in 1901, and the California Golf Association in 1911, by which time the all-grass Del Monte No. 1 golf course had become overly congested with golfers.
1925-26 map showing the sand dunes at Moss Beach.
After taking advice from numerous golf experts, who were unanimous in their opinion, plans were announced on December 26, 1915, by Hotel Del Monte manager Carl Stanley for building a Scottish golf links on the sand dunes at Moss Beach early in the New Year. New manager Stanley was an ardent golfer known for developing the Hotel Virginia and the Virginia Country Club at Long Beach. His son Ashton Stanley was California’s first Junior golf champion in 1919.
Carl Stanley, the golfer, and S.F.B. Morse, the poloist.
As fate would have it, over New Years 1915-16, Del Monte property company manager, and ardent polo player, Sam Morse arrived to look over development plans for his Del Monte Unit. Strangely, Morse soon sent a telegram to the Universal Film Company at Universal City, Los Angeles, offering 20,000 acres of the Monterey peninsula to Hollywood as a movie set. This, thankfully, never happened!
After consulting with Carl Stanley and Del Monte golf manager Jack Neville, Morse shelved plans to spend $250,000 on the golf links at Moss Beach and decided that Pebble Beach was a much better and far more affordable location, as it already had a club house, the Hotel’s electric bus service, and Jack Neville’s real estate office, which needed a lot of help!
Aside from being the manager of Del Monte’s golf division and the Pebble Beach subdivision, Jack Neville was also the secretary of the California Golf Association, and publisher of their organ, Pacific Golf & Motor magazine, as well as a legendary multiple championship winning amateur golfer, and coincidently, chairman of the Del Monte Golf and Country Club green committee along with amateur champion Douglas Grant and club president, and California golf legend, Charles Maud.
Douglas Grant, Ashton Stanley, and Jack Neville in 1918 at Del Monte.
In January 1916, Stanley and Neville hired professional golfers James Donaldson (Scotland), Wilfrid Reid (England), and Walter Fovargue (U.S.A.), to remodel the Del Monte No. 1 golf course for the Western Amateur Championship in July. In February, Donaldson and Reid began laying out holes at Pebble Beach, and by March 1917, Neville and Grant had chosen the final layout from six different plans, and the new Del Monte No. 2 golf course at Pebble Beach was born.
Jack Neville at Del Monte in 1914.
Jack Neville was indeed the true “architect” of the Pebble Beach golf course, as he planned and superintended every detail of its construction, and by February 1918, the all-grass course had the best tees and fairways in the State of California. It had cost the company $100,000, with $22,000 spent on underground piping for the 450 outlet irrigation system, which in 1918 was “the most up to date and efficient water system in the United States.“(W.A. Buckner, Golfers Magazine 1921)
The Pebble Beach Forest Lodge was north of 17-mile drive (Cypress), facing Pebble Beach.
Unfortunately, on December 16, 1917, just eight weeks before the opening, fire destroyed the Pebble Beach Forest Lodge club house, which was a huge blow to the company. As soon as possible a new golf shop and lockers were constructed, and plans were drawn by Lewis Hobart (who also designed the old Lodge) for a new and much larger lodge, which wouldn’t open until 1919.
William Tucker
With the Pebble Beach golf course opening delayed until March 1918, Stanley and Neville had a chance to do more work on the greens, which had grown poorly over the wet winter. They hired America’s turf and grass expert, William Tucker, who rebuilt and re-seeded the troubled greens, but it was too late for them to be fully ready for opening day.
Pebble Beach hole #8 in 1918
Del Monte No. 2 at Pebble Beach (Pebble Beach Golf Links) opened for play on March, 30, 1918. The new golf course was 6,588 yards, par 74, from the championship tees, and 6,188 yards from the alternate tees. It is interesting to note that the original eighteenth hole was a 575 yard, par 5, which must have been altered by the construction of the new lodge, which was built on the south side of 17-mile drive (Cypress), across the road from the old lodge.
The opening card, with the back nine yardage added up incorrectly.
“Natural Hazards abound and the ocean hazards, while not difficult, will be real mental hazards for all the challengers of ‘Mr Par’. Whether the second rater or dub golfer will be able to get around the course in respectable figures without the loss of half a dozen balls is something that can only be answered when conditions are more normal.” (“Bobs” – San Francisco Chronicle, March 31, 1918)
The first golf tournament was a Four Ball “foursomes” match with teams of amateurs against professionals and was played on the following day (March 31).
In the feature match of the Four Ball, Jack Neville teamed with Fred Reilly and beat professionals Mike Brady & Tom McQuarrie, 4 and 3.
Neville and Reilly also had the low best ball score of 71.
Champion Mike Brady and Fred Reilly of Burlingame
On April 1st, 1918, the Hotel Del Monte held an Open tournament over thirty-six holes, medal play, for amateurs and professionals. Many amateurs chose not to lose any more golf balls and joined the gallery. Bets were laid that no player would beat 160 for two rounds from the championship tees. Instead they saw the hottest golfer in America, Mike Brady of Boston and Brentwood Country Club, Los Angeles, play like a machine and score 79-75, for 154, winning over runner-up and Pebble Beach professional Harold Sampson by thirteen strokes! Low amateur was a tie for third place between State amateur champions Jack Neville and Dr. Fredericks on 168. Other than Brady’s blistering golf, course knowledge was a big factor in the low scoring.
Other professional competitors included Tom Hughes, John Black, Tom McQuarrie, Harold Clark, Bob Clark, Peter Hay, George Turnbull (new Del Monte No. 1 pro), and amateurs Arthur Vincent and Fred Reilly.
“Few people as yet realize that one of America’s best golf courses has been built at Pebble Beach.” (R.H. Hay Chapman, August 1918)
Harold Sampson in 1919
Harold Sampson scored a course record 70, in July, 1918, the same month that alcohol was banned at the Hotel Del Monte, at Pebble Beach, and over the rest of the Monterey Peninsula until the War ended, which was another huge blow to the Del Monte company’s business. In September, Sampson left his shop to take over from Walter Fovargue in San Francisco. He didn’t return until 1919, when the new Del Monte Lodge was opened on Washington’s Birthday.
Jack Neville joined the United States army at Camp Lewis in September 1918, as World War I took over everyone’s lives
Brentwood Country Club temporary club house and golf starter hut, circa 1916
The Brentwood Country Club opened its first nine holes on March 25, 1916, less than a year after founding president, Thomas Bundy, secured the land, and founded the Santa Monica Country Club. The new club had great plans for golf, tennis (lighted courts), and polo, all on 160 acres at Brentwood Park, Santa Monica.
The Santa Monica Country Club aimed to be a real “country club”, with tennis represented by Santa Monica tennis legends, Tom Bundy, May Bundy (Sutton), Herman Janss, Claude Wayne, and Florence Sutton. Golf was led by first vice president, and green chairman, Thomas McCall of the Los Angeles Country Club, with help from a “Los Angeles expert”, and player advisors, E.S. “Scotty” Armstrong, and Norman Macbeth. The polo faction was headed by Riverside, and Santa Monica, golf and polo legend, George Waring, poloist, J.B. Proctor, and Thomas Dudley, the Mayor of Santa Monica. The legendary architect and real estate developer, Robert Marsh, was also a founding director.
Plans for a two-story frame club house eventually fell through, and by the opening weekend, lockers and conveniences were installed in the former San Vicente Land Company real estate office, located across the street from the golf course.
No tennis courts were built by the opening, but three were available adjacent in Brentwood Park; two at the Bundy estate, considered the best in Southern California, and one at Herman Janss’.
The club held a two day golf competition on March 25 and 26, hosting 500 guests, at what they called “an informal gathering.”
Hutt Martin, of the Los Angeles Country Club, acted as temporary professional, and contests for silver cups were held for, approaching, driving, and putting . Only practice rounds were played on the new 3400 yard golf course, which apparently required some learning, and some growing in, before scoring could be considered. The second loop of nine holes would open later in the year.
Charles Van Loan and Dr. Fredericks at Del Monte (Monterey), 1918
After an infamous round of golf on Del Monte No. 2 at Pebble Beach in April 1918, sports writer, humorist, and author, Charles E. Van Loan, said, “Never again, it is too dangerous a course.”
Van Loan found a very large garter snake next to his ball on the fifth hole, and then “encountered four prairie dogs, innumerable lizards, and three jackrabbits. Yes indeed it is a dangerous course.”
