The golf world's attention turns this month to the Olympic Club in San Francisco, which is hosting its fifth U.S. Open. Olympic is one of the great private clubs in a city with distinctive and historic public golf as well -- including golfers such as 72-year-old cabinet maker Brian Wade (right), who has played Gleneagles GC at McLaren Park, a testy nine-holer, more than 1,000 times since his first round there in 1968. San Francisco's public courses are fun, busy places that mirror the city's diverse population and shatter the illusion that golf is only a sport of the elite. How deep are its muny-golf roots? The "City," San Francisco's amateur championship, was established in 1917 and is the longest consecutively contested amateur event in the United States. From the nine-hole par-3 course at Golden Gate Park to TPC Harding Park, which has hosted PGA and Champions tour events and the Presidents Cup, there is something for everyone.
A golfer pitches to the 16th green at Lincoln Park as the city looms in the background.
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- golf,
- San Francisco,
- muny courses,
- photo essay,
- Bill Fields
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