Golf Digest Search Results

Lawsuit against historic Sharp Park gets dismissed

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 21:24:00 GMT

Advocates of public golf in San Francisco, who have fought doggedly the last few years in support of Sharp Park golf course in nearby Pacifica, Calif., were taking a deep breath and looking toward the future Friday following Thursday's dismissal of a lawsuit that threatened the 80-year-old Alister Mackenzie design.

"It's a tremendous victory," said Bo Links, co-founder of the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance, co-defendant in the suit with the City and County of San Francisco. "It now opens the door for restoration plans to move forward in earnest, including the restoration of Mackenzie features on the course and hopefully a Mackenzie museum in a new, restored clubhouse."

Various non-profit conversation groups had sued the city for violating the Endangered Species Act, alleging that the course harmed the threatened California red-legged frog and the endangered San Francisco garter snake. In ordering the dismissal, U.S. District Court judge Susan Illston cited an Oct. 2 biological opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that found golf at Sharp Park "is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the California red-legged frog or San Francisco garter snake."

Sharp Park's maintenance operations must be done under strict FWS restrictions designed to protect the amphibian and reptile. In its report, the FWS said it anticipates over a 10-year period one adult frog and one snake "will be subject to incidental take in the form of death or injury" because of golf operation and maintenance.

"This is a common sense result," said Chris Carr, an attorney representing the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance. "And it should lead to a period of cooperation in which San Francisco and San Mateo County can work together to restore habitat for the species, while preserving historic and popular public recreation."

Sharp Park came close to possibly being shut down in December 2011 when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance that would have transferred the supervision of Sharp Park to the National Park Service. The golf course was spared when San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee vetoed the legislation, writing, "I believe in striving for equilibrium between environmental and recreational needs."

In the wake of the lawsuit's dismissal, Links reflected on the lengthy battle to thwart efforts to close the course.

"I remember being in the Sharp Park clubhouse one evening in 2005 or so, warning people that this stuff [threat] was coming," Links said. "They couldn't believe it and hooted us out of the room. Now, they're saying thank you for warning us. The property is in jeopardy, and if you want to preserve it, you have to fight to preserve it. That's just the way it is.

"In a way, it's a message for anybody who cares about golf," Links continued. "If you care about it, you have to support it. You can't let your guard down. You've got to educate people, become an ambassador of the game and communicate it to non-golfers too so they understand the values and merit of golf. This game has endured for 500 years for a reason."

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Dustin Johnson launches drives from home plate

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:25:00 GMT

For most players, the Wednesday before a major offers one last opportunity to complete preparation for the tournament. Even so, players employ different strategies. Some play and practice hard while others, such as Phil Mickelson who played at San Francisco GC instead of Olympic Club on Wednesday, seek to get away from it all. For Dustin Johnson, it meant taking a few cuts at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.

Not with a bat, however. As part of a promotion by TaylorMade-adidas, Johnson's equipment sponsor, DJ was to hit tee shots using his R11S driver from home plate, over the right field wall and into McCovey Cove, the body of water behind right field. Only some 150 yards, the task of reaching the water was no major feat. Still, Johnson had several members of the hometown Giants and visiting Houston Astros mesmerized with his powerful blasts, one which measured 344 yards.

After the exhibition (which included similar attempts by former major leaguer J.T. Snow and Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain, the latter showing plenty of game with a trio of impressive drives), Johnson fielded questions in the Giants dugout, including one about why he was doing something such as this on the eve of a major.

"I played baseball in high school and I thought it would be pretty fun," said Johnson. "It's the first time I've been to the stadium and not everybody gets to see it like this. I have an afternoon tee time tomorrow so it's no big deal. Plus if you're doing a lot of work on Wednesday you're really not prepared."

Johnson, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch (bouncing the ball short of the plate; check out the video, below), can only hope his prep at AT&T Park brings the same results as it did for Cain, who went on to pitch a perfect game against the Astros.

--E. Michael Johnson

Golf helping rough neighborhood near San Francisco's Olympic Club

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:10:00 GMT

When a spiffy, artificial turf short-game area and first-class netted driving range was installed in 2009 for a new First Tee program at Visitacion Valley Middle School in southeastern San Francisco, less than 10 miles, but a world away from U.S. Open site Olympic Club, skeptics had their doubts.

The school is situated in one of the city's roughest neighborhoods, including the notorious Sunnydale housing project. Seventy-eight percent of Visitacion Valley's students -- sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders -- live below the poverty level. The parents of only 2 percent of the students graduated from college. Several years ago, 70 of the school's 400 students had both parents who were incarcerated. Few have been unscathed by the area's violence.

"There was a spree five years ago when we had 41 murders," says the school's outgoing principal James Dierke. "I had kids coming in all wearing pictures of somebody who died. They were related to the person who died or related to the person who did the shooting or they witnessed the shooting."

Three years since the golf facility was put in at Visitacion Valley, on the same land where, as Dierke says, "neighborhood kids would come with the cars they stole and light them on fire," there is no graffiti, no damage. "No one has destroyed or vandalized anything in three years," Dierke says.

It looks like new. So, in fact, do many of the students.

San Francisco Love Story

Jaime Diaz — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 04:00:00 GMT

A native son reflects on what makes the city game in general and The Olympic Club in particular so special.

A More Open Open Course

Ron Whitten — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 04:00:00 GMT

What didn't kill Olympic only made it stronger. It's again ready to test the best players in the world, for the fifth time.

San Francisco Municipal Courses: A Photo Essay by Bill Fields

Bill Fields — Tue, 29 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Bill Fields captures the character and energy of San Francisco's muny courses

Away Game: Gold Rush!

Matt Ginella — Mon, 21 May 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Prospecting for the best public golf in San Francisco.

GW Reader: You missed the point on Sharp Park

Bob Carney — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:42:00 GMT

Bill Fields' excellent coverage (in photos and reportage) of the controversy over and possible closing of Sharp Park GC in California, drew this letter from a reader opposed to keeping the course open. And, yes,...

San Francisco mayor's decision helps Sharp Park

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:38:00 GMT

Citing a desire to see both habitat restoration and affordable public golf at Sharp Park golf course, San Francisco mayor Edwin Lee on Monday vetoed legislation that would have transferred the supervision of the site to the National Park Service and likely shuttered the 1932 Alister Mackenzie design.

In a letter communicating his veto to San Francisco's board of supervisors, which voted 6-5 for the ordinance Dec. 13, Lee noted ongoing environmental analysis by the city's Recreation and Park Department that would restore 19 acres of habitat as well as negotiations with San Mateo County for a long-term partnership to manage the course.

Sharp Park, located in Pacifica, Calif., has been under attack by conservation groups concerned about the health of a frog and snake species that live there, but the mayor's veto gives the course renewed hope about its future.

"The ordinance that I am vetoing would bring these productive discussions to a halt, and instead compel the Department to begin dialogue anew with the National Park Service about closing the golf course at Sharp Park," Lee wrote. "I believe in striving for equilibrium between environmental and recreational needs. The implicit aim of this legislation -- cutting off talks with San Mateo County and envisioning the end of golf operations at Sharp Park -- is not a balanced approach ..."

-- Bill Fields
Follow on Twitter: @BillFields1

Historic Sharp Park's fate hangs in the balance

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:19:00 GMT

For scores of folks in and around San Francisco, a man named Ed Lee is now the most important golfer in the world.

Lee is the mayor of San Francisco, said to play the game. But over the next 10 days, unless he makes the right call, many golfers in the Bay Area will likely lose a course they love to play, a course that has been open since 1932, a municipal course that starkly defies many of the negative and clichéd stereotypes those who dislike golf love to perpetuate. The muny is accessible and inexpensive, enjoyed by people of various collars and colors.

Environmental opponents of Sharp Park golf course in Pacifica., Calif. -- in the name of saving an imperiled reptile and an amphibian that, according to other smart folks, with a bit of work, can happily coexist with the Alister Mackenzie design -- have been trying for a couple of years to shut it down. On Tuesday they got as close as they have come to getting that done.

Photo by Bill Fields

The board of supervisors in San Francisco, which controls Sharp Park even though it is located in suburban Pacifica, voted 6-5 to transfer management of Sharp Park to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The ordinance doesn't stipulate that the course definitely would be closed, but that is scant encouragement to those who play approximately 50,000 rounds a year at Sharp Park and tireless advocates who want to preserve the golf ground shaped by one of the sport's most significant architects.