Golf: It’s first things first at Santa Ana Country Club

Richard Dunn

It will be a prominent kickoff to the centennial celebration of

Santa Ana Country Club, the oldest golf club in Orange County, when the

curtain is lifted on the club’s remodeling project.

“It’s going to be beautiful. It is beautiful ... what we’re seeing is

beautiful,” SACC Director of Golf Mike Reehl said.

In September 2001, the club will officially turn 100 years old. There

will be tournaments and parties and jubilees then, but before members

hold their champagne glasses up, a stroke of interior and exterior

refurbishing will be complete.

By the end of this year, the updating of the club’s terrace room, card

room, trophy case, hallway and men’s locker room is expected to be

finished.

“It’s almost done,” said Reehl, considered Mr. Santa Ana Country Club

in the minds of many with his upbringing and years of service to the

club.

In 1901, California’s enthusiasm for golf started to grow and 43 new

courses were built, including the first site and forerunner of the

present Santa Ana Country Club.

The five original clubs of the Southern California Golf Association in

1899 included Los Angeles Country Club, Riverside Polo and Golf Club,

Redlands Golf Club, Pasadena Golf Club and Santa Monica Golf Club. Of

those, only Los Angeles and Redlands exist today.

At the turn of the last century, sports-minded enthusiasts in Orange

County didn’t want to be left behind, so they banded together to form

Santiago Golf Club in 1901 and the first golf holes were played in Orange

County.

The club’s original 14 members, led by president R.S. Sanborn, leased

acreage from James Irvine in the Peters Canyon area, a small valley two

miles southwest of present-day Irvine Park.

The first group laid out a nine-hole course with fairways of native

soil, not grass, and oil-soaked sand “greens” about 30 feet in diameter.

As Santa Ana moves closer to its centennial celebration, a historical

look at the club will be provided in this space periodically.

In the 19th annual SACC Member/Member Championship, Eric Pepys and

Frank Robitaille won low net while Dave Bock and Gregg Hemphill captured

low gross, shooting 64-68--132 in the better ball of partners.

Low net runners-up were John Mullins and Lew Schmid, while Ed Shumaker

and Wayne Searcey finished third.

Low gross runners-up were Jake Klohs and Duane Hastings (138), while

Boyd Martin and Brian Towersey were third (141).

This weekend, SACC will host its Senior Gross Championship, a two-day,

36-hole stroke-play event. Dan Bird is the defending champion, shooting

76-79--155 last year.

Dennis Harwood of Big Canyon Country Club has been elected to the 2001

Southern California Golf Association Board of Directors.

Harwood, a rules official for the United States Golf Association, was

co-chairman of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Big Canyon in

early October.

Harwood, a former Newport Harbor High basketball player (circa ‘56),

is also a member at Indian Ridge Country Club in Palm Desert.

Big Canyon’s Ron Livingston, who retired from the SCGA board, was

accorded an SCGA life membership. Livingston will remain active as a

member of the Golf Course Management, Inc., board.

Big Canyon will host a Southern California PGA Educational Seminar on

merchandising next Wednesday.

The third annual Myron McNamara Memorial Golf Tournament is Nov. 13 at

Los Serranos Golf and Country Club in Chino Hills.

McNamara, who coached the UC Irvine men’s tennis team to six NCAA

Division II championships, was a longtime coach in the Newport-Mesa

community.

McNamara also built and managed tennis clubs, including the modern-day

Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club, Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades

and La Costa in San Diego County.

The upcoming event benefits the Myron McNamara Endowment Fund at UCI.

UCI men’s tennis coach Steve Clark is a Newport Beach resident. Details:

(949) 824-8366.