Researched, compiled and written by John Gourhan. Published by The Donning Company.
Table of Contents
Foreword- Margee Witt Prologue- Art Spander Preface- John Gourhan Beginnings Founding Fathers Roaring Twenties The Oakland Opens An Architect’s View 1930s, 1940s, 1950s Those Who Served Champions Generations Employees Presidents Notables Photo Essay—Golf Course Photo Essay—Enjoying Sequoyah General Credits Past Presidents Women’s Champions Men’s Champions Club Superintendents Index About the Author |
Sequoyah Country Club Centennial Edition
A quality and numbered limited edition of 240 elegant pages is available only through the Sequoyah Country Club - http://sequoyahcc.com The E-book is also available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sequoyah-Country-Club-John-Gourhan Here is a sample from the "Beginnings" Chapter: The Club is Formed The Haines Ranch, owned and managed by Miriam H. Haines, was located in the Oakland hills approximately one-and-one-half miles behind Elmhurst. Originally occupying an exclusive hunt-club, the site was chosen by a group of local businessmen as the perfect land for a new golf and country club. On October 3, 1913 twenty-three men met in the St. Francis Hotel and formed the new group while appointing directors and laying out their ambitious plans for their Country Club. The minutes of that first meeting show many prominent citizens elected to the first board of directors, including P. J. Clay and Fred R. Sherman, co-owners of Sherman/Clay Company, and Col. W. S. Rheem, president of Standard Oil. Dennis Searles, whose business empire was built on his father's discovery of Borax in the Upper Mojave Desert, was elected as the first president. P.T. Clay became the first Chairman of the newly minted Country Club and by the next day, Saturday, October 4th, 1913, one hundred names had been approved for membership by the underwriters. Another two-hundred-and-fifty were expected to join in short order and without much marketing. When the Club was formed at the St. Francis Hotel, the underwriters had agreed to pay three hundred dollars each upon the completed acquisition of the land by McGurrin. They were to pay one hundred dollars down and the balance after the purchase was consummated. On November 1, 1913, F.E. McGurrin issued a promissory note to Ms. Haines for the amount of $40,000, and the purchase was complete. Harvey Lindsay of the Union Construction Company was appointed architect to lay out the preliminary course. The San Francisco Chronicle on 10/4/1913, reported, “One hundred names have been approved by the underwriters as prospective members of the club and the necessary 350 will be reached without the slightest missionary work. An auto road through the entire property is now under construction and will be completed before the rainy season…The terms of payment for the land has been made more easy for the purchasers, which gives the club a chance to proceed immediately with the building of the clubhouse, the plans of which are being drawn up by the architects. A temporary course will be laid out during the winter months with the greens in their permanent location and the directors expect that golfers will be able to play over the new links by the commencement of March.” These men guided the destiny of the early days at Sequoyah and it was largely through their efforts that, today, members can boast of one of the most beautiful and testing private golf clubs in Northern California. McGurrin even donated $100 for the purpose of buying a trophy to be played for in connection with the championship of the new Sequoyah Country Club. By the following spring, the course had been laid out and there was a great sense of excitement throughout the Bay Area. The San Francisco Chronicle reported, “With the old Haines ranch back of Elmhurst transformed into a golf links, the smart set about the bay will have a new pleasure ground. The work will be begun on the clubhouse shortly, and before another season the fields will be completed.” On May 17, 1914 an Oakland Tribune article commented on the newly-transformed grassy slopes of the uplands, “Following long, gently sloping coulees crossed by deluvial clefts and topping low crests from which the eye wanders afar over city and bay to the opaline blue of the coast range, the only all-turf golf course in California is being laid out on the extensive preserves of the Sequoyah Country Club high among the swelling foothills and bosky canyons east of Elmhurst. Here where but yesterday rippling fields of grain swayed before the trade winds on the breezy uplands, wielders of the niblick and cleek from all quarters of the globe will contend for the premier honors of the world during the Panama Pacific International Exposition." |