The Rebirth of Golden Gate Park Golf Course, Part 2
Given a sandy canvas, course architect Jay Blasi conjured a whimsical design that combines fun and playability
A pint-sized Jay Blasi fell in love with golf playing the humble municipal courses around Madison, Wisc. The game became his life’s work, through golf course design. As he became intimately familiar with what makes a course inspiring and thought-provoking, Blasi often reflected on the bland playing fields he experienced through the years. “So many municipal courses or places where people learn to play aren’t architecturally compelling,” he says. “It creates another barrier to entry. Not only do you have to fall in love with the game, you have to do so on an uncompelling piece of property.”
Blasi played a part in changing the public/private paradigm as the project architect for Robert Trent Jones II on Chambers Bay, a county-owned course outside of Seattle that hosted the 2015 U.S. Open. But Chambers is hardly a place for beginners. Around the time of that Open, Blasi made the one-hour drive from his home in Los Gatos, Cal. to San Francisco for a spin around Golden Gate Park Golf Course, a par-3 course situated amidst graceful cypress trees at the western edge of the park. (By then, he had already opened his own firm, Jay Blasi Design.) GGP’s greens were flat and boring, the turf spotty and the playing corridors crowded by tree limbs, but Blasi saw something else: “It was the dream project: it’s public, it’s sand, it’s near the water.”
Blasi became friends with Dan Burke, the CEO of the First Tee-San Francisco, which operates Golden Gate Park and uses it as a venue for the kids in its chapter. Burke had a vision of transforming GGP, and Blasi eagerly signed, donating his design services. “Everything I have in my life that’s great is a byproduct of golf,” says Blasi, 45. “If I can give back to the game a little, donating my time to be here, it’s a great thing I’m honored to do.”
When construction began on March 6 of this year, the first order of business was to scrape away a foot of turf and thatch, revealing the rolling sand dunes beneath. (Ocean Beach is only 450 yards from the first tee.) In his redesign, Blasi balanced fun, whimsy and strategic challenge with the demands of hosting 40,000+ rounds per year, the bulk of them played by beginners, kids and seniors. On many of the reshaped holes the fairways are built up on the edges, to keep errants shots in play, and the green complexes feature slopes to guide balls back toward the putting surface. There will be no rough at GGP, so worm-burners get more roll on the firm, fast fescue. Expansive teeing areas allow for three sets of tees, so newbies can play a very short course while from the back of the box better players will have to reach for mid- and perhaps long-irons. Blasi and his project manager, Josh Lewis, directed three talented shapers who created lovely, rustic sandscapes that connect the course visually to the nearby beach, but these areas are situated well behind greens or in other out-of-the-way areas that are unlikely to ensnare many golfers.
“Jay is an up-and-coming rock star,” says Burke, “but what I love most about him is that he doesn’t care about having his name in the paper for doing this project. Jay dug in deep, he wanted an understanding of who uses this facility—not just First Tee kids but people who have been playing here for decades. The impact on the community at large is really at the forefront of Jay’s mind when thinking about the design and the enjoyment of the game for everybody, not just a small subset of who plays golf.”
Blasi (above) resequenced Golden Gate Park to improve the flow of the course: the old number five hole is now the first hole. The new second tee box is going to become one of the celebrated spots in San Francisco golf, with panoramic views of the ocean, hillsides dotted with distinctive pastel houses and a glimpse of the iconic Dutch Windmill. The downhill 114-yarder features a cool two-tiered green and takes golfers into the most secluded part of the course, which feels at one with the park setting.
The third hole will be one the toughest on the course owing to a narrow, sloping green. Number 4 is likely to be Golden Gate’s most talked about hole because of its huge punchbowl green, which actually connects to the nearby first green. “There are going to be a lot of hole-in-ones here, a lot of people experiencing the joy of watching their ball get closer to the hole,” says Blasi. The aiming point for the downhill, 153-yard fifth hole will be the windmill, with the green nestled into a lovely grove of trees. The hole was shortened to make room for a lively putting green and picnic area near the clubhouse. “This is a community gathering place,” says Burke. “We want to foster that feeling.”
The 130-yard, uphill sixth hole is the visual focal point of GGP, with a huge, shaggy blowout bunker behind the green, which is visible from the clubhouse. In creating it, Blasi was inspired by the towering dune that famously frames the ninth green at Cypress Point. “It has that wow factor,” says Blasi, “but uphill, on a relatively long hole with a very deep green, it won’t be in play for most golfers.”
The seventh hole begins the descent to the finish, with a riotous horseshoe green that wraps around a cute little pot bunker. Number eight (below) is a petite hole that can play as short as 52 yards, and the mounding between tee and green offers the chance to putt the ball all the way to the hole. The stout 160-yard finishing hole plays through a corridor among the cypress trees.
In late-April, with half of the holes shaped and irrigation piping in place, it was already apparent that something special was brewing at GGP. “The timing is right for this in the golf world,” said Josh Lewis. “The inclusion, the approachability, the fun factor—we’re kind of breaking the mold of what a municipal short course is.”
“No offense to other facilities around the country,” said Burke, “but from my lens, having a lifetime in the game, this will probably be the best 9-hole par-3 course in America.”
Blasi was most enthused about the democratic nature of the course. “You can get here by bus, you can walk, you can ride your bike here!” he said. “Because it’s small, this is a place where people are going to learn to play the game. This place is built for fun. Kids can succeed here, beginners can succeed, people of all ages can succeed. For this to be the first course they play, with some of the characteristics of the best courses in the country, we think that’s awesome.”
This is the second in a five-part series about the remaking of Golden Gate Park Golf Course, kicking off our new “In The Dirt” franchise. Fresh Golden Gate content will drop weekly. In the coming months, “In The Dirt” will chronicle restorations at Pasatiempo and Canal Shores and new builds at Gamble Sands and Crazy Mountain Ranch. Thanks for following along!