The title is supposedly an acronym for where the name “golf” came from. I don’t like to be politically incorrect but, this is what is called an “old wives’ tale.” Women have been very involved in golf on the Monterey Bay. Marion Hollins, a championship golfer, developed the Cypress Point Club and Pasatiempo Golf Club. Mary Pickford, famous actress and wife of actor Douglas Fairbanks, played golf in the early days of the Rio Del Mar Golf Course. There was a Rio Del Mar Ladies Golf Club group and, in the 1930s, a program was set up to entertain children on the beach each Thursday from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. so that their mothers would be able to play golf. So, how did the ladies get to play golf, along with the men, in Aptos?
Before Rio Del Mar, there was Aptos-By-the-Sea. On July 5, 1922, Fred and Phoebe Somers of Pomona, purchased the 2,390-acre Aptos Ranch from the heirs of Claus Spreckels, financed partly by pre-selling parcels to investors and developers. Their plan was to develop the Aptos Beach Country Club, a golf course and to sell residential lots.
In 1925, the Somers and their investors joined forces with real estate developers from San Francisco, Monroe, Lyon and Miller, who would eventually be known as Peninsula Properties. With an influx of new money, work started on the golf course and lodge in April 1925 and the lodge opened in late fall with nine holes. The back nine was completed the following year.
The golf course was designed by Willie Lock, who supposedly invented the 9-iron. He designed the Los Altos Country Club, Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City and three others. The horseshoe-shaped entrance road to the golf lodge bears his name.
At that time, there were virtually no trees in the area. The Native Americans burned the coastal plain every year to provide pasture for deer and other game animals to graze. More than 4,000 Monterey Pine and cypress trees on the golf course and streets were planted by landscaper Luigi Duarta. He planted the trees from seed at a nursery he created along Huntington Drive.
The Aptos Beach Country Club and Lodge, as it was known, initially served as the clubhouse for the country club and it actually was a lodge. Guests and potential real estate customers were accommodated upstairs above the main room. The names Aptos Beach Country Club and Aptos-By-The-Sea were phased out in 1926 in favor of the swankier name, Rio Del Mar. In 1928, the former Spreckels mansion was used as the resort clubhouse for a very short time until it burned in 1929 and the new hotel became the clubhouse when it opened the same year, just in time for the Great Depression.
In 1935, with the repeal of Prohibition and an improving economy, Peninsula Properties expanded the hotel and remodeled the golf lodge. The improvements included a new Tap Room, a card room and additional space for the golf pro. Ornamental iron work and lamp fixtures were produced by the famous Santa Cruz artist, “Otar the Lampmaker,” including two tremendous torchieres of iron and copper with the club’s seal. They weighed more than 500 pounds and graced the main entrance.
There once was a long suspension bridge across the ravine where the 17th fairway approaches the 17th green which was called the “Bridge of Sighs.” It “saves many steps if your tee shot carries the hazard.” It was named after the famous bridge in Venice, Italy which was the last bridge prisoners crossed before entering prison. Tennis courts were added to the Golf Club in 1936. In August 1937, a skeet range was added next to the golf shop.
After enduring the depression, World War II was the next big challenge. The golf course became a vegetable garden planted mostly in corn and was closed from Autumn 1942 to Summer 1957.
The Lodge became a rooming house for army officers stationed at Fort Ord and Camp McQuaide.
A new group of investors purchased the assets of Peninsula Properties in 1955. Burt Stamp was hired to renovate and redesign the course. The lodge reopened as the Aptos Beach Golf Course in 1957.
The property was purchased again in 1963 by the Aptos Seascape Corporation which renamed it the Aptos Seascape Golf Course. The golf lodge and course were in for a series of upgrades. There were even plans to extend the course into Seascape along the ravines behind Dolphin Drive and Seascape Boulevard. The following year the course was redesigned by the renowned William P. Bell & Son who had built over 400 courses. In 1965 the Lodge building began to be extensively refurbished. They added the Seascape Office to the Golf Lodge, enlarged the dining room, and remodeled the entrance. Ten years later, the Golf Lodge was expanded with a new building that included the banquet facility, locker rooms, a new pro shop, and the cart barn. The Golf Course was remodeled again in 1977 by Clark Glasson. In 1979, the dining room and lounge areas were completely refurbished again.
As the Seascape Corporation began to scale down their involvement in the area, they sold the golf course property to American Golf Corporation in 1986. The clubhouse was closed for extensive remodeling and modernization of the dining and banquet facilities. The kitchen was completely rebuilt and updated, and the clubhouse area was re-landscaped. The course was also upgraded. With the sale, the Seascape Corporation had retained the right to seek a permit to build a 101-room motel in the area between the driving range and the 9th fairway. A lengthy battle ensued against it by many locals and the application was denied in 1989.
In 1997, the golf course and lodge were remodeled again. The pro shop moved upstairs to its current location, and the front and back nines were switched back to the configuration first intended in 1925. The club was renamed Seascape Golf Club. I am reminded of the adage that a boat is a hole in the water that you pour money into. I think a golf course may well be 18 holes in the ground that the owner pours money into, in the hopes that golfers will pour more money into them.
The golf course has been sold again. It has been rescued by local residents Robert Ridino and Mark Holcomb, as partners, to purchase and manage this Aptos jewel. Please support their new vision for the Grand Lady of Rio Del Mar.
