Rancho Park Golf Course is a municipal

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, located in southern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

in the city of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. Owned and operated by the city's Department of Recreation and Parks, the par-71 course in the

Cheviot Hills The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes T ...

neighborhood was designed by William P. Bell & William H. Johnson in 1947. The fairways are

Bermuda Grass ''Cynodon dactylon'', commonly known as Bermuda grass, is a grass found worldwide. It is native to Europe, Africa, Australia and much of Asia. It has been introduced to the Americas. Although it is not native to Bermuda, it is an abundant invasiv ...

and the greens are

Bent Grass ''Agrostis'' (bent or bentgrass) is a large and very nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family, found in nearly all the countries in the world. It has been bred as a GMO creeping bent grass. Species * ''Agrostis aequivalvi'' (Ar ...

. It hosted the

Los Angeles Open The Genesis Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in southern California, first played in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open. Other previous names include Genesis Open, Northern Trust Open and Nissan Open. Played annually in ...

on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

seventeen times, and also was the site of events on the Senior PGA Tour and

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of week ...

History

The site was originally a private club named Rancho Country Club. The club ran into some tax problems and the federal government took ownership to satisfy the tax debt and leased it back to the club. Several citizens spearheaded an effort to make the site into a city park. Their efforts were rewarded in 1945 with the creation of Cheviot Hills Park, a park that included the golf course,

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

s, and baseball fields.
Hillcrest Country Club is adjacent to the northeast, separated by Motor Avenue. The Los Angeles Open moved to Rancho Park in 1956 and stayed through 1972 (except for 1968) and hosted a final time in 1983. A bronze plaque is located on the 508-yard par-5 ninth hole (currently the 18th hole) along the course's western boundary. It commemorates an incident in the first round of the L.A. Open in 1961; reigning Masters and U.S. Open champion

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

carded a twelve after a great tee shot was followed by four consecutive shots

out of bounds In sports, out of bounds (or out-of-bounds) refers to being outside the playing boundaries of the field. Due to the chaotic nature of play, it is normal in many sports for players and/or the ball to go out of bounds frequently during a game. T ...

. ''Picture of the on-site plaque and commentary confirm 2nd–5th shots were OB. Various published sources disagree on details.'' The hole narrows near the green, squeezing in between the driving range on the right and Patricia Avenue on the left; he hit the first two to the right, then two left. Five years later, Palmer tied the course record with 62 in the third round to take a seven-shot lead, then held on to win by a stroke, the second of his three victories here (1963, 1966, 1967). Charlie Sifford was the first African-American to earn a PGA card in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

; he won the L.A. Open on the course in 1969 on the first playoff hole for his second tour win. It happened on January 12, during the New York Jets' historic upset win in

Super Bowl III Super Bowl III was an American football game played on January 12, 1969 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It was the third AFL–NFL Championship Game in professional American football, and the first to officially bear the trademark name "Su ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. Jack Nicklaus earned his first tour paycheck at Rancho Park as a 21-year-old rookie in early

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

; he was over twenty strokes back in the $45,000 event and earned less than thirty four dollars. He never won the L.A. Open; his best finish was a solo runner-up in 1978 at Riviera Country Club with an uncharacteristic stumble in the final holes. Also age 21,

Nancy Lopez Nancy Marie Lopez (born January 6, 1957) is an American former professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events, including three major championships. Amateur career Lopez won the New Mexico Women's ...

gained her second career win at Rancho Park in the Sunstar Classic, the second of nine victories for her in 1978. She successfully defended in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

with a birdie on the final hole to win by a stroke. The 1980 event was won by

JoAnne Carner JoAnne Gunderson Carner (born April 4, 1939) is an American former professional golfer. Her 43 victories on the LPGA Tour led to her induction in the World Golf Hall of Fame. She is the only woman to have won the U.S. Girls' Junior, U.S. Women ...

, shortened to 54 holes after the first round was cancelled by heavy rain.

Tour events hosted

(17) - 1956– 67, 1969– 72, and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

* Senior PGA Tour: Security Pacific / Ralph's Senior Classic (5) -

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

– 94 *

: Sunstar Classic (3) - 1978– 80

References

External links

* {{official, http://golf.lacity.org/cdp_rancho.htm
Rancho Park Golf Club
– course history
Rancho Park Golf Academy
Golf clubs and courses in Los Angeles Rancho Park, Los Angeles Westside (Los Angeles County) Golf clubs and courses designed by William P. Bell