News & Events

Remembering the Garys Vandeweghe and Nelson: Giants of the Game in Northern California

Sep 2, 2026

Spring-Summer 2026 saw the passing of two pillars and champions of Northern California golf: Gary Vandeweghe (August), and Gary Nelson (April). Both were in their 80s, died of natural causes, and were family, professional, community, and golf leaders.

GARY VANDEWEGHE, born in Montreal and raised on Long Island in a prominent sporting family, was a multi-sport athlete and teammate of Rudy LaRusso on Dartmouth’s 1958 and 1959 Ivy League champion basketball teams. He was uncle of All-Pro basketball player, coach, and NBA official Kiki Vandeweghe and great uncle of tennis professional Coco Vandeweghe. Gary spent a near-60-year law career in San Jose following Stanford Law School and service as a U.S. Air Force officer. He was a co-founder of Cobra Golf Company and President in 2002 of the Northern California Golf Association, after 10 years on the Board as the NCGA was building its Poppy Hills course. For 30-plus years Vandeweghe competed at the highest levels of State, National, and International amateur golf, winning the 1966 Royal Belgian International Amateur, 1982 NCGA Masters Division, a Santa Clara County championship, and a dozen club championships.

GARY NELSON was a Golf Renaissance Man. Born in San Francisco, he served eight years as an officer in the US Coast Guard and Navy before a career as a dental surgeon in Mill Valley. Nelson was a published author of fiction and non-fiction and a competitor in national senior marathon races and golf championships. He was a driving force in the 1999-2006 restoration of the Meadow Club in Marin County, Alister MacKenzie’s first completed golf course in the US. He was also one of the founders of the Alister MacKenzie Society, an international gathering of MacKenzie’s golf courses. Between 2005-2016 Nelson was a transformational coach and director of the University of San Francisco men’s and women’s golf teams and served as USF’s interim Athletic Director.

Both Gary Nelson and Gary Vandeweghe were strong supporters of the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance and its efforts to preserve Bay Area public golf and Sharp Park.