News & Events

Sharparkology 101: A lecture at the Pacifica Historical Society

Jun 25, 2018by - San Francisco Public Golf Alliance

San Francisco Public Golf Alliance President and co-founder Richard Harris was guest lecturer at the Pacifica Historical Society’s May 20, 2018 Quarterly Meeting at the Society’s headquarters in Pacifica’s Little Brown Church. His wide ranging lecture discussed the origins of golf in Scotland and its early history in America, the central place held by Alister MacKenzie in the history and practice of world golf architecture, and the artistry of his work at Sharp Park.

Beginning with the founding of golf in Scotland in the 15th Century, Harris takes us through the close political relationship between San Francisco and San Mateo Counties, the bequest of the Sharp Ranch to San Francisco in the early 20th Century and Alister MacKenzie’s links to the earliest days of golf architecture in Scotland, England, and Northern California. He tells stories of early San Francisco political boss Dennis Kearny, early golf architects Old Tom Morris and HS Colt, black golf pioneer Ted Rhodes and Sharp Park’s role in the racial integration of public golf, Bobby Jones, pioneering women’s golf great Marion Hollins, military camouflage, the Boer War, golf and landscape architecture, spiritual walks and labyrinths, and deep appreciation of the natural world.

Pacifica videographer Robert Twigg captured Harris’ lecture with historical photos for broadcast on the award winning "Footprints of Pacifica" broadcast linked here: