Language of Material: English

Contributing Institution: Center for Sacramento History

Title: Sacramento (Calif.). Golf Division records

Identifier/Call Number: CTY0038

Physical Description: 10.5 boxes

Physical Description: 7.5 Linear Feet (13 boxes)

Date (inclusive): ca. 1912-2005

The collection is open for research.

All requests to publish or quote from private collections held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted in writing to csh@cityofsacramento.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Center for Sacramento History as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the patron. No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.

[Identification of item], [box and folder number], Sacramento (Calif.). Golf Division records, CTY0038, Center for Sacramento History.

Transfered by the City of Sacramento Golf Division in 1999 and 2018 (accessions 1999/107 and 2018/012).

Processing by Tom Norris, 2019, and Kim Hayden, 2023.

Sacramento is home to four municipal golf courses, which have been managed over the years by the city's Parks and Recreation Department, golf councils, and a private company. Sacramento's first municipal golf course, the 9-hole Arcade Golf Course just east of today's Haggin Oaks, opened in 1915 and closed in 1933. The 9-hole William Land Golf Course opened in William Land Park in 1924. The 18-hole Sacramento Municipal Golf Course, designed by Alistair MacKenzie, opened in Del Paso Park in 1932. Its name was changed to Haggin Oaks Municipal Golf Course in 1952. Today it is known as the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex and consists of two courses, Arcade Creek and Alistair MacKenzie. In 1952, the 18-hole Bing Maloney Golf Course, designed by Michael McDonaugh, opened on Freeport Boulevard at Florin Road; a second 9-hole course was added in 1988. The 18-hole Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course opened in 1995 on Freeport Boulevard adjacent to the Freeport Bridge. The Sacramento Municipal Golf Association, formed in 1916, was the first group to work with the City of Sacramento's Parks and Recreation Department to oversee public courses in Sacramento. Its name was changed to the Sacramento Municipal Golf Commission in 1945, then the Sacramento Golf Council in 1956. This group consisted of representatives from each municipal golf course. Its purpose was to schedule tournaments in conjunction with the city's Parks and Recreation Department, coordinate events between the different golf clubs, and promote junior golf and other municipal golf activities in Sacramento. The Golf Division of the City of Sacramento's Parks and Recreation Department managed the courses, course maintenance, golf programs, and contracts with outside vendors until 2012. After years of budget problems that began in the 1990s, when newly built private courses began to lure golfers away from the municipal courses, the Golf Division ended up millions of dollars in debt, which began an ongoing discussion of privatizing the city's courses. In 2012, the city's Golf Administration ceded all operations of Bartley Cavanaugh, Bing Maloney, and Haggin Oaks courses to Morton Golf Management, and Land Park in 2018.

The collection documents the municipal golf courses of Sacramento and the activity of the City of Sacramento Parks and Recreation Department's Golf Division. Material dates from circa 1912 to 2005. The collection contains administrative and financial records from both the Golf Division and the Sacramento Golf Council; tournament records; operations and usage records; records related to the individual golf courses, golf clubs, and trapshooting clubs; plans, drawings, and maps of the golf courses; and photographs.

The collection is arranged into 6 series:

• Series 1. Administrative material, ca. 1945-2005
• Series 2. Golf course records, ca. 1912-2001
• Series 3. Tournament and program records, 1983-2000
• Series 4. Golf and trapshooting clubs records, 1990-2005
• Series 5. Plans, drawings, and maps, 1939-1994
• Series 6. Photographs, ca. 1960-2000