Jay Blasi nears completion of Golden Gate Park renovation
The nine-hole par-three Golden Gate Park Golf Course in San Francisco, California, is expected to reopen in late autumn following a renovation by Jay Blasi.
The layout opened in 1949 and was designed by Jack Fleming, a former construction assistant for Alister MacKenzie at Cypress Point, Pasatiempo and Sharp Park. The public course is well known for its location close to Ocean Beach and the park’s Dutch windmills.
Blasi and project manager Josh Lewis of Gradoville & Hertzing Management Group are aiming to improve playability and agronomic conditions. The project includes a new irrigation system, new tees, green expansion, reshaping fairways and greens, planting, an expanded practice area, and upgrading equipment and maintenance practices. Several native sand areas have also been restored to improve drainage and reduce maintenance costs while contributing to the course’s identity.
"When you think about the best par three courses in the country, we have the opportunity to offer something of equal calibre, quality and excitement,” said Blasi in a video about the Golden Gate Park project from The Fire Pit Collective.
Each hole will have three sets of tees, from which the total length of the par-27 course will play at 695, 1,017 or 1,265 yards. The longest hole on the course, the fifth, will be 166 yards from the back tees.
Since December 2013, the course has been managed by the San Francisco chapter of the non-profit organisation First Tee, which conducts youth golf and educational programmes for over 8,000 San Francisco elementary school students each year.
As part of a new long-term operating lease between San Francisco Recreation Park Department and the Golden Gate Park Golf Development Foundation – a charitable affiliate of the San Francisco chapter of First Tee, a course renovation was approved that would help secure Golden Gate Park as an important First Tee location for up to 15 years. The agreement was also supported by the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance.
The course was closed in March 2023 when construction started on the $2.5 million project.
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Jay Blasi
Jay Blasi’s routing for Golden Gate Park Golf Course, which is expected to reopen in late autumn
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