Hacienda Golf Club has been part of La Habra Heights for over 75 years and celebrates its Diamond Jubilee this year. It's interesting to hear about some of Hacienda's colorful history as one of Southern California's oldest clubs.
In 1919 Alphonzo Bell (who later developed Bel-Air Estates) and a group of investors from nearby cities developed the golf club on 150 acres of what had been a Basque sheep ranch. The Club opened a year later with nine holes and 200 members mostly professionals from the area. A reclaimed barn housed the first clubhouse.
In 1920 it cost only $200 to become a member. Today the figure is $25,000 (down from about $60,000 two years ago). Although Hacienda has always been privately owned, back in the '20s anyone could play the course for 75 cents.
Originally, the Club was known as the Hacienda Country Club, but that changed in 1943 with the Club's depression-caused bankruptcy. That year members banded together to buy back all the land and property from the county for $50,000. The new club reopened under the name Hacienda Golf Club.
The Club today has 438 equity (golfing) members and about 50 social members (which costs only $600 per year plus expenses). Surprisingly, only about 35% of the members are from La Habra Heights, according to Club Manager Jack Downing. Most members are from Fullerton and Whittier, with a few from as far as Newport Beach.
According to Jim Cowen, a 33-year member of the Club, not only is the golf course well-regarded for being one of the most beautiful and challenging in the area, but also for its seclusion and isolation. He credits the Improvement Association with creating these unique characteristics due to its insistence on one-acre zoning and restricted subdivisions.
Over its 75 years the Club has had nine golf pros. The most famous one was George Von Elm ('50 '53), who won the US amateur tournament in 1927 by beating top-ranked Bobby Jones. Last summer the Club hosted the SCGA Junior Amateur Tournament, and Cypress High Schooler (now Stanford freshman) Tiger Wood shot an amazing 9-under-par 62 the lowest ever shot on the course and a 95-year tournament record.
Some avid golfers have been members for forty or fifty years. Dr. Harold Stone, a long-time Heights resident, started as a caddie in 1920 and is still an active member. He joined the Club when he finished dental school after the war. Another long-time member, Fred Baugh, plays golf at age 84 and with an 11 handicap. He has shot his age 135 times and is Super Senior three-time defending champ.
Downing, who has been Manager for ten years, has big plans in
store for Hacienda in the coming year. Besides pushing for an open house
for La Habra Heights citizens, he's also developing plans for the installation
of architectural lighting of trees and other landscaping outside the dining
room.