The Virginia Country Club at Alamitos opened on April 30, 1910. The nine-hole golf course was designed and built by Los Angeles Country Club’s, Arthur Rigby of Carnoustie, who was hired as Virginia’s first golf instructor and course supervisor.
The Virginia Country Club was the idea of D.M. Linnard, the owner of the Hotel Virginia in Long Beach, and the Hotel Maryland in Pasadena, and had the support of the Long Beach city council, the Bixby family, the Alamitos Water Company, and members of the Long Beach chamber of commerce. Hotel Virginia manager, and avid golfer, Carl Stanley, made the club a reality.
Stanley went on to manage the Hotel Del Monte for 27 years and fathered the Pebble Beach, Cypress Point and Monterey Peninsula golf courses for the Del Monte company.
The course was short, 5121 yards, when 18-holes were in play at Christmas 1912, but it was well loved.
At the end of the club’s ten year lease, in 1920, the golf course and club house were abandoned, and the Virginia Country Club moved to their present location, at the Bixby’s, Cerritos ranch.
The city of Long Beach quickly secured the old Virginia property, and has operated it as a municipal golf course (Recreation Park 18 Golf Course), with many alterations and additions, since 1920.
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I’ve played both “Little Rec.,” the 9-hole course, and Big Recreation across the street since 1971. I was 13 years old at the time. It appears that the photo of the golfers hitting over water is the north/east end of the Colorado Lagoon. It was a part of “Big Rec.”, but is now next to the 7th hole tee box at”Little Rec.” Lots of memories and my personal highlights were 9 eagles on #1 and #2 combined at “Little Rec.” On my 50th birthday, I made a hole-in-one on #9. “Big Rec.” was the first 18-hole Championship course where I broke 80. I eagled the par 5 ninth hole.
Thanks for writing. From what I have been able to decipher:
The Rec Park area was the Alamitos-Bixby Water Works before the Virginia Country Club bought the land in 1909. The fresh water lake was on today’s hole #17 and parts of #11 and #12. The Virginia CC clubhouse was smack in the middle of today’s parking lot. The double entrance is original.
The photograph is looking North-West from the lake. The sand green is to the left side of the clubhouse, about where #16 is today. The green marker is at the back of the “green.” There were no flags in those days. They used a short metal stick with a disc on it to mark the hole, and a tall one at the back of the green.
The nine-hole land was not part of the park at the time of the photo, and of course Colorado Lagoon was not a lake, but part of the Salt Marsh that went to the ocean.
Great info, fore. There is a very short wooden telephone-like pole behind the current 16th green that we believe brought power to the original Clubhouse. In one iteration of the course, the 16th green was the 18th green and was a subtle dogleg left par 4 along the entry road from the current 15th tee box to the current 16th green, thus the shape of the green that would have accepted an uphill shot angled into that green.
Thank you. It’s a bit of unfinished business to put together what I have for the routing.