Category: California Golf History

Robert Wagner at Bel-Air

“Robert Wagner…the love-light in Susan Zanuck’s eyes, got into movies the hard way.” – Hedda Hopper (1951)

Robert Wagner’s father was a Bel-Air steel contractor who told him you’re on your own if you want to be an actor. So Bob got a job as a caddy at the Bel-Air Country Club and carried the bag for Clark Gable and Randolph Scott!

Gable’s advice was to keep your feet on the ground if you hit it big in the movies, “everyone is replaceable.”

Wagner left caddying to be a groom at Bel-Air Stables, now the Bel-Air Hotel (previously the Danziger stables), where there weren’t many actors. Soon he ended up washing dishes at a cafe in Westwood until finally giving up hope and going to work for his father.

One night, while dining with his family at the Bel-Air Hotel (where he used to work!), he was spotted by an agent who liked the look of his jaw, and off he went riding the road to stardom!

Soon Wagner joined the Bel-Air Country Club with a 14 handicap. It must have been sweet! Bob played in many amateur championships, exhibitions and charity fundraisers over his storied career as an amateur golfer.

Here is a link to a video of Robert playing a match against legendary professional Sam Snead at Woodland Hills Country Club for Celebrity Golf.

The course was originally designed by John Duncan Dunn and built by William P. “Billy” Bell. It opened as Girard Golf Club in 1925, as part of Victor Girard’s Girard subdivision in the San Fernando Valley.

Sam Snead vs Robert Wagner – Celebrity Golf!

©2023 golfhistoricalsociety – jibjones

L.A. Country Club’s 1915 Tom Morris Memorial Winning Golf Team

Old Tom Morris, “A Golfer and a man”

In 1908, Peter Dawson of Towiemore-Glenlivet Distillery, Glascow, Scotland, offered a trophy in Memorial to the Grand Old Man of Golf, Old Tom Morris, to be played for in a team competition by member clubs of the Western Golf Association on Tom’s birthday (June 16, 1821).

The Peter Dawson Tom Morris Memorial Trophy
“Presented to the Western Golf Association of America by Peter Dawson, Glasgow, in tribute to the memory of Old Tom Morris.
A Golfer and a man.”

“Each team plays against the Par of its course, with all local rules suspended and no caddies.”

The teams were made up of eight of the best players at each club playing to scratch (without handicap), with the winning club scoring the lowest total of the eight scores against the Par of the course. There was also an individual medal given to the player with the lowest individual score against their club’s par. Any team winning three times kept the trophy.

The format of the competition forced many clubs to properly rate their individual golf holes and arrive at a total Par score for the course.

The great benefit of the competition was comparing scores against 75 other clubs of the association in a competition of their best golfers, held on the same day, which was truly brilliant, and certainly helped standardize golf course Par in America!

As it was, the Los Angeles team at Pico & Western were disqualified in 1909 for “not understanding the rules.” In 1910 they won it, but were disqualified for using a substitute that was not on their entry list.

In 1911, LACC moved to Beverly, and playing on a young course they finished 8th. In 1912 they finally won it, and repeated in 1913! Norman Macbeth won the individual medal both years.

In 1915, against 75 other teams, the LACC team, without Macbeth, scored 25 down to par and won the competition for the third time!

The Los Angeles Country Club team were: Scotty Armstrong, Jack Niven, Bob Cash, Jack Jevne, George Schneider, Judge Frederickson, Everett Seaver and Frank Edwards (sub). Captain John Wilson chose not to play and manage the team.

The winning 1915 Los Angeles Country Club Tom Morris Memorial Champion Team

Peter Dawson sent them the trophy!

©2023 J.I.B. Jones – golfhistoricalsociety.org

Coming to L.A. for the U.S. Open? George Thomas #1

The U.S.G.A.’s 24th Amateur Public Links Championship of 1949 Opened the Rancho Golf Course!

Willie Hunter and George Von Elm at Rancho Golf Club in 1923

Edward B. Tufts: the competition boss of So Cal.

In addition to his pivotal role at LA Country Club and the SCGA, Ed Tufts was also the head of the Pacific Coast Golf Association and later the California Golf Association, and that was in addition to his civic commitments. Renaissance man!

The Women’s Open Amateur, held by the Southern California Golf Association in November of 1899

The first golf competition held under the auspices of the Southern California Golf Association in November 1899 at the Los Angeles Country Club’s Pico & Western eighteen-hole sand-green golf links.

Louis Berrien – Annandale, Del Monte, Beresford, Salt Lake, Wilshire, Fox Hills, Santa Monica!

Ben Hogan on the Golden Trail at 19!