Mike,
The first course on the Island was Coronado Country Club, which opened in 1901.The course was adjacent to and built by the world famous Hotel Del Coronado. CCC had grass fairways and sand greens; from the grainy black and whites I've seen it appeared very rudimentary, giving people the joy of smacking the ball around a fairly flat but sandy type layout. It was not the first layout on the Island as there was a temporary facilty built along Glorietta Bay in 1898; surely only 9 holes. Although the original course was 5,318 yards (sorry Matt, no course rating or slope data available) the ultimate 18 hole course was 6,403 yards in length with nines of par 35 and 37; uniquely the scorecard shows only one set of tees! The course lasted until 1948, when it succumbed to a Navy housing project; to this day the northern most street on Coronado, before hitting the Naval Air Station, is Country Club Lane. The Navy embarked on a major dredging operation in San Diego Harbor in the late 1950's to accomadate its' larger aircraft carriers, and all the fill from this project was dumped along Glorietta Blvd. to create the land that the golf course now sits on. Coronado Municpal opened on Dec. 4, 1959 and was indeed designed by Jack Daray, who authored many other courses in Southern Cal., many of them for the military. When the Coronado Bay Bridge was built in the early 1960's the existing 2cnd and 3rd holes (which continued east from the first hole and then returned west) were lost and fill was used to create the current 2cnd and 3rd holes. Because the land was created by the Port Authority the Golf Course can not be run for profit; this has kept green fees low and allowed for numerous capitol improvement projects. A major restoration project was carried out in the early 1990's by the Halsey Daray Firm which concentrated on softening the bunker lips which had become fearsome due to the powdery sand employed constantly being sprayed onto the lips. A berm was added to the right of the brilliant, short par 4 12th, to seperate it from 13 (not so bad) and a series of mounds with palm trees behind were used to frame the back of the 14th hole, where the green slopes away from the golfer from front to back (much worse). Green fees remained constant throughout the 1990's at $20 for everybody, everyday of the week; a very unusal price structure for So. Cal.. The green fees just went up 2 months ago to gasp, $25! A brand new $6 MM Club House was built about 10 years ago, sadly the old rustic building provided for a more intimate watering hole, where many of the people who live aboard their yatchs in Glorietta Bay could frequently be found. The course remains fiercly popular from the many Senior's who make up the bulk of the early times to good players alike. The course drains well because of the sandy fill that was used to construct it, but sadly can't utilize this for firm condtionns due to 100% Kikuyu; which does make a low maintenance surface for a Municipal layout. The greens are a mixture of Bent and Poa and are suprisingly consistant for a course that records so many rounds. Although there is zero elevation change, the clever pushup greens and slight doglegs, defined by rows of eucalyptos trees, establish an almost ideal balance of providing a challange for the better player without intimidating the less skilled players. Though the greens are mainly level, there is a subtle "Sunday placement" on each one which can ratchet up the difficulty if need be. Sadly the need to maintain public walk ways around the Bay do not allow the course to have any greens hard against the water; which could certainly elevate the architectural significance of at least 5 holes. I've been hoping to keep it a secret for years now, I hope you haven't made it any harder for me to get a tee time
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