When someone announces that they’ve finished a round of golf, the question is generally: “What did you shoot?” Cultural Currents this month profiles three clubs that all involve some aspect of shooting: golf, billiards and shotguns.
By Paul Duclos
Published: February, 2010
The Presidio Golf Club is a private golf and city club organized in 1905. One of the three oldest golf courses in continuous operation west of the Mississippi, the adjacent Presidio Golf Course was built in 1895 by a group of local San Francisco businessmen with permission from the base commander. Members gather and dine in the Tudor-style clubhouse, which was built in 1897 and is considered one of the best examples of early clubhouse architecture. Located in the private Presidio Terrace, the Club has majestic views of some of the finest finishing holes in golfland.
Members of the Presidio Golf Club play on the public Presidio Golf Course, taking advantage of the challenging 18-hole, par 72 course. Tee time reservations are conveniently made through the PGC private pro shop, which obtains and manages a stock of starting times. Club storage in the PGC pro shop also makes it easy to squeeze in practice on the driving range, putting or chipping green.
Care to shoot an informal game of pool on a classic regulation Brunswick table? We know a place. Founded in 1890 by the alumni of multiple universities, in an elegant historic clubhouse atop Nob Hill, with a diverse membership dedicated to fellowship and community service, the University Club of San Francisco is a venue for the City’s cultural and intellectual life. The University Club is a nonprofit organization owned by its members. Individuals are eligible for University Club membership regardless of race, religion, age, gender or sexual orientation. Members’ spouses or committed partners also enjoy full privileges, and children are welcome. Attire is business casual.
Why that name? In part, it reflected the huge expansion of opportunities for higher education that followed the Civil War, and the name connoted an identifiable affinity group. San Francisco’s University Club was founded in the great age of club formation; nearly every American city has at least one club called “University Club.” The name was chosen to distinguish such clubs from existing commercial clubs; and, although San Francisco was not the only city to form a “University Club,” it was in no sense a branch of any club anywhere else.
The Pacific Rod and Gun Club is more gun than rod these days, as it celebrates its 82nd anniversary.
In 1930, only four years after the American sport of skeet shooting was introduced, Pacific Rod and Gun Club added a skeet field at its Napa facility. At the same time, the Bay Sportsmen Club merged with Pacific Club, and the Bay Sportsmen Club’s skeet field at Fort Funston in San Francisco was added to Club territory. Today the Club boasts over 350 members. The Club offers many special events for its own members including N.S.S.A., Skeet Shoots, P.I.T.A., A.T.A. Trap Shots, and International Skeet Competitions.
Next Month: “Clubs in Name Only.”
