Richmond Country Club

Park in California, United States of America

Richmond Country Club

Club information
Location| Richmond, California
Established| 1924 (as Carquinez Golf Club)
Type| Private
Total holes| 18
Website| Richmond Country Club
Designed by| Pat J. Markovich
Par| 72
Length| 6,549 yards
Course rating| 71.9
Slope rating| 127

37°59′21″N 122°20′56″W﻿ / ﻿37.9890894°N 122.3488599°W﻿ / 37.9890894; -122.3488599[1]

The front entrance to Richmond Country Club The Golf Course in 1900

The Richmond Country Club is a private social gathering place and sports facility for golf in the Hilltop District of Richmond, California, United States.[2]

## History[edit]

The land was originally inhabited by the Ohlone people; Spanish conquistadores colonized the land in the 1840s and developed the Rancho San Pablo.

The Richmond Country Club began formerly known as the Carquinez Golf Club, established in 1924. The club began to struggle during the deep recession. Which was a semi-private club meaning if you weren’t a member a round of golf could be played for 5 cents.

Its manager and head professional, Ed Sawyer, has been found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Ed poured his own money into the Carquinez CC until he ran out of cash. There were less than 40 members at that time. The course had been redesigned to the present configuration in the early 1930s, but was in poor condition and still lacked the necessary water for proper irrigation.

The few existing members reached out to Pat Markovich who was well known on the West Coast as an excellent golfer and a member of the PGA.

There was a small Board of Directors, but Pat Markovich ran the Carquinez CC. The club was not an immediate success. The country club was eventually rebranded as the "Richmond Golf Club" in the early 1930s.

The country club has views towards the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge and Mount Tamalpais.

The club is a former four-time PGA Tour stop and the first in the United States to invite African Americans to participate in professional tournaments. They joined the likes of Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Sam Snead who won the 1945 Richmond Open with a 72-hole winning score of 283.

In the early 1950’s Richmond Country Club hosted the LPGA Tour with the best players of the decade. Babe Didrikson Zaharias won the first Richmond Ladies Open with a score of 224 after three rounds. Patty Berg won the second Women's Open in 1952, shooting 8-under par from the men’s tees and set a women’s course record that stands to this day.

In April 1953, Pat Markovich and several other investors from Richmond bought the Maxwell estate located on the Silverado Trail in Napa to form the Silverado Country Club.

The ranch was subdivided into 140 parcels and the area around the present-day country club was formed into the Nitro Powder Company which changed hands to the Giant Powder Company (also formerly known as Giant). In 1964 it was again sold to Bethlehem Steel. A portion of the steel site was sold to create an expanded Richmond Country Club in 1974.

The club covers thousands of acres in the northern Hilltop neighborhood between Hilltop Mall and Point Pinole and is adjacent to Parchester Village to the west, near its entrance along Atlas road and the Richmond Parkway. It is served by AC Transit's routes 71, 376, and LA/LC. It is on more than 50 acres (20.23 ha) and has been around since before 1900. Since 1991 the club has hosted a charity tournament for disadvantaged students of Salesian College Preparatory (formerly Salesian High School).[3]

In 2018, Pat Markovich was inducted into the Northern California PGA Hall of Fame section.[4]

## References[edit]

1. ^ "GNIS Detail - Richmond Golf Club". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. 19 January 1981. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
2. ^ "Richmond Country Club Is A Bay Area "Must Play"". Van Nuys News Press. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
3. ^ Salesian announces 25th annual golf tournament fundraiser supporting disadvantaged students
4. ^ "Six inducted into PGA Hall of Fame". The Golf Wire. 30 June 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2022.

## External links[edit]

* Richmond Country Club
* History of the Club
* Wikimapia aerial image of the Richmond Country Club

* v
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Richmond, California

Neighborhoods|

* Atchison Village
* Brickyard Cove
* Carriage Hills
* Campus Bay
* Chevron Richmond Refinery
* Downtown Richmond
* El Sobrante Hills
* Hilltop
* Hilltop Green
* Iron Triangle
* Marina Bay
* North & East
* Parchester Village
* Point Isabel
* Point Richmond
* Pullman
* Richmond Annex
* Richmond Heights

Parks|

* Brooks Island
* McLaughlin Eastshore State Park
* Kennedy Grove
* Miller / Knox
* Point Isabel
* Point Pinole
* Point Molate Beach Park
* Potrero Ridge
* Red Rock Cove
* Richmond Greenway
* Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park
* San Pablo Peninsula
* Sobrante Ridge
* Wildcat Canyon

Points
of interest|

* Brother Islands
* Castro Rocks
* East Brother Island Lighthouse
* Ford Richmond Plant
* Golden State Model Railroad Museum
* East Bay Science and Technology Center
* Macdonald 80 Shopping Center
* Masquers Playhouse
* Mechanics Bank
* Pacific East Mall
* The Plunge
* Point Molate Naval Fuel Depot
* Red Rock Island
* SS Red Oak Victory Ship Museum
* Richmond Country Club
* Richmond Medical Center
* Richmond Shipyards
* Richmond Transit Village (Metro Walk)
* West County Detention Center
* Winehaven

Education|

* Contra Costa College
* West Contra Costa Unified School District
* De Anza High School
* John F. Kennedy High School
* Richmond High School
* Salesian College Preparatory

Transportation|

| Public
transit|

* AC Transit
* Richmond Ferry Terminal
* San Francisco Bay Ferry
* Richmond Parkway Transit Center
* Richmond station
* BART
* California Zephyr
* Capitol Corridor
* San Joaquins

|

Roads|

* 23rd Street
* Cutting Boulevard
* I-580
* Richmond–San Rafael Bridge
* I-80
* Macdonald Avenue
* Richmond Parkway
* San Pablo Avenue (SR 123)

* Port of Richmond
* Richmond Pacific Railroad
* Richmond–San Rafael Ferry Company
* Shipyard Railway

Politics|

* 2006 Richmond, California city election
* 2014 Richmond, California city election
* City Council
* Richmond Globe
* Richmond Post
* Richmond Progressive Alliance

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