County studies golf course purchase: Sharp Park Golf Course in Pacifica owned by San Francisco

Maltbie will update the Board of Supervisors on the proposal at the Tuesday, Nov. 3, meeting.

The course is managed by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.

Designed by preeminent architect Alister MacKenzie, the links first opened in 1932. The land was a gift to the city of San Francisco in 1917 by the estate of Honora Sharp. The gift was given on the condition the land be used exclusively for a public playground or park or be turned back to the heirs of the estate.

In late 2011, an ordinance by San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos proposed that the golf course be managed by the National Park Service. That proposal could have led to the closure of the course, however, since federal officials said they were not interested in managing a golf course. Mayor Ed Lee ultimately vetoed the proposal.

Then in 2012, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to explore the possibility of taking over management of the golf course, which takes up about 120 acres of the 400-acre park adjacent to the ocean and south of the Pacifica pier.

Officials with both counties started to negotiate a 30-year lease for San Mateo County to manage the golf course in 2012 but a lawsuit by environmental groups alleging that San Francisco failed to maintain the habitat for the red-legged frogs and San Francisco garter snakes slowed those talks.

A judge has since dismissed the lawsuit.

Supervisor Don Horsley is more interested in managing the golf course than buying it.

“Unless they sell it to us for $1,” Horsley said Monday.

The consultant analysis, however, will be helpful, he said.

The clubhouse needs extensive improvements and some of the holes may have to be reconfigured because of environmental hazards, he said.

Horsley said he thinks the course can be self-sustaining.

A 2007 study by San Francisco indicated the golf course was a money loser and poorly maintained.

Sharp Park and Poplar Creek Golf Course at Coyote Point in San Mateo are the only links in the county open to the public.

Restoration of the course is estimated to cost $10 million, according to a 2009 study by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission.

The 72-par course is often called the “poor man’s Pebble Beach” and provides views of the ocean and Mori Point, which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

In 2014, Sharp Park, along with Harding Park in San Francisco, was named as one of America’s 50 greatest municipal courses by Golfweek Magazine.

Ironically, one of the complaints levied on San Francisco’s parks department is that it does a poor job of maintaining Sharp Park.

A San Francisco park official said Monday that there are discussions currently with San Mateo County about a potential purchase.

“For over two years we have been in conversation with San Mateo County about sharing operations and environmental planning responsibilities because Sharp Park is a regional golf course. Beyond that, it is premature to discuss anything,” Sarah Madland, director of Policy and Public Affairs with San Francisco Recreation and Parks, wrote in an email.

In 2012, while the two counties were negotiating lease terms, Supervisor Dave Pine said: “There’s no doubt that San Mateo County could manage the course better.”

Horsley described the course then as “the heart and soul of Pacifica.”

bill@smdailyjournal.com

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