“Iconic” gets tossed around like fairway grass on a windy day, but the Olympic Club qualifies. A dozen USGA championships hosted, the 2033 Ryder Cup on the way. That glorious clubhouse framing the tricky par-4 finishing hole …
Well, that’s not Olympic’s main clubhouse. Its primary digs are its City Clubhouse, located 10 miles away, in San Francisco’s famed Union Square district. The Olympic Club isn’t just a golf club. It’s an athletic club — America’s oldest, founded on May 6, 1860, five months prior to the first Open Championship being held in Scotland.
James J. Corbett, prizefighting’s “Gentleman Jim,” joined Olympic in 1884, 40 years before the club opened its Lake and Ocean courses. Corbett later became heavyweight champion and taught boxing at the club, which is like having Greg LeMond as your SoulCycle instructor. Speaking of cycling, it’s traditionally one of Olympic’s fortes, with the 1924 U.S. Olympic cycling team coach (Ernest Ohrt) and later several professional road racers among its number.
Then there was the member who set the shot put world record in 1909 (Ralph Rose); the innovative college basketball superstar who developed an early version of the jump shot (Hank Luisetti); the 1950 U.S. Open tennis champion (Arthur Larsen). There isn’t time here to list the club’s team accomplishments in basketball, cycling, track and field, football and rugby, but rest assured they, too, are of historic proportions.
The current City Clubhouse isn’t the original, which was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It houses a fitness center, a cardio solarium, squash and handball courts, circuit training facilities, two basketball courts and a pair of swimming pools.
Less strenuous amenities include a pub, dining room, meeting and banquet rooms, guest rooms and a rooftop deck. Or you could jump in a car and be at the first tee in a half hour, depending on traffic.
