Source: Sacramento Bee
Build it and they will come?
We'll never know in the case of several intriguing possibilities.
Twice in the 1960s, construction began on courses that would have changed the face of golf in Sacramento. Twice, the projects were abandoned for financial reasons.
About 25 percent of the work was completed for the State Fair Golf Course between Cal Expo and the American River in 1968. The rough grading was done, underground water lines had been installed and several greens defined when Gov. Ronald Reagan pulled the plug.
Cal Expo was designed to be a seasonal six-month amusement park - a Disneyland of the north - and the course was to be part of the appeal. When revenue projections fell short months before its opening, construction was halted, said Brian May, Cal Expo's deputy general manager.
Designs by renowned architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. allowed for 18, 27 and 36 holes in the 400 or so acres Cal Expo owns between the levee and the river stretching under Interstate 80 to the railroad tracks. A road course auto racetrack was part of the proposal.
Robert Trent Jones Jr. contacted Cal Expo in the past five years to gauge interest in reviving the project. The window is closed, May said. The last time the fair board seriously revisited the course issue was 1989.
"What has prevented it from restarting are environmental issues," May said.
The flow of the river had been altered to suit the course design, May said. Safe to say, that wouldn't happen today.
As the owner of Bushnell Gardens Nursery on Douglas Boulevard (then Rocky Ridge Road), Bob Bushnell watched with interest the building of Granite Bay Golf Course. On 120 olive tree-covered acres, the course was near completion late in 1965 when its owners, unable to generate enough membership interest, walked away.
The greens were sanded and ready to plant, the traps were filled and the trenching for the water system was complete, Bushnell said. Ads in the newspaper encouraged potential members to view the course.
About 100 of the acres are covered by homes. About 20 acres near the intersection of Olive Ranch and Berg are undeveloped, a routing of a few holes visible with a little imagination.
Hansen Park was going to be the city's newest jewel. It was to be built on 168 acres in northwest Sacramento within a regional park on property mostly donated by descendants of Carl F. Hansen, the former owner of Crystal Cream and Butter Co. But environmental issues kept it in the planning stages for eight years until it was abandoned.
With oak trees and subtle rolling hills, the course would have been a beauty, said Dale Achondo, the former city golf manager who started working on the project in 1982.
"We spent a lot of time and money before finally getting knocked to the creek."
The city built Bartley Cavanaugh instead years later.