Submitted by John Dodge
One hundred years ago, the then-called Olympia Golf & Country Club (OC&GC) opened the first golf course built on the shores of Puget Sound. The original nine-hole course, six miles north of Olympia on Budd Inlet, a source of pride to the club’s 175 members, opened in the spring of 1926 on some 100 acres of rolling farmland, ravines and stately stands of Douglas fir trees, part of the original John L. Butler Land Claim. The unique and challenging test of golf featured commanding views of Mount Rainier and Budd Inlet.
Golf historians describe the mid-1920s as a golden age for new golf courses, thanks to the nation’s economic prosperity, increased mobility brought about by cars, vast tracts of developable land and growing interest in the game of golf. The Olympia golf scene was no exception.
Early History of the Olympia Country & Golf Club
The first round of golf was played by women’s club members on Thursday, April 1, 1926. Club President George W. Draham, an Olympia mayor (1923-24) and civic leader known by the 1920’s as “Olympia’s father of golf,” had this to say that day: “It’s fitting that the ladies be given the first opportunity of playing … They have always been a help to us from the start.”
The “start” dates back to 1899 when Draham and two dozen other golf enthusiasts informally formed the Olympia Golf Club and began playing golf on a few makeshift holes on land near what became the state Capitol Campus. The group incorporated in 1917 and its some 90 members purchased the old Chambers Homestead Farm in Lacey and quickly built a nine-hole course on land they shared with grazing sheep and cows.
After World War I, the club members, under the leadership of prominent Olympia banker and Club President Clarence J. Lord, purchased in 1923 the Butler Cove property for roughly $37,000. They built a Colonial-style, waterfront shoreline clubhouse that opened in 1925 and still serves the club members well. The golf course would soon follow.
Despite a promising start, the Great Depression forced the club into bankruptcy in1932. It languished in state of neglect until 1935 when longtime clubhouse manager Art Karney leased the property and provided a playable golf course for the public and past club members.
Karney’s efforts gave several prominent club members time to form the Budd Land Company in March of 1938 and buy the club for $17,000. They raised the funds by issuing stock to club members who leased the course and clubhouse from Budd Land. This symbiotic operating arrangement served the now-named Olympia Country & Golf Club well for decades to come.
The late 1930s marked the emergence of Olympia High School graduate and club member Marvin H. “Bud” Ward as a rising star in amateur golf circles. Born in Elma, WA., in 1913 and orphaned at a young age, he moved to Olympia to live with his older sister and husband. He took up golf at age 13 at the club’s original course in Lacey.
The standout athlete at Olympia High School, earned all-state honors in basketball and anchored the high school golf team. A top-notch ball striker with a deft touch around the greens, he won the Washington State Open championship in 1938, the first of more than 20 regional and national titles. He became the most accomplished golfer in club history.
He finished fourth in the U.S. Open in 1939, missing a playoff for the title by one stroke. His time at Olympia Golf & Country Club was short-lived. He moved to Spokane in 1941 and became the number one-ranked amateur golfer in the country. He turned professional in 1951 and served as head pro at Peninsula Golf & Country Club in San Mateo, CA. He died of cancer in 1968 at the age of 54 and was inducted posthumously into the sports halls of fame of Olympia High School, Washington State, the Pacific Northwest Golf Association and the Professional Golf Association’s Pacific Northwest Section.
Byron Nelson, PGA Hall of Fame, and Olympia Golf
The 1950s were notable years in club annals. On May 16, 1951, Byron Nelson, a five-time Majors tournament winner and member of the PGA Hall of Fame, played an exhibition round at OC&GC, carding an 11-under par 61.
The original scorecard from “Iron Byron’s” round was lost in a devastating pro shop and club storage area fire in March of 1959. The early morning, suspected arson fire claimed partially insured golf equipment owned by club pro Fred Dornan and 125 club members. Property and golf equipment losses exceeded $330,000 in today’s dollars.
Just four months after the fire, club members rallied to host “Potlach,” the largest, single-day club celebration in club history. July 18, 1959, marked the opening of the expanded, 18-hole golf course, a heated swimming pool, tennis courts and renovated clubhouse. Some 125 club volunteers hosted golf, swimming and water ski exhibitions. Future Pacific Northwest golf legends such as Marvin H. “Bud” Ward, Chuck Congdon, Kermit Zarley and Pat Lesser Harbottle played 18-hole exhibition rounds.
