A group of 250 founders financed the construction of the public Pebble Beach, Calif., golf course in 1966, paying $2,500 up front with yearly dues of $50. The group received nine starting times each weekday and 12 on each weekend, without having to pay the green fee, in what Robert Trent Jones II called “the best deal in golf.” The agreement with the Pebble Beach Company ended on March 10.

It was not widely known, but Spyglass Hill Golf Course in Pebble Beach, Calif., since its inception, has been a public golf course with a semi-private element to it, called the Spyglass Hill Golf Club, Golf Digest reported.

It was made up of 250 founders, who were brought on board by the Northern California Golf Association to finance the building of the course. They paid $2,500 up front and yearly dues of $50. In turn, they received nine starting times each weekday morning and 12 on each weekend, without having to pay the green fee, Golf Digest reported.

“As things progressed,” Robert Trent Jones II, one of the founding members, said, “it became the best deal in golf. That’s why they wanted the starting times back.

Today, the Pebble Beach Company will finally get them back, after the 50-year agreement that began on March 11, 1966 comes to an end, Golf Digest reported.

Jones II, who worked on the project as an apprentice for his father, called it a sad day, “because it reminds me how fast 50 years go by. Having been present at the creation and on site during construction, and having been my father’s representative, it’s bittersweet. It was a beautiful thing. It’s been a great, great run for those people.

“The spirit of golf has always been alive and well since I got to Northern California. This was just to support [the construction] for their own benefit. Sam Morse [founder of Pebble Beach] got a great deal, too. Basically it was a good deal for everyone, that has come to its logical leasehold conclusion.”

Only 12 of the founders are surviving and include Jones II and his brother Rees, former USGA president Sandy Tatum, and Bob Lurie, the former owner of the San Francisco Giants, Golf Digest reported.