The city-owned public course in San Francisco, Calif. now features top-of-the-line artificial turf, a full-grass putting green and short-game area, new range balls, 20 hitting stalls, nine targets, professional instruction and club fittings, along with Toptracer Range technology. “Through collaboration with our PGA TOUR partners, it’s exciting to see this vision come to life,” says Tom Smith, TPC Harding Park’s General Manager.
TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, Calif., the only city-owned public course managed by the PGA TOUR, completed a renovation of its practice facility which began in November 2020, along with the new addition of Toptracer Range technology.
“Through collaboration with our PGA TOUR partners, it’s exciting to see this vision come to life,” said Tom Smith, TPC Harding Park General Manager. “We’re incredibly proud of the end product and to be the only driving range in San Francisco with this cutting-edge technology.”
Open to the public seven days a week, the all-new practice facility features top-of-the-line artificial turf, full grass putting green and short game area, new range balls, 20 hitting stalls, nine targets, professional instruction and club fittings, as well as adding Toptracer Range technology.
The technology allows golfers a virtual component that measures the speed, distance and direction of their shots. Through an app, players can chart their improvement over time or play a multitude of games. The same technology has changed the way golf is viewed on television by charting the flight of the ball through a blue line.
The renovated practice facility—an $880,000 project—received $500,000 in funding from the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department and approximately $380,000 from the PGA TOUR.
“TPC Harding Park is a jewel that shone brightly during the 2020 PGA Championship. But it’s always been a treasure for locals—from high school kids to elderly folks who walk the course for exercise. The new practice facility just adds to the fun, and its high-tech component and is something both avid golfers and novices will enjoy,” said San Francisco Recreation and Park Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg.
TPC Harding Park features 27 holes of championship golf designed by Willie Watson, architect of the nearby Olympic Club. Known as Harding Park Golf Club when it opened in 1925, the course was named after avid golfer and former President Warren G. Harding. Over the course of its history, golf legends such as Ken Venturi, Billy Casper and Gary Player all walked its fairways.
The course underwent a major renovation project 2002 to restore the fairways to their original glory, concluding just in time to test the skills of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the 2005 WGC-American Express Championship and later in the 2009 Presidents Cup. TPC Harding Park also hosted PGA TOUR Champions’ Charles Schwab Cup Championship in 2010, 2011 and 2013, as well as the PGA Championship in 2020.
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