History

The third try was the charm

 

Almost 100 years ago, in 1908, the Southern Pacific Railroad -- which had purchased Santa Barbara's Hope Ranch from the family of the late Thomas Hope (who had farmed and run sheep across its 2,000 verdant acres) -- leased some acreage to hotelier Milo Potter for a nine-hole golf course, Santa Barbara's first, tennis courts, polo field and clubhouse.

The railroad's directors hoped Potter's club would help them sell sites to wealthy easterners for winter residences and to local residents for year-round homes.

The Potter Country Club opened to an enthusiastic response from Santa Barbara's residents and visitors.  However, despite its promising beginning, the club foundered and closed when Potter's lease expired in 1914 as World War One shook the universe.

After that war, in 1919, a local group floated a bond issue to resurrect the golf course and build a new clubhouse.  The clubhouse was sited at its present hilltop location and the new club was named "La Cumbre," Spanish for summit.

The new 18-hole course was designed by George Clifford Thomas, famed as the architect of premier links in the East and in California.  It attracted golfers like Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen as well as Hollywood film stars.

When the clubhouse burned in 1927, George Washington Smith -- noted for designing local estate homes -- was engaged to draw plans for a new structure on the same site.  Though enlarged and updated since, elements of Smith's design remain.  (One fireplace is concealed behind a new wall.)

The catastrophic economic depression of the 1930's, followed by World War Two, overwhelmed the club in 1942 and forced its closure.

However, in the mid-1950's a new group of local residents was energized.  They negotiated a lease with Harold Chase for the clubhouse, which had been used as a residence in the intervening years, and 151 acres for the golf course, tennis courts, swimming pool, etc., and a membership drive was started.  (Some years later the club bought out the lease and now owns all the real estate as well as the improvements.)

The club opened in 1957 for the third time with 205 members, including some unmarried women at a time when few country clubs permitted single women or widows to hold memberships.  Throughout, the club's membership has been both inclusive and exceedingly friendly.

The golf course has earned a reputation for being fair and challenging.  It has been selected for qualifying tourneys for the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, U.S. Senior and various state tournaments.

In 1993-94, members underwrote a major improvement program of facilities and the golf course costing some $6 million.