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LOS ANGELES - It's a typical Sunday morning at Maggie Hathaway Golf Course, a hardscrabble nine-hole par 3 on the city's south side.
A handful of children participating in a junior clinic run by the Southern California Golf Association are chipping and putting under the watchful eyes of several coaches and parents.
Nearby, a sixsome of golfers are teeing off on the first hole. This group, and another fivesome of golfers on the second hole, is competing in a weekly Sunday skins game as part of the Compton Men's Club.
Smack in the middle of the layout, a father, son and daughter are getting a lesson from one of Maggie Hathaway's local instructors inside the fully-enclosed, netted range.
The scene is typical of public golf in L.A. It's crowded and cramped, almost too much so for the limited land available. Metal bars on the tiny shack of a pro shop protect a worker who collects $8 green fees. Three-story-high fences surround the layout to keep golf balls in and trouble out.
Maggie Hathaway, tucked into a back lot of the Jesse Owens Park beyond a community pool and athletic fields, would be considered a golf wasteland by most of the country's golfers, especially when compared to the golf oasis 11 miles north that is hosting the 2023 U.S. Open - the prestigious and exclusive 36-hole Los Angeles Country Club.
But the two courses that attract a completely opposite clientele - rich vs. blue collar, celebrities vs. anybodies - are bonded together this week in a way that could be a game-changer for the entire golf scene in L.A. The United States Golf Association, the caretakers of the U.S. Open, have pledged $1 million from the event to completely renovate Maggie Hathaway and fund junior golf programming throughout Southern California as part of a $18-million fundraising effort that includes the S.C.G.A., Los Angeles County, L.A.C.C. and other partners. They have all come together to create the Fore Youth Foundation and hire architect Gil Hanse to lead Maggie Hathaway's course redesign.
How to donate to renovate Maggie Hathaway and impact LA junior golf
Golfers and organizations can donate to the Fore Youth Foundation by clicking here. Currently, $8 million of the $18 million target has been raised.
Maybe their efforts will identify the next Tiger Woods, who grew up playing a similarly rough-around-the-edges area short course, Heartwell in Long Beach. Or maybe it will simply introduce thousands of young golfers to the game. Either way, the money should change the lives of aspiring players, and make Maggie Hathaway into a community beacon.
"I want to commend everyone for not making the U.S. Open just about one week of excitement in June, although it will be a big party," Los Angeles County Supervisor Hollie J. Mitchell said at the U.S. Open media day in May. "It will be a truly lasting and impactful legacy, one that invests directly in people and long-standing community partnerships. And what better place to do this than the golf course named for an African American civil rights activist and woman golfer who led the effort to integrate our own county-led golf courses."
A colorful history and clientele at Maggie Hathaway
My experience at Maggie Hathaway - named after an African-American actor, singer and activist who championed equality in golf - was one of the most eye-opening golf experiences in my 25 years in the industry. I've never seen such a diversity of golfers playing the same course at the same time. It was what Hathaway dreamed of when she fought segregation on the golf course decades ago in L.A.
15 miles from the LACC, the Maggie Hathaway Golf Course is set to receive a $15 million renovation that includes creating golf learning centers for local youth. #USOpen pic.twitter.com/xI8CKlz717
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 18, 2023
I was definitely nervous driving my rental car along unfamiliar city streets. The fact that I was driving a Tesla made me stand out a little more than I would have liked. I would have never found such a tiny swath of golf tucked next to an electric power station without GPS.
Seeing the children having fun on the practice green set me at ease until I walked to the first hole, where I encountered a six-some teeing off. If I had encountered these guys on the street, I probably would have turned my Telsa around. After chatting them up, though, I realized they were just like any other golfers: just a group of guys looking for a place to play. The Compton Par 3 Golf Course closed during the pandemic and hasn't reopened, despite repeated appeals by Compton Men's Club members stating their case at government meetings that it's a valuable community asset. In the meantime, they've migrated to Maggie Hathaway.
Carter Kendrick, the secretary/treasurer of the Compton Men's Club, said the group likes Maggie Hathaway but still misses its home course.
“I like the hills because it creates the challenge," he said of Maggie Hathaway's 1,008-yard routing. "If they take care of it and cut the fairways a little more and rolled the greens a little bit, that would be nice. We have lost balls when they are supposed to be in the fairway. We just ask for decent (conditions)."
It was easy to see the potential of the facility, which dates to 1962 and annually hosts roughly 20,000 rounds, all for $8 or less. I played the entire course in about an hour, starting off on the third hole behind a twosome. Every hole felt like a short-game workout. The greens are small and often quite tilted. It will be interesting to see what Hanse can do with such a limited parcel of land. There's talk of moving the driving range, so the towering nets aren't so intrusive throughout the round. A more permanent clubhouse and learning center are part of the plans once ground is broken.
Whatever comes, a brighter future lies ahead.
"We will be changing lives for decades to come," USGA Executive Director Mike Whan said back at U.S. Open media day. "That's what makes this trophy so much cooler than just the guy who lifts it."
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