Before reading any further, it is important for us to make note: This project is not supported or envisioned by the present City plans. Second, any fundraising is not associated with the City of Santa Cruz. Finally, the City has no plan to undertake this project at this time.
The aim for this website- which was created largely from a grant we received in 2025 from the Santa Cruz History Forum- is to provide a platform for engagement with local residents who wish to gain more information about our effort to revive a portion of the Casa Del Rey Golf Links and to re-activate a portion of Pogonip Open space where the golf course once stood from 1911-1934. This is a locally driven project, led by a local golf professional, Isaac Weintraub. Isaac grew up in Santa Cruz, and has studied golf course management and traditional greenkeeping over the last 20 years in both Canada and Scotland. It is the aim of this project to show the residents of Santa Cruz and the rest of the world how natural golf can be.
We have partnered with a number of local organizations such as The Santa Cruz History Forum, Common Roots Farm, Santa Cruz Junior Golf, The Monterey Bay Rugby Association, and the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League with the idea of managing a portion of Pogonip as a golf course and recreational area for the residents of Santa Cruz and by the residents of Santa Cruz.
The Pogonip Park Restoration Project is aimed at honoring the past traditions of the land of Casa Del Rey Golf Links set out by Fred Swanton as a recreational area for the community of Santa Cruz. Through conversation and connection with many of the people of Santa Cruz it is apparent City Council have asked our community to help get children off their cell phones and other devices and to get outside into nature. To do this- it is our job as residents to create safe spaces to do so. This project’s main objectives are to first, to pay homage to those who did so much at Pogonip and for the growth of the city of Santa Cruz. Second, to preserve the natural environment at Pogonip Open Space to support the land and it’s wildlife. Third, we plan to recreate a traditionally maintained, natural golf course at Pogonip to serve our community and mainly geared towards the youth- as we are working with Santa Cruz Junior Golf and also serve as a welcoming space where anyone can come learn to play the game in a welcoming environment. Finally, to align our project with the Long Range Pogonip Master Plan, we plan to rebuild the clubhouse to serve as an education center for environmental stewardship and also to educate visitors on the pioneer women of Santa Cruz to help preserve to brave and bold actions they took to ensure women could also play and participate in these spaces over the last hundred years and into the future!
The Pogonip Park Project: Restoring a piece of Santa Cruz History
Tom Bendelow, the original golf course architect at Casa Del Rey Golf Links in 1910 was from Aberdeen, Scotland and immigrated to New York City in 1892. He began designing courses in America shortly thereafter. His first golf course architect job in America was to restore and expand the municipal golf course in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx.
Tom Bendelow had a naturalist approach to golf course design and felt that municipal or public golf courses should be like public ball fields, open to all players at little or no cost.
Bendelow's designs were for new golfers – part-time players, women and families – and they were simple designs to promote play and practice, not so difficult as to discourage but challenging enough to reward good play. And they were not so intricately designed to be overly costly for those responsible for maintaining the course.” Eventually Tom Bendelow would become know as the “Johnny Appleseed” of American Golf Course Design.
Above: The Beach Hill neighbors who loved and supported Pogonip. This 1920 Photo contains many of the founding members of Casa Del Rey Golf Links: Will Jeter, became president of the club in 1912 -- he is the distinguished man next to his wife, Jennie Bliss Jeter. His neighbor and best friend Henry Deming (bottom right), a local banker, became the Vice President of the club that year when they were forced to reorganize. Deming and his wife (also pictured top left) was also a founding member in the lower right corner and father of Dorothy Deming Wheeler, a woman who would become one of the most prominent figures at Pogonip over the next 100 years.
Photo Credit: UCSC, Special Collections
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