Pizá developing Tijuana CC restoration master plan

The project aims to restore the Prohibition-era course to its original William P. Bell design.


Pizá Golf announced that company founder Agustin (Augie) Pizá conducted a golf course analysis and designed a restoration master plan for the Club Tijuana Campestre — Tijuana Country Club.
 
Located in Tijuana, Mexico, just 15 minutes from downtown San Diego, Tijuana Country Club has a rich and treasured history. The golf course was designed in 1927 by William P. Bell, founding member of the ASGCA, during the golden age of golf course design and was originally part of the Agua Caliente Club, a resort that provided a luxury lifestyle during the Prohibition era. Celebrities, politicians and wealthy businesspeople would travel south across the border to enjoy libations and the world-class amenities, which included a racetrack, casino and health spa.
 
The celebrated golf course was host to the Agua Caliente Open in 1930, a PGA Tour event. The inaugural golf tournament offered the largest purse at the time and was won by Gene Sarazen. After Prohibition, the course closed for an extended period. The Agua Caliente tournament was re-branded and enjoyed a second incarnation briefly in the 1950s as the Tijuana Open.
 
“Augie was commissioned and presented a restoration master plan,” TCC member and secretary Oscar Foglio said. “We are waiting and hopeful the membership gives us the green light to begin on the execution. It would be amazing not only for our club but for the city and, to be honest, for all Mexican golf. To have a golf course so rich in history and complete with a modern-day restoration will reestablish our club and its pedigree.”
 
“For me,” Pizá said, “this extraordinary restoration is like finding buried treasure. Beneath the existing golf course lies a golf course that should be, historically speaking, synonymous with Cypress Point and Pasatiempo. The Tijuana Country Club is a gem, a hidden masterpiece that played a key role in the golden age of golf course architecture. Our goal was to interpret Bell’s masterful design concept with the hope of restoring the golf course back to its glory years.”
 
Filmmaker, producer and storyteller Erik Anders Lang featured and explored the restoration of Tijuana Country Club in the sixth season of his Adventures in Golf series.