TPC Harding Park announces Fleming 9 reopening and driving range renovation

TPC Harding Park, the only city-owned public course managed by the PGA TOUR, announced it will relaunch its Fleming 9 Golf Course on Nov. 16 after a regrow project that commenced following the 2020 PGA Championship. Course officials also announced the start of a driving range renovation. 

 

The 60-day Fleming 9 regrow project included the reseeding of ryegrass. Named after former San Francisco city golf caretaker Jack Fleming, the Fleming 9 was added to the interior of the Harding Park Course in 1961 and serves as a challenging, par-30 golf course featuring six par 3s and three par 4s. A beloved course of locals and visitors, the enhanced Fleming 9 will continue to be a prominent sister course to the famed 18 neighboring holes. 

 

The new driving range is slated for completion January 2021 and will feature artificial turf, an expansive fairway, full grass putting green and short game area. The range is just one of two in the City of San Francisco open to the public. 

 

“We’re excited to introduce these enhancements to TPC Harding Park, which support our top priority of providing an enjoyable experience for the public golfer,” general manager Tom Smith said. “It’s not too often a public course has the opportunity to enhance infrastructure, so when we planned the practice area renovation, we worked through every last detail, ensuring it would be state-of-the-art, yet still inviting and fun. We’re incredibly proud of the final design and can’t wait to share it with the community.”

 

TPC Harding Park is one of six public golf courses owned by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. Each course is steeped in history and surrounded by breathtaking scenery. 

 

“Now more than ever, golfers are eager to get out and play,” San Francisco Recreation and Park department general manager Phil Ginsburg said. “The Fleming 9 at TPC Harding Park has earned a reputation among San Franciscans as an affordable and accessible favorite. Its reopening means more opportunity for golfers to do what they love on a relaxed and beautiful course.”

 

The only city-owned public course managed by the PGA TOUR, 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.