The Olympic Club: Ocean Course

The quieter of the two 18-hole courses on The Olympic Club's Lakeside property, the Ocean has lived in the shadow of the Lake Course that hosts U.S. Opens. Opened in 1924 to a Willie Watson and Sam Whiting plan, it lost its original seaside holes to landslides within years, was rebuilt by Whiting in 1927, and was reworked again by Tom Weiskopf after 1996 storms, reopening in 2000.

The Olympic Club's Lakeside golf property in San Francisco was built on a sandy bluff above the Pacific Ocean in the early 1920s. The club acquired the former Lakeside Golf Club property and hired Scottish-born architect Willie Watson, working alongside club superintendent Sam Whiting, to lay out 36 holes. The Lake Course and Ocean Course opened in 1924. The Ocean was the seaward of the two and originally featured holes along the bluffs directly above the beach. Landslides damaged several of the seaside Ocean holes within a few years of opening. Sam Whiting led a remodel of both the Lake and Ocean courses in 1927, rerouting the Ocean back from the most unstable bluff sections while preserving its coastal character. That Whiting remodel served as the basis of the Ocean Course for much of the twentieth century. The Pacific continued to shape the course. El Niño winter storms in 1982-83 and 1996-97 eroded the bluff holes and forced significant changes. After the 1996-97 storms, the club engaged Tom Weiskopf to comprehensively rework the Ocean. Weiskopf's redesigned course opened in 2000 and reoriented several holes away from the most vulnerable cliff edges while retaining long ocean views. A further refresh was completed in 2012 under the direction of Bill Love and the club's Green Committee after that year's U.S. Open on the Lake Course. As of 2026, a further overhaul led by architect Jim Urbina has been announced and will pay homage to the original Watson and Whiting routing while updating strategic features. Although the Lake Course remains the championship stage that has hosted five U.S. Opens and numerous other USGA events, the Ocean is the day-in, day-out playing ground for many Olympic Club members. The course plays to a par of 71 at approximately 6,851 yards.