What do you call three homeowners, a head groundskeeper and the manager of a high-end lodge? You call it the team that resurrected the Sea Ranch Golf Links, a noble act that involved more than a lot of personal effort, some high-level business restructuring--and time.
This venerable public golf course opened its first nine in 1975; the back nine came 20 years later. Though “links” is in the name, there’s not a lot of Scotland here. But there is plenty of low-hanging cypress and small green settings tucked enchantedly among gradual doglegs. In the fog, a common feature on Northern California’s coast, the course looks more like what you’d find in a Jane Eyre novel than in St. Andrews. Memorable views of the Pacific are found on the par-3 eighth and on the back-nine.
On Jan. 5, 2025, the management firm that owned the Sea Ranch Lodge and the course decided that golf was no longer a viable economic activity. Located at the border of Sonoma and Mendocino counties, with the old sea town of Gualala (pop. 2,000 or so) just six miles up the road, Sea Ranch is not easily accessible for the San Francisco or Sacramento markets. Though local golfers supported it, play had dwindled to less than 17,000 rounds.
But head groundskeeper Jason McDonald wasn’t going to stand for getting shut down. “Everyone who comes here asks, ‘Why has no one told me about this place’,” said McDonald, who had a fellow believer in Kristina Jetton, the manager of the Sea Ranch Lodge.
“I love the golf course,” she said. “I’m not a golfer but I love how it blends in the landscape. It’s just a spectacular course, and there’s not that many of them.”
If greens aren’t cut for a week, they will never be brought back to modern playing conditions. That would mean millions in remodeling for an already fiscally challenged business. So, despite closing, Jetton kept McDonald and crew member Jose Meza, a 30-year employee, on the payroll – Meza on the mowers and McDonald for overall coursework.
“It was a nightmare of neglect,” McDonald said about the nine months of downtime. “When you don’t sharpen a mower, there’s damage to the blades. They’re not cutting the grass; it’s more like tearing a piece of paper. And when you don’t run a sprinkler system and you let grass grow a foot, you get problems.”
Jetton also paid for the water and electrical costs, but the grass turned brown and there wasn’t much McDonald could do about gophers and their cousins who had set in. But at least the course wasn’t plowed.
There was, however, a ripple effect to the surrounding area. “When the course closed,” said Jill Blew of the Four-Eyed Frog bookstore in downtown Gualala, “the retail sector was really struggling.” She called out the common pattern: while men play, women head to the shops.
Sea Ranch homeowners and avid golfers Dale Carlsen, Matt Vukicevich and John Weeke, along with McDonald and Jetton, came together to keep the course going. An increase in rounds played would go a long way. But how? Highway 1 from Marin County through Bodega Bay wasn’t going to get any shorter. And though it’s breathtaking, there still are plenty of white-knuckle moments on the high cliffs getting to Sea Ranch.
One dark thought lingered. The development of the Sea Ranch in the 1960s led to the creation of the California Coastal Commission, which is notorious for limiting any development on the coast. Carlsen, a Sea Ranch homeowner since 2011 and the founder of Sleep Train mattress chain, said it best: “To lose such a gem on the North Coast, it’s unconscionable. You’d never build it again.”
The three talked with other homeowners. They searched for a new management firm to oversee course operations but also raise public awareness. Yet the dollars didn’t pencil out. “It can’t work as a standalone. Not enough rounds,” said Carlsen.
So, in time, homeowners had to be convinced to help offset some costs. Golfers would see an increase in the price to play. The North Coast would be asked to help out by, among other things, volunteering and holding community activities at the course. And the Sea Ranch land management company would have to live with a golf course lease of $1 per year.
That’s the bones of the North Coast Preservation Society, spearheaded by Carlsen. Its application is before the IRS, and its non-profit purview considers the course not just a golf business but a needed environmental, recreational and social feature essential to the community.
“The role of the non-profit really is to preserve the land, the flora and fauna, and for the recreation for locals and visitors, and to save the views and also provide education through youth golf,” Carlsen said. “We’re fulfilling the view of what a nonprofit can do.”
[Anyone can donate at northcoast preservation.org]
Back on more stable finances, Kemper took management control on Sept. 2 and the course opened for play in October. Mike Radcliffe was been brought in as head pro. The former head pro at Bennett Valley GC in Santa Rosa, he “gets” Sea Ranch.
Home-and-home men’s club matches with Bodega Bay are getting set up. Kemper will help with its regional marketing reach as well as increasing the course’s social media presence. Stay-and-play packages with the Lodge and hotels in Gualala are being explored. Target markets include Ukiah, Santa Rosa and San Francisco – all within a 3-hour drive.
The course is still shaggy in spots, but very playable and enjoyable. Carlsen, Vukicevich and Weeke continue to monitor the course and assess its needs. Six months ago it was brown, over-grown and seemingly ready for memories, not tee shots. Now, it’s green again, on the course and in its financial outlook.
“It’s not Bandon Dunes,” Carlsen said. “But it’s pretty special.”
