GOLF: Peninsula Golf Club celebrating 100 years with Centennial Scramble July 25

Published 1:30 am Saturday, June 20, 2026

PORT ANGELES — Peninsula Golf Club, a venerable institution in the sporting and social lives of area residents, is celebrating its centennial this summer with a full weekend of events set July 24-26.

A members-only dinner will kick off the weekend July 24, while a Centennial Scramble Tournament will follow July 25 with a Celebration Night that evening.

The Centennial Scramble event will have a shotgun start and will cost $38.52 for golf and lunch.

Open play days are set July 24 and July 26 with green fees rolled back to $19.26.

To reserve a spot in the tournament or set up a tee time, call the Peninsula Pro Shop at 360-457-6501.

The 1920s were a golden age for golf in the United States as the sport surged in popularity resulting from the 1913 U.S. Open “David and Goliath” duel between Francis Ouimet, a 19-year-old American amateur prodigy, against the seasoned and invincible professional from across the pond, England’s Harry Vardon.

Ten years after his 1913 victory, the number of American players had tripled and many new courses had been built, including numerous public ones.

That wave of popularity reached the area by the 1920s.

Discovery Bay Golf Course first opened for play as a nine-hole course on May 9, 1925, and was called the Chevy Chase Port Townsend Golf Club.

Port Townsend Golf Course’s original nine-hole layout opened in 1904, but the course was redesigned after a city-Jefferson County lease of that property in 1927.

A group of area businessmen formed the predecessor to Peninsula, Port Angeles Golf and Country Club, in 1923, led by Norman Gibbs, a mill manager, which purchased 120 acres of farm land from J.H. Dalton and his daughter, silent film actress Dorothy Dalton — a property large enough for the eventual expansion to the 18 holes golfers enjoy today.

Oscar Sundsby was hired in July 1925 as the first golf professional with Ted Payne serving as course superintendent, and golfers soon began play for the first time at a Port Angeles-area golf course on the then par-34 layout in August 1925.

The Great Depression laid bare financial difficulties at the club, whose board decided to put the club into bankruptcy.

Lower Elwha Dam builder Thomas Aldwell and Dr. Will Taylor purchased the club’s assets and later deeded them to a new golf club — Peninsula Golf & Country Club — and, in October 1941, articles of incorporation for the new course were filed with the state in Olympia and Aldwell also refurbished the clubhouse.

The course moved to a par-35 layout when a new tee area was built for what is now the 10th hole, making it long enough to play as a par 5.

Legendary golfer Byron Nelson visited the club for an exhibition match in 1945, drawing thousands of spectators as he shot a 66 while playing the course twice with Jug McSpaden, who shot 67.

Expansion to 18 holes and a par of 72 came in 1978 with the club selecting a nine-hole layout designed by Jack Reimer, who also designed what is now The Cedars at Dungeness Golf Course earlier that decade.

Famed golf architect Robert Muir Graves also had designed an additional nine holes, but the club opted for Reimer’s design, which creates gentle, walkable slopes along a steep hillside.

Recent years have seen the club open to public play seven days a week with a pro shop under the management of The Cedars at Dungeness.