Olympic Club The Olympic Club is an athletic club and private social club in San Francisco , California . Its main " City Clubhouse " is located in downtown San Francisco , and its three golf course s are in the southwestern corner of the city , at the border with Daly City . The " Lakeside Clubhouse " is located just north of the Daly City border ; the two clubhouses are separated by about . The three golf courses are named Lake , Ocean , and Cliffs . Lake and Ocean are 18 - hole par - 71 courses , and the Cliffs is a nine - hole par - 3 course in the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean . All three venues are lined with many tree s ( almost 40 , 000 on the Lake course ) and offer views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park . The United States Golf Association recognizes the Olympic Club as one of the first 100 golf clubs established in the United States . History . First named the " San Francisco Olympic Club " , it is the oldest athletic club in the United States . Established on May 6 , 1860 , its first officers were President , G . W . Bell , Secretary , E . Bonnell , Treasurer , H . G . Hanks , and Leader , Arthur Nahl . James J . Corbett , the heavyweight boxing champion from 1892 to 1897 , joined the club in 1884 . He later went on to coach boxing at the club for many years . On January 2 , 1893 the club opened its first permanent clubhouse on Post Street . That building did not survive the San Francisco earthquake . Golf club . In 1918 , the club took over the Lakeside Golf Club , which had just opened in 1917 but was struggling financially . Lakeside had one 18 - hole golf course designed by Wilfrid Reid , but following additional land purchases the club decided to replace it with two courses . These were designed by Willie Watson , a well - known Scottish architect , and the Lake and Ocean courses opened in 1924 . The Ocean course was shortly thereafter damaged by landslides , and Sam Whiting ( who had constructed the two courses , and would remain as superintendent until 1954 ) remodeled and rebuilt both courses in 1927 . In 1953 , the Lake course was modified by Robert Trent Jones in preparation for the 1955 U . S . Open . The Ocean course was altered several times over the years , and following heavy storm damage in 1996 was completely redesigned by Tom Weiskopf and reopened in 2000 . The Cliffs Course opened in 1994 with Jay Morrish and Tom Weiskopf as the course architects . The Olympic Club hosted the 2004 U . S . Junior Amateur ( won by Sihwan Kim ) and the U . S . Amateur in 1958 ( won by Charles Coe ) and 1981 ( won by Nathaniel Crosby , son of Bing Crosby ) . The Lake and Ocean Courses were used for the 2007 U . S . Amateur , which was won by Colt Knost of Dallas , Texas , who earned a 2 - and - 1 victory over Michael Thompson of Tucson , Arizona . Competition . In 1909 , Olympian and club member Ralph Rose set a world record shot put throw of 51 feet . In 1915 , the club ' s amateur basketball team won the Amateur Athletic Union ( AAU ) Basketball Championship . In 1934 , club member Fred Apostoli won the National Amateur Middleweight boxing title . In 1937 , the Olympic Club track and field team won the Track and Field National Championships . In 1941 , club member Hank Luisetti helped lead the Olympic Club basketball team to win the AAU Basketball Championships again . In 1950 , Olympic Club member Arthur Larsen won the U . S . Open of tennis in Forest Hills , New York . The Olympic Club water polo team won the 1959 Water Polo National Championship . Cycling is one of the sports with the longest tradition at the Olympic Club . From 1893 to 1903 , the Olympic Club Cycling Team was one of the club ' s premier teams . Although the sanctioned cycling team disbanded in 1903 , many Olympians participated in cycling on an individual basis . The most illustrious of these was Ernest Ohrt . Ohrt capped his cycling career by being named coach of the United States Olympic Games cycling team in 1924 . Beginning in the mid - 1990s , a revived Olympic Club cycling team supported several cyclists who went on to become professional road cyclists . Former Olympic Club cyclists who later turned professional include Skyler Bishop , Nick Kelez , James Hibbard , Jackson Stewart , Mike Tillman and Zach Walker . In addition to being a springboard for aspiring professional cyclists , the modern cycling team also boasts some of the finest masters - age cyclists in the nation , including Brian McGuire , Hal Johnson , Cynthia Mommsen and Lisa Hunt . Club member Maureen O ' Toole won a silver medal in water polo at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney , Australia . Two Olympic Club members have won the Dipsea Race : Norman Bright in 1970 and Shirley Matson in 1993 . In 1992 , the Club set up the Winged " O " Foundation , which changed its name to The Olympic Club Foundation in 2002 . Its purpose is to fund youth sports programs which primarily target less advantaged youth who live in the Bay Area . Winged - O football and rugby . The Olympic Club fielded a football team that played Bay Area colleges such as Stanford , Cal , St . Mary ' s , and Santa Clara . The team was formed in 1890 . That year , the Olympic Club was accused by a rival club of enticing athletes to jump to its ranks with offers of jobs . An investigation by the Amateur Athletic Union ruled that the Olympics ' practice was not actually professionalism but only a " semi " form of it , thus inventing the term " semi - pro " . Although the Amateur Athletic Union didn ' t like the idea very much , it decided that clubs could indeed offer employment without losing their amateur status or compromising the athlete . From 1891 through 1934 , Olympic club had a 12 - 30 - 8 record against Stanford and a 6 - 49 - 5 record against Cal . In 1913 , the Olympic Club ' s rugby union team played the touring the All Blacks of New Zealand , then as now one of the world ' s top teams in that sport . Olympic Club members later provided the core of the US national teams that won gold medals in rugby at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics , the last occasion the sport was part of the Olympic program . In 1926 , Percy Locey played football at the Olympic Club . He was a member of the Olympic ' s " Winged - O " football eleven that handed the University of California ' s " Wonder Team " their first loss in five seasons . In 1928 , Locey took over as the head football coach at the Olympic Club . In his first year with the Olympic Club , his team posted an undefeated season , with wins over future Pac - 12 schools Stanford and 1929 Rose Bowl bound California . After the success of that season , Locey was promoted to head coach of all sports at the athletic club . He was named the coach of the West team in the annual East - West Shrine game in 1929 , though his team was defeated that year , 19 - 7 . The courses . General course information . Bent grass covers the greens . The fairways are a rye and poa annua grass combination . The roughs also have a bit of bluegrass mixed in . Setup for the 2007 U . S . Amateur Championship : The Lake Course . The Lake Course has been recognized by " Golf Magazine " in its list of the Top 100 Courses in the U . S . It has also been recognized in " Golf Week ' s " category of " America ' s 100 Best Classical Courses . " In " Golf Digest " ' s list of the U . S . 100 Greatest Courses for 2007 – 2008 , the Lake Course was ranked 23 . It is almost entirely within the borders of San Francisco . The yardage of the Lake Course is 7 , 060 yard s from the new championship tees , with a course rating of 75 . 7 and a slope rating of 143 . From the next set of tees forward , the course measures 6 , 529 yards , and has a course rating of 72 . 3 and a slope rating of 132 . From the next set of tees forward , the course measures 6 , 235 yards , and has a course rating of 70 . 9 and a slope rating of 129 . From the front tees , the course measures 5 , 593 yards , and has a course rating of 68 . 6 and a slope rating of 122 . The Lake Course has been lengthened in recent years to prepare for the 2007 U . S . Amateur and 2012 U . S . Open by architect Bill Love . Included in the on - going improvements by Bill Love are new tees that have added significant length to the 2nd , 3rd , 5th , 6th , 9th , 12th , 13th and 16th holes . In addition , drastic changes were made to the par - 4 seventh and par - 3 eighth holes as part of the greens replacement project . A new two - tiered green at the seventh replaces the old three - level green constructed in the 1970s . This green is located approximately 20 yards behind the old one . The most dramatic alterations were made at the par - 3 8th . Previously just a short uphill pitch , a completely new hole has been built with a teeing area well back and to the right of the original , changing the angle of approach and pushing the length of the hole back to 200 yards . A new green has also been built at the par - 3 15th . The controversial 18th green has also been changed further to reintroduce , in a more playable manner , the slope that was previously removed while at the same time creating more diversity in pin placements for the finishing hole . The new 7th and 8th holes opened for play in May , 2009 . The Ocean Course . The Ocean Course has seen many changes over its history . Winter El Nino storms in 1983 , and 1997 caused significant damage , and required major changes to the course and layout . During the mid 1990s , the club built 4 holes west of Skyline Blvd . along the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean . Holes of par 4 , par 3 , par 5 , and par 4 had dramatic views . These holes were lost due to erosion in 1997 . The current course was finished in 2000 . The regular yardage for the Ocean Course is 6 , 925 yards from the championship tees with a course rating of 73 . 6 and a slope rating of 136 . From the next set of tees forward , the course measures 6 , 496 yards and has a course rating of 71 . 1 and a slope rating of 129 . From the next set of tees forward , the course measures 5 , 898 yards with a course rating of 68 . 8 and a slope rating of 121 . From the front tees , the course measures 5 , 386 yards with a course rating of 66 . 5 and a slope rating of 115 . In preparation for the 2007 U . S . Amateur , the 14th hole was changed , to allow the 15th hole to be lengthened . The course is almost entirely within the borders of Daly City . The Cliffs Course . The 9 - hole , par 3 Cliffs Course is the windiest because it is set on the bluffs above the Pacific Ocean . Though it is short , it is very challenging . Designed by Jay Morrish and Tom Weiskopf , it is the most scenic of all three courses . It measures 1 , 800 yards . U . S . Opens . The Olympic Club has hosted five U . S . Golf Opens , in 1955 , 1966 , 1987 , 1998 and 2012 . The Olympic Club has the reputation as a heartbreaker , having destroyed 54 - hole leaders each time the Open has been played there . Jack Fleck won in 1955 , defeating Ben Hogan in an 18 - hole playoff after the two were tied at the end of 72 holes on 287 . Billy Casper defeated Arnold Palmer in a playoff to win in 1966 and In 1987 Scott Simpson won by one shot from Tom Watson . Lee Janzen won at Olympic in 1998 with a score of 280 ( even par , as the course played a par 70 for the U . S . Open ) . Players complained about the pin position at the 18th hole in the second round . The pin was set at the top of a ridge , and , many balls rolled on way past the cup . Kirk Triplett incurred a two - stroke penalty when he used his putter to stop the ball from rolling . Payne Stewart , the runner - up to Janzen , complained as he three - putted the hole . The green was flattened around 2000 as a result , but was given more slope in the recent renovation to the course . The 2012 U . S Open was won by Webb Simpson when he scored 4 birdies in the last 13 holes .