Back in 1983-84, Temple Country Club had fallen into financial trouble and was nearing the point of closing.
Private Wildflower Country Club still was a few years away from opening. Temple College Golf Course had been around since 1945 but its nine-hole layout couldn’t accommodate the city’s entire golfing community, so the locals would have to find a new destination in another town.
That’s when Sammons and a host of locals stepped in to make sure the city’s oldest golf course remained alive.
“Somebody had to get in there and run with the idea,” said Sammons, 60, who lives in Fort Worth. “I was just very fortunate that they allowed me to do it, because it was such fun.”
The Santa Fe Railroad Company owned most of the underlying property of TCC, and when the lease came up for renewal, it wanted a large monetary amount.
This was the original nine holes built in 1929. When the club expanded to 18 holes in 1967, the additional holes were built on property leased from two other landowners. Unable to afford the terms proposed by Santa Fe, the club’s fate was on life support.
Santa Fe planned on selling the land to the highest bidder, with the possibility of the land becoming a residential or industrial area.
Sammons, Temple’s mayor at the time, was approached by several people who wanted to preserve TCC and turn it into a public golf course. Not wanting to act without the community’s support, Sammons and the Temple City Council had a bond election to decide what to do.
After the hard work by the Parks Department, several business leaders, golfers, civic clubs, the late Frank Mayborn and many others, the election passed by more than 70 votes - the first bond election passed in Temple since 1964. During that election, additions to the police, a new fire station and two overpasses also were approved in separate votes.
TCC had the financial support it needed to get started but still had to act on an insufficient budget.
By this time TCC was out of business and had surrendered all property rights. Santa Fe, still seeking a big payoff, also ran into a problem. The course’s land was zoned “agriculture” and nothing could be built on the site unless the City Council approved a new zoning. Realizing it would be unable to get approval, Santa Fe sold the property for a reasonable amount.
What to do with the other nine holes still remained unclear.
Whereas Santa Fe settled for a realistic price, the two landowners would not. As luck would have it, Sammons and the group discovered the property south of the railroad tracks belonged to a dentist in Georgetown. They were able to acquire the land for $4,000 per acre and finally had enough land to build 18 holes.
They hired an architect but were unsatisfied with his ideas and his cost, so the City Council gave Sammons a shot at designing for free.
A three-time TCC champion and owner of the then-course-record of 61, Sammons went out to the property most afternoons and evenings to hit some balls and develop sketches for the contractor.
“Our parks and recreation mowed everything down and I went out in the evening with the contractor and said, ‘I want something here’ and ‘I want something there,’” Sammons said.
He had to re-route the original nine holes to make room for the second nine on the south property, and every green was rebuilt. The only hole that remained untouched was what is now No. 11, in tribute to his friend and golf mentor, Dr. A. E. Wiedeman.
Down to its last dime on several occassions, the group got contractors from Wildflower to come over in the evenings. The lake expansion was paid for with a Federal Flood Hazard Remediation Grant obtained by U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. The group eventually got the bridges built when Evergreen Alliance won the bid to manage the course and it opened to the public in 1985.
That’s Sammons’ story of how he worked so dilligently to keep golf an instrumental aspect in the community. While Sammons presided over his last City Council meeting, Dr. John F. McKenney Jr., Chairman of the City Parks and Recreation Board, recommended that the course be named John F. Sammons Jr. Park and Municipal Golf Course.
So every time you play Temple’s only 18-hole public course, make sure to pay homage and check out the rock on No. 5 that bears a plaque in Sammons’ honor for the course he helped rescue.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re 10 and starting out or 80 and finishing your career - you can compete on that golf course because it’s not overwhelmingly long,” Sammons said of the 6,016-yard layout. “You’ve really got to be a shotmaker. There are plenty of opportunities to hit it left to right and right to left, and you’ve got to be smart. You can’t just pull out the driver and bang it on every hole.
“It’s got easy enough holes to have fun and make birdies. But also if you’re an eagle maniac and think you can hit it perfectly down the fairway, you’ll make double bogeys as well.”
Because of Sammons’ unconditional love for the game and duty to his community, the public can continue making birdies and double bogeys in Temple.
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
