113 dates from the Lost Acreage to the course among the houses. Each links to its newspaper source and to the chapter of the history that tells the story.
The lowest 18-hole score known on the Mill Valley nine, played twice around. The record fell from 68 in 1928 to Del Taylor's 57 in 1942, which he matched in 1944; later low rounds of 63 and 62 never came close. It dropped to 55 by 1978, when a young Doug Acton set the record, and it was tied about 2022.
Par and the routing changed over the years: 66 in 1928, 67 in the 1940s–50s, about 65 later. So the scores are not strictly comparable. The newspaper archive's coverage is thin after 1960, and Acton's 55 comes from the city's statement rather than a report at the time. The women's record of the 1940s–50s was a 70 by Mrs. W. B. Hanna (1948).↗
| When | Golfer | Score | Par | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 28, 1928 | Harold Bunn | 68 | 66 | Called a record | source ↗ |
| June 1941 | Cy Donaldson | 64 | 66 | Lowest reported | source ↗ |
| 1942 | Del Taylor | 57 | 67 | Called a record | source ↗ |
| 1944 | Del Taylor | 57 | 67 | Called a record | source ↗ |
| July 1948 | Bill Mason | 63 | 67 | Lowest reported | source ↗ |
| May 1952 | Bud Fisher (pro) | 62 | 67 | Lowest reported | source ↗ |
| 1978 (as reported later) | Doug Acton | 55 | — | Called a record | source ↗ |
| c. 2022 | Niall Donegan (tie) | 55 | — | Called a record | source ↗ |
Dr. Sidney B. Cushing receives a federal patent for 162.01 acres of the government wedge between two ranchos, part of which later lay under the golf links.
The San Francisco dentist takes possession of the canyon above the future course, which keeps his name.
A photograph shows a crowd at the ball field beside the road to Warner Canyon, with the future golf ground behind.
Dr. Warner's daughter marries Benjamin P. Upham, a future club director and president.
A plan for a family club with a clubhouse and golf grounds, funded by $100 trustees' notes, appears in the Record.
About seventy-five people meet with F. F. Bostwick in the chair, according to the club's 1939 history.
The club incorporates as a non-profit voluntary association, with Bostwick as president and more than eighty members.
The Town and Country Club stops all activity when the United States enters the war.
The dormant country club meets at the Bank of Mill Valley and looks into leasing grounds for golf links.
The town is invited to a basket picnic in Warner Canyon to hear the plans and view the proposed site.
The papers report that 100 charter members expect to open a nine-hole course being completed by John H. Clark within six weeks.
Clark's greens are sown in August, so opening is pushed back to the fall.
Godfrey Eacret becomes president, Roy C. Ward vice-president and J. F. Forbes secretary-treasurer.
Work starts on Walter H. Ratcliff's clubhouse, and members practice with temporary cups beside the greens.
The Record declares the roughly 2,500-yard nine-hole links in Boyle Canyon complete, with all but two greens playable.
The Record prints the club's first membership list, close to a hundred names.
Bob Clark is engaged permanently as professional and greenkeeper, and the clubhouse roof is finished.
Frank Walsh wins the club's first tournament, a blind-handicap event, with a 95 on a course that had been a cow pasture six months before.
In its first inter-club match, played at home, the new club routs the Belvedere Golf and Country Club.
John and Bob Black play an exhibition foursome for a club purse against Harold Clark of Marin and Bob Clark of Mill Valley.
The first annual meeting limits the club to 150 members and abolishes summer memberships; by December there is a long waiting list.
Frank Ankers holes a mashie second shot on the ninth, the first eagle on the course.
About seventy-five members attend a New Year's dinner-dance in Ratcliff's completed clubhouse, marked by an address for the club's formal opening.
Hugh A. Boyle and others deed 15.97 acres of the Boyle Tract to trustees Eacret and Forbes, with the right to buy more.
In a driving rain, Mill Valley beats the Marin Golf and Country Club 11 to 8, its first home-and-home win over the older club.
Mrs. Hugh A. Boyle prepares to sell her estate, and the Record reports a new road to be put through the land opposite the Golf Grounds.
The club holds its first barbecue in the redwood grove on the golf grounds, cooked on a grill designed by Ben Upham.
Mill Valley wins the inter-club championship of Marin County, with Marin fifteen strokes behind; the team later receives gold medals.
Professional Bob Clark makes the first hole-in-one on the links, at the fourth, in a round of 29; he resigns a month later.
New professional J. Martin Watson and member Leslie Symmes are engaged to rebuild the 6th and 9th greens.
A. D. Mills photographs members on the course on Christmas Day, "and not a caddy to be had," for his album of the club.
A mountain lion interrupts a match of Walsh, Eacret and Upham near the fourth green, and A. D. Mills chases it with his tripod.
A great storm strikes Mill Valley; A. D. Mills photographs the damage, including the repair of the ninth green, and sells prints for the street fund.
John F. Forbes, the club's financial father, retires as secretary-treasurer of a club of low dues and no assessments; Dr. McChesney is president.
Harold Bunn shoots 68, two over a par of 66, the lowest amateur score since the club began.
Country Club Manor, a restricted residential tract adjoining the club, goes on sale from the end of the Buena Vista pavement at Boyle Park.
At the annual dinner Harold Bunn and a dozen members stage a Maori haka by firelight on the redwood-ringed fourth fairway.
On the home course the Mill Valley eight beat Marin, Belvedere and Meadow, admitting 'an advantage of knowing their barrancas.'
The annual meeting made the club's longtime treasurer its president, with Sedg Jory as secretary.
A drive from the 4th tee fractured Treat's skull; in 1936 a judge awarded him $10,000 against Taylor Merriman.
The club planted Bermuda grass for year-round turf, and in 1932 added larger greens, bridges and a new seventh green.
Facing falling membership, the club offered $1 and $2 monthly junior memberships with no initiation fee.
Mill Valley won the Marin County quadrangular championship, beating Belvedere 11½ to ½.
The Record revealed that the club's 'precarious financial position' had led to private talks with the city.
The directors offered course, clubhouse and all holdings to the city for $25,000.
The bonds won 844 to 512, a majority but short of the two-thirds required.
Members approved a new city option with six $350 monthly warrants to keep up the turf and no restrictions on use.
A special election carried the $25,000 bonds by nearly three to one (820 to 327 per the Record).
The city recorded deeds to nine parcels, 42 acres, and opened the Mill Valley Municipal Golf Course that day.
Golfers formed a men's club for the municipal links under president Wynant Van Zandt, with $4 annual dues.
The city hid 1,440 eggs on the new golf park; parked cars stretched a quarter mile.
The Tamalpais High drum and bugle corps drilled on the fairway as the mayor dedicated the new city park.
Cyril Donaldson beat George Ryan 7 and 6 over 36 holes in the dedication tournament final.
Manager Frank Assin reported 4,339 rounds since March, about 80% by players from outside the city.
Ida M. Boyle quits talks over a 40-foot road strip meant to end Ben Upham's right-of-way through the fairways.
Widening of Buena Vista Avenue and the parking area adds 20 feet in front of the clubhouse, partly tearing out the old concrete steps.
G. V. Griffitts reminds the council that voters were promised a self-sustaining course; a full financial report is ordered.
A green wooden sign shaped like Mt. Tamalpais goes up on Buena Vista Avenue pointing to the municipal course.
Twenty-three women form the women's division of the Mill Valley Golf Club under Mrs. W. L. Smith.
The council funds new steps and a retaining wall, foundation repairs and a grassed first tee.
Rain halts work on the new blue-rock steps and retaining wall; the men's club has grown from 15 to 140 members.
J. H. Scott agrees to deed a road along the northwest side of the park so Upham can release his right-of-way.
The supervisors unanimously bring the municipal golf course and park inside Mill Valley's limits.
Night rentals end for lack of blackout shutters, and the holes are renumbered with only 1, 2 and 9 unchanged.
New rates give noncommissioned servicemen a half-price concession that lasts through the war.
Mill Valley's captain wins the North Bay women's championship and becomes the association's first Mill Valley president.
Half a mile of new road along the west side of the course is graded, rolled and oiled.
With the course taxed to capacity on weekends, the new Golf Commission sets starting times.
The supervisors annex the golf course road, ending the need for a right-of-way down the middle of the course.
After Ed Patten resigns, the city splits his job between greenkeeper L. G. Meteer and pro Neil Colburn.
City Manager Adsit reports $12,680 in golf proceeds; the course pays its way, though the clubhouse does not.
The state requires 'Municipal Golf Course' to be deleted from the Highway 101 gateway sign.
Sydney Boyle sues for a way of necessity across the course near the seventh hole.
Earle Blennerhassett beats Bill Mason 8 and 7, making 10 threes in 11 afternoon holes.
Sydney F. Boyle's suit for a right-of-way across the course to reach 17 acres north and east of the seventh hole is taken off the calendar pending a compromise.
The new park and recreation commission studies shifting the 1st and 9th holes east so balls stop landing on the road.
Work begins moving the tee and green away from cars on the road to the picnic grounds; the fill cut from the hill makes a 50-car parking lot.
More than 50 youngsters play the Lions Club junior tournament, which pro Bud Fisher had suggested.
James H. Scott lays out 54 lots at the mouth of Warner Canyon beside the north end of the course.
Alex Almcrants suggests selling the 43-acre nine for houses and building 18 holes near the Alto intersection; nothing comes of it.
The city grants Boyle a right-of-way across a corner of the course, and his family's land is annexed to the city in return.
Golfers wanted an eight-foot fence along Buena Vista instead, but the clubs agree to let the tee-and-green move go on.
The new ninth green and the first grass tee, at No. 1, open for the Director's Cup in a driving rain.
Malcolm E. Brown, a Class A PGA professional from King City, replaces Bud Fisher.
The city provides a perpetual cup for the Mill Valley City Golf Championship.
Stephen Kramer's grading above the third tee gives the city 18,000 cubic yards of free fill for the course.
Pro Malcolm Brown asks to move his shop from the top of the clubhouse stairs down to the first tee.
The redwood pro shop opens at the first tee, across the road from the clubhouse.
City crews under Joseph Penders start up the first unit of the new sprinkler system.
Almcrants suggests selling the money-losing clubhouse; the parks commission takes no action.
Gordon Tovani, kicking a football barefoot, is set to play a medal match against pro Malcolm Brown.
The council upholds the demotion of Parks Superintendent Joseph Penders after a stormy meeting.
Rotary votes 33 to 9 to leave the clubhouse, which the women's club calls filthy.
The council raises adult green fees by 25 cents and spends $7,000 of golf reserves on trees, seed and the first of a new round of grass tees.
Parks director Don Dimitratos announces a rerouting so golfers no longer cross the creek on two holes in a row.
Over the men's club's objection, the council seeks bids on a stage for the new Center for the Performing Arts, which turns the clubhouse into a theater.
Keeler Nash starts a record seventh term as men's club president; no one before him had served more than two years.
A $1,000 chain-link screen on 25-foot poles goes up to protect the new ninth tee from drives off the second, and neighbors protest.
Tam High's golf team, unbeaten in league play in 1969 and 1970 on its home course, loses for the first time after 43 straight wins.
The fire chief and building inspector advise no use of the clubhouse until fire walls are built; the rent dispute between the theater and the golf clubs follows.
An early-morning fire, later judged probable arson, guts the clubhouse interior; on Nov. 17 the council votes 3–2 not to abandon the site.
Pro Malcolm (Brownie) Brown, founder of the junior program, retires; Jim Kardas takes over in May.
With its water allotment cut off, the course is irrigated with treated sewage effluent trucked to tanks; most greens are later lost.
The council accepts the rebuilt clubhouse, with a 99-seat theater, and the Center for the Performing Arts reopens there after two years dark.
Doug Talley, 23, of the Mill Valley course wins the county Tournament of Champions with a 72; he is known today as Doug Acton.
Voters approve, 3,240 to 1,459, selling two lots by the seventh green to cover course losses; neighbors fight it and the sale never happens.
A winter storm slide on Buena Vista Avenue is expected to force the city to move the first hole.
After the task force's new fees, the course is expected to end the year in the black; Steve Yuhas becomes pro that year.
A $148,000 automatic sprinkler system replaces hand-moved hoses.
Course supervisor Billy Osborn is honored for 25 years; the city plans new greens and a moved ninth hole.
Doug Acton succeeds Steve Yuhas, who retires after 26 years, and runs the course until 2014.
With the course's future uncertain and the city's subsidy cut, Acton leaves to direct instruction at the Meadow Club.
The council approves a Touchstone Golf agreement and a $1.7 million five-year investment plan; Acton returns to give private lessons.