Sequoyah Country Club

Detailed description of Sequoyah Country Club

Sequoyah Country Club, is a Private, 18 hole golf course located in Oakland, California.

Sequoyah Country Club shares full reciprocity with other clubs around the United States and around the world. Members of other clubs should have their club pro make a call on their behalf to our pro shop at (510) 632-4069. If you are planning a visit to the Bay Area, by all means, plan to play Sequoyah.

The golf course was laid out by Harvey Lindsay of the Union Construction company in 1913. The back nine, as it is played today, was the original front nine. The lake hole, #16, was then #7. There was a row boat on the lake to use for fishing or whatever. The course has changed in many ways in the intervening years. The course was redesigned by Seth Raynor.

The golf course at Sequoyah is as difficult to master as it lush and beautiful, with hilly terrain and small, sloping greens to challenge the most skilled golfer. With no parallel fairways and no two holes alike. The course is a challenging par 70 for men and par 72 for women, with one of the highest slope/yardage ratios of any layout in California. Rolling hills, sloping fairways and lightning fast greens demand the best of every golfer while providing sweeping vistas and a luxurious evergreen backdrop.

It is short by most standards. From the very back tees, it plays to just 6,100 yards, which is about 700 yards shorter than most championship courses and nearly 1,000 yards shorter than some of the monsters they are building today. But Sequoyah has a way to bite back, it is on the greens. They are some of the slickest, most tricky greens in the Bay area, maybe the entire state. What you gain in yardage, you give back on the greens.

There are some memorable holes. The par-5 16th (482 yards) beacame part of golf legend when Ben Hogan dumped his second shot into the lake there and lost a tournament. You need two solid shots to get over that lake. No. 16 would have to be considered the signature hole at Sequoyah.

As for tough putting holes No. 4 and No. 6 are nightmares. Any shot above the hole on No. 4 (the No. 1 handicap hole) and you may not be able to stop the ball on the green when you chip on. The 6th is a long par-5 (528 yards) that can have a most unhappy ending -- again, if you hit it above the hole.

The back nine starts off with two more tough par 4s but if you get through that stretch, you might be on your way to a nice score. But if your your having a bad putting day, Sequoyah will humble you.

The Course has a history that stretches back to 1913. Original founders included P. J. Clay and Fred R. Sherman, co-owners of Sherman/Clay company, and Col. W. S. Rheem, president of Standard Oil. Dennis Searles whose business empire was built on his father's discovery of Borax in the Upper Mojave Desert, was elected as the first president. The original Oakland Raiders football franchise was created by a group of Sequoyah's members. Throughout the 60's and 70's members rode chartered buses to see the team play and returned to the club for a nightcap and recap of the day's game. But it wasn't until the 1980's that the membership of the club truly began to reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity of its East Bay community. Today, all groups are represented at Sequoyah, and the club is much richer for this.