Fifteen years ago, almost exactly to the day, a major thunderstorm hit the Hayward area, and in the process, changed the landscape — literally — of Hayward Golf Course going forward. Tornado-force straight-line winds struck hard, destroying nearly 500 trees across the golf course, primarily impacting the area around Holes 4, 5, and 8.
This resulted in a significant redesign project for the space between Hole 5 and Hole 8, which matured into the course as we know it today. We also saw an outpouring of support from the HGC community to help with the cleanup, and we were back open for play only days later.
A search through our archives resulted in a surprising amount of photo documentation of this event, which we thought might be of interest to those who have both frequented our course over the decades, and those who have only started playing here since this storm.
To start with some context, here’s a pre-storm view of Hole 5 from the teebox:
And here is a look at Hole 5 after the storm:
Some additional angles of the damage from Holes 8 and 4:
Here is the initial draft proposal for the redesign:
And finally, here’s a “before and after” satellite view of the area. Images were taken in 2009 and 2019:
