Epcc chap2

19
“In 1923, cottonseed hulls
saturated in crank case oil
replaced the sand greens.
This was considered to be
a big improvement...”
2Chapter

20 El Paso Country Club
It was on May 2, 1916, that the second
clubhouse burned to the ground at a loss
of $45,000. This was the first of two fires
that were to cause calamity to the existence
of the El Paso Country Club, but it did not
dampen the members’ spirits. Once again,
a decision was made to relocate the club,
and in the meantime, a temporary one-story
clubhouse was erected.
The clubhouse fire created a burning issue
among members. They confronted each
other and the board of directors with myriad
suggestions as to where the club should be
relocated. Considered sites were either El
Paso’s Lower or Upper Valley, as the roster
constituted members from both areas.
Left: This clubhouse,
located near Fort Bliss,
burned to the ground
in 1916. (EPCC)
Above: The 1863 Zach
White title—the future
site of El Paso Country
Club in the Upper Valley.
TheTumultuousTeens
Finally in 1918, through
a majority vote, the Upper
Valley won the campaign.
However, this move could
have been affected by the
fact that Mr. Zack T. White
made a donation of 137
acres of prime Upper Valley
land. Today, our club still
stands on the land that was
so generously donated by
Mr. White and his family.

21
Financial
Report from
February 1916.
By 1920, El Paso’s city limits encompassed
eleven square miles. Remarkably, the Sun
City remained almost the same size until after
World War II. By the start of this decade, the
city’s population had increased to 77,000.
A small adobe building was used first,
consisting of one large combination lounging
and dining area, a kitchen, and a screened-
in porch. The site was situated just behind
the present number eight tee, where, to this
day, parts of the original foundation can still
be seen. By cutting through a bosque of salt
cedar and mesquite, a golf course architect
created a fairly decent eighteen holes, with
greens carved from the clay river bottom. As
far as the clubhouse was concerned, there
were limited kitchen facilities, and the only
menu choices the club offered were ham or
bacon and egg sandwiches. But these choices
seemed to suit early morning golfers just fine.
Itwasin1920thattheElPasoCountryClub’s
board authorized $100,000 to build a new
clubhouse on the donated Upper Valley land.
A contract for the new Southwestern-style
clubhouse was awarded to Robert E. McKee,
and construction began on July 2, 1921. The
building was completed on January 22, 1922.
In1921,whenourcountrywasexperiencing
so many changes because of Prohibition, the
club was following the trend. A mortgage had
been taken for $50,000 to come due in 1926.
The Board of Governors hired a surveyor to
draw plans limiting any future construction
to fit a harmonious building scheme.
TheLivelyTwenties

Inearly1922,ajuniormembershipcategory
was initiated for those ages eighteen to
twenty-five. The regular membership
initiation fee was $200, and the membership
roster was limited to 450. In July of 1929, the
initiation fee was increased to $300. Even
though there were limitations in the club,
its usage by the membership grew steadily,
and by 1923, revenue from all sources had
reached an average of $950 weekly, on which
a reasonable profit was made.
Original swimming pool located on the east side of
the clubhouse. (EPCC)
Playing golf in January. (EPCC)
In 1923, cottonseed hulls saturated in
crank case oil replaced the sand greens. This
was considered to be a big improvement
over the sand greens, but all it took was
one carelessly flipped cigarette to burn an
entire “green.” Thus, a little water wagon,
which was rushed out to smoldering green,
became a standard piece of equipment on
the golf course.
To get to the club from the central area
of town, members had to travel about ten
miles, which took approximately thirty to
forty-five minutes. One route was through
Sunset Heights, down past the historic
Hart’s Mill and former Fort Bliss buildings.
Via this thoroughfare, automobiles had to
go over railroad tracks, which was hard
on early-design tires. The other alternative
was through downtown El Paso, traveling
along what’s now Paisano Drive. It was not
an unusual sight on weekends to see various
makes and models of automobiles, including
four-door touring cars with or without their
canvas roofs, moseying along the curvy road
that followed the Rio Grande’s path. Golfers
would often stop in Smelter Town to pick up
caddies who otherwise would have walked
to the golf course.
It wasn’t long before the club’s golf course
was improved with grass greens and plush
cottonwood trees, all irrigated with river
water distributed through an intricate
network of canals and ditches. Surrounded
by cotton fields and the growing shade
trees, the country club became a refuge
for city dwellers on weekends. Golfers were
warned about using “unbecoming language”
on the golf course since many women had
taken a fancy to the game. In 1925, Mrs. Otto
Realizing that members had more
interests than playing golf, tennis courts
were approved at a price of $5,000, and
plans for a swimming pool were developed
showing a proposed pool measuring thirty
by seventy-five feet. When the pool was
completed, the manager was directed by the
house committee to remind swimmers to
take a “thorough soap and water bath before
entering the swimming pool.”
Anevenbiggerprojectthatgeneratedplenty
of excitement was on the drawing board in
1921. A committee was formed to construct a
polo field in cooperation with the U.S. Army.
The club was to pay for plowing, leveling, and
seeding, not to exceed $500, while the Army
would supply equipment and labor.
Notforgottenwerethesocialactivitiesofthe
country club. In December of 1922, directors
made a motion that the social entertainment
committees “adhere strictly to the policy of
having a dance every Saturday night.”

23
Armstrong shot a 39 on the back nine
and received a laudatory write-up in
both daily newspapers.
In the late twenties, preceding
the stock market crash, the mood
among club members was generally
lighthearted. Weekly greens fees
were $1.50, weekends were $2.50, and
The President’s Cup Tournament was
a big event.
Interesting correspondence
between J. C. Wilmarth,
president of the club, and
the greens chairman of
Coffeeville Country Club
regarding the maintenance
and care of cottonseed
greens, 1928.

on club property and managed by Corporal
Dougdale of Fort Bliss. The Hunt Club offered
riding lessons, morning and moonlight
rides, and horse shows. However, in the mid-
thirties, a suitable stable manager could not
be found to replace the corporal, so the Hunt
Club came to an end. Discontinuance of the
club had been “in the air” for some time
because of complaints from members and
club neighbors about flies and odors.
Socially, the club’s annual “bathing beauty
revues” were a big attraction, and they
lasted for many years. Young women, many
of whom were the daughters and wives
of club members, modeled current styles
of bathing suits from popular swimsuit
designers. These revues were held beside
the pool, then located on the east side of
the clubhouse, and the two tennis courts
were used as dining and dancing areas. The
revues temporarily came to an end in 1938
with an impromptu burlesque performed
by a few daring male members. Fueled by
spectators tossing cantaloupe slices that
had been served with dinner, a near riot
ensued. The revues were revived for a few
years in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The “horse set” created the Hunt Club in
1929, which attracted equestrian members.
Stables accommodating fifty horses, most of
which were boarded by members, were built

Aerial view of El Paso Country Club, probably taken
in the 1930s. Note the old No. 9 green at lower left.
Center shows Camino Real and Meadowlark. (EPCC)
25

percent, with the exception of the golf pro.
He and his assistant were to be furnished
food at a discount, and caddies could buy a
sandwich and soda for a nickel. There were
more resignations than new members. The
board set up a “special associate members”
classification limited to one hundred, with
dues of $12.50. Participating members could
not hold office or vote and would not have
proprietary interests in the club.
The early thirties were hard times for the
club, and there was mention of borrowing
money from the State National Bank. Greens
feeswerereducedfrom$1.50to$1.00,andthe
golf pro was dismissed, leaving committee
members to search for another whose salary
was not to exceed $100 monthly. Caddie
rates at this time (1932) were eighty cents
for a Class A and sixty-five cents for a Class
B caddie.
Although times were tough,
members kept their heads high,
and a group of women golfers
established the 18 Hole Women’s
Club Association. This group is
still active and once had as many
as ninety members.
By 1933, dues were reduced from
$150 to $100 per year, and it was
voted to combine the duties of the
greenskeeper and the golf pro at a
salary of $125 a month. The Board
authorized the first pro shop, or
“display room,” to be built for the
pro (at a cost not to exceed $175),
constructed on the east end of the
grillroom porch.
Imaginative steps were taken to
keep members’ accounts current. The club
sold its Atwater-Kent radio to a member for
$107.50 and credited that amount against his
dues. The grand piano was sold to another
member for $225. One member chose to
beautify the front of the club with flowers
and shrubs in exchange for his dues.
Asthedogdaysofsummerapproached,the
porch overlooking the swimming pool was
screened in at a cost of $700, with a payment
promised in one year. Men were not allowed
to swim in the pool in “trunk” bathing suits
but were required to wear bathing suits with
a tank-style top until 1936.
By the mid-thirties, the enthusiasm of
members was low. Steps were taken to urge
the members to patronize the club, and a
member was appointed chairman of the
entertainment committee. The Board voted
to set aside Wednesday nights as “Country
By the beginning of the thirties, the
effects of the stock market crash were
starting to be felt in El Paso. Throughout the
country, wages had dropped since 1929, and
unemployment rose to a record 25 percent
of the labor force.
Most of El Paso was in the depths of the
Depression, but it seemed that the El Paso
Country Club managed to maintain its dignity
through these tough times—as it would in
many years to come.
The list of delinquent members grew
longer, and in August of 1930, the board
moved that all those owing in excess of
$100 be suspended. By the end of 1930, the
board voted to waive the $100 initiation fee
until December 31, and effective January
1931, all salaries and wages were reduced 10
Dr. P. H. Brown (left) and friends on the first tee at
El Paso Country Club in early 1930. (EPCC)
EPCC scorecard dated September 1932.
TheLeanThirties

27
Club night.” A good dinner was
served at one dollar a plate, and
music and entertainment were
provided.
By 1935, the club found itself in
serious debt, and the holders of
approximately $125,000 in Country
Club bonds were threatening to
take over the club and subdivide
the property.
On May 1, 1936, the clubhouse
burned to a mere shell. Fortunately,
the property was insured, and
architects Trost and Trost were
appointed to rebuild at an
estimated cost of $20,000. In 1937,
slot machines, or “one-armed
bandits,” were installed in various
places around the club and proved
to be very lucrative. Revenue
generated by the slot machines
solved many of the club’s financial
problems; the mortgage was paid
off a year after their installation.
The machines came to their
demise in 1951 when policemen
surprised members with an
unexpected raid, evidence the
legality of these “gold mines” was
in question. Left: Winners in the White House Tournament
played by the Woman’s Golf Association of El Paso
Country Club. They are (front row, left to right)
Mesdames H. E. Hicks and J. W. Yowell, Miss Mary
Harden, and Mrs. C. D. Lee. Rear row: Mesdames
W. R. Adair, W. F. Walker, Spearl Ellison, Jake Miller,
W. R. Sullivan, E. S. Jaggars, and F. L. Williams. Not
shown is Mrs. R. H. Given, also a winner.
Above: Ladies Sears-Roebuck Tournament, 1936. (EPCC)

Pernice Jr., Jay Haas, Mark O’Meara, Craig
Stadler, Ted Purdy, Nick Watney, and Ryan
Palmer.
However, its first star was Dr. James Vance,
a legendary member of El Paso Country
Club. Vance, a six-time SWGA champion,
dominated the tournament with victories
in 1916–17, 1921–23, and 1929. His six titles
were matched by Verne “Spec” Stewart but
never bettered. Dr. Vance was a remarkable
golfer and the Southwestern version of all-
time great Bobby Jones, whose competitive
career span was almost identical, 1916–30.
Another El Paso player who made SWGA
history was Frank Redman. Redman,
playing in the scheduled 36-hole final of
the 1957 championship, was
eight down after the morning
round against Gray Madison.
With Cuco Lujan as his caddie,
Redman rallied during the
afternoon round to even the
match after thirty-six holes.
He then won on the thirty-
eighth (No. 2 hole) by holing
out a wedge through the fork
of a tree for an eagle two.
Dan Ponder and Malcolm Webb
present the trophy to Pat Rea,
winner of the 1952 SWGA at El
Paso Country Club. (EPCC)
Dr. James Vance, EPCC member,
six-time SWGA Champion. (EPCC)
ElPasoCountryClubandtheSouthwestern
Golf Association (SWGA) have been linked
for nearly a century. The SWGA Men’s
Invitational dates back to 1915 when it was
conceived as a regional competition. Its
rich history has taken it to sites throughout
Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, and now
Las Vegas, Nevada. EPCC has served as the
site of this highly ranked competition for
thirteen years, including nine times in the
match play era, which ended in 1965. Since
then, the tournament has been a 72-hole,
stroke-play event.
Rated among the top ten open amateur
events in the world by Golfweek magazine,
modern era winners have included PGA
TOUR players Jim Carter, Corey Pavin, Tom
SouthwesternGolfAssociation

2929
Juanita (Mena) Gaxiola is almost as old as
El Paso Country Club, where she was born
on November 15, 1916, in her parents’ home
located on the eleventh hole.
Still alert and active at age ninety, the
Whittier, California, resident recalls in great
detail the early years of the club where
her father, Paulino Mena, helped build the
course and was greenskeeper from 1910 to
1948. Although only seventeen years old
when he began at EPCC, Paulino had ten
years of experience. He was an orphan who
began working at the age of seven in 1900
for the old Valdespino Golf Club, renamed
General George Underwood Golf Club and
located near the present-day airport.
Paulino married Camilo Burrola in 1914,
and they had seven children, two of whom
became golf professionals and one who still
is a superintendent in California. All of the
children grew up on the course, playing
with sawed-off discarded clubs their father
crafted and working at EPCC in various
capacities. Juanita, for example, began a
seventy-five-year golfing career at age five,
and also worked in the ladies lounge when
she was twelve. Working at EPCC was a
family affair, and her uncle, Peter Burrola,
made daily grocery deliveries to the club in
his truck.
Meanwhile, her five brothers and
grandfather all worked on the course for
her father. This was long before the days of
modern equipment, and she explains that
hard labor was required to water the course
and maintain the “greens,” which were
composed of cottonseeds. Irrigation usually
was limited to one week a month when the
Rio Grande was allowed to flow into the
course’s many ditches. It required six men
to lift the wooden floodgates and two men to
push the heavy greens roller.
Evenwhenherfather“retired”toEscondido,
California, in 1949, he continued to work at
the Circle K Golf Course until 1958.
This was also the year when the annual
Paulino Mena Golf Tournament began as a
get-together for family and friends. These
The Mena family.
Standing, left to
right, Edward, Ester,
Ramon, Rafael
Paulino Jr., Paulino
Sr., Juanita, and
Raymundo. Seated is
Camila. (The Mena
family)
friends include ex-caddies from Smelter
Town in El Paso and their children and
grandchildren.
Each year, the Father’s Day tournament is
held at a different location. The 2006 event
was in Las Vegas. Rancho Mirage, California,
hosted the 2007 edition, and the fiftieth
annual tournament is fittingly scheduled for
El Paso in 2008. It should be an interesting
homecoming, especially since Juanita’s
surviving brothers, Edward (74) and Ralph
(83), plan to dig up the mysterious “buried
treasure” at El Paso Country Club.
BornandRaisedatEPCC

On August 13, 1933, a team of El Paso
CountryClubplayersandcaddiesestablished
a world record by completing eighteen holes
in the astounding time of eighteen minutes
and five seconds.
The former world’s record of twenty
minutes, forty-one seconds had been set
earlier that year by a group of golfers from
Columbus, Ohio.
A blow-by-blow account of the feat over
the 6,412-yard El Paso layout was provided
by Times reporter Paxton H. Dent as the
old record was eclipsed by two minutes,
thirty-six seconds. “The contest, conceived
locally by Carl Beers, chairman of the
greens committee of the Country Club,
and planned in every minute detail by
Phil Hesler, professional, provided plenty
of entertainment and unusual situations,”
according to Dent’s report.
“With virtually every golfer on the course
co-operating and a group of picked shooters
moving from one strategic point to another
to give impetus to the ball, country clubbers
propelled the pill around the front nine in
eight minutes, 30 seconds and appeared
well on their way to an exceptionally good
mark…Trouble on the incoming nine,
however, delayed the ball about three
minutes but still allowed the mark of the
Columbus shooters…to be bettered.” Dent’s
article, which was the feature story in the
Times, went on to describe how each hole
was played. For example:
Starting off No.1 tee, Hesler sliced a
long drive after awaiting tensely the
firing signal on No. 1 green. Harry
Vaughan had to dash across the fairway
and into the rough but played a nice
second across the river bed to Herman
Andreas…[He] pulled the third and
left Mrs. Otto Armstrong a pitch to the
green across a trap. The Country Club
women’s champion layed the ball up
fairly close but Andreas required two
putts to hole out.
“The ball was rushed by a
caddie to C. D. Lee on No. 2
tee… ” and Dent’s long, detailed
account continued with a hole-
by-hole description of the entire
record round, during which
members were helped on four
occasions by their caddies, who
were called upon to hit certain
shots and speed up play.
Mrs.Armstrong,theperennial
club, city, county, and Women’s
Southwestern champion, also
hit four shots during the record
round.
A key player in El Paso’s early
days, her dominance in the
Southwestern Championship
resulted in the association
giving her the permanent
trophy. Mrs. Armstrong and
her club mate, Dr. James Vance,
were the best players in the
entire Southwest, giving EPCC
two more claims to fame.
Unfortunately, Dr. Vance was unable to
play in the record speed round or the time
and score might have been better.
The thirty-nine-member team of men and
women, with occasional help from their
caddies, failed to break 80 but easily broke
the world record.
Mrs. Otto Armstrong. (EPCC)
EighteenHolesinEighteenMinutes

3131
Long before the PGA TOUR was formally
founded in 1975, the El Paso Country Club
had hosted six open tournaments that
attracted national attention, dating back to
the 1920s.
The first El Paso Open, which began as a
one-day, 36-hole competition, was won by
the legendary Tommy Armour. His afternoon
round of 67 equaled the course record, giving
him a 138 total for an easy win over Johnny
Golden and Joe Kirkwood, the trick-shot
artist and touring partner of Walter Hagen.
After long shot Larry Nabholtzy’s victory in
1928, “Wild” Bill Mehlhorn set a world record
in the 1929 event that had been expanded
to seventy-two holes over two days. His
271 winning score was the lowest total ever
shot on a course measuring more than six
thousand yards. Mehlhorn’s triumph marked
the end of the “Roaring Twenties,” during
which the touring professionals began to
share in the decade’s prosperity.
All of this growth came to a sudden stop as
the Great Depression descended upon the
country and was followed by World War II.
The El Paso Open, for instance, came to a
halt and would not reappear until the 1950s.
A strong field that included Jimmy Demaret,
Jackie Burke, Tommy Bolt, and Dr. Cary
Middlecoff was on hand for the El Paso Open
in 1952. Middlecoff won the revitalized event.
Top: El Paso Times,
January 24, 1927.
Right: El Paso Herald
Post, January 21, 1929.
TheElPasoOpen

El Paso
Times,
February
1952.
Left: Jimmy Demeret gives Jackie Burke
some putting pointers, 1952 El Paso Open.
(EPCC)
Chandler Harper succeeded him in 1953.
Harper defeated Ted Kroll by three strokes
in an 18-hole playoff in what was to be the
next-to-last El Paso Open. Local support of
the tournament had been strong for these
two years, but the lure of larger purses
and cities resulted in a suspension of the
event until its return in 1959. Marty Furgol
won the 1959 edition, the last El Paso Open,
before the age of television coverage and
major corporate sponsors took over the
national tour.
However, El Paso Country Club continued
to be in the national spotlight, helping
produce a number of noted PGA players and
hosting major amateur events such as the
Southwestern Golf Association Invitational
and College All-America Golf Classic.
Above: Cary Middlecoff accepts the winner’s
check from member Malcolm Webb, 1952 El
Paso Open. Middlecoff won the tournament
with a 269, 15 under par score. (EPCC)
Center: Jay Hebert, Lionel Hebert, and an
unidentified player at the 1952 El Paso Open.
Both Heberts scored a hole-in-one in this
event. (EPCC)

3333
El Paso Times,
February 10, 1953.
El Paso Times, September 21, 1959.
Doug Ford and Lew Worsham, El Paso Open. (EPCC)

Epcc chap2

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