104 dates, from the Hotaling estate to the homes on the old fairways and the 1957 fire. Each links to its source and to the chapter of the history that tells the story.
The lowest 18-hole score known on Sleepy Hollow (par 71). The first low rounds reported were a pair of 69s in a July 1938 exhibition. That December Willie Goggin shot 65, a "new competitive course record," and in June 1940 Mark Fry tied it in the Northern California PGA championship. No lower round is known before the course closed in 1942.
Par was 71 on the 1940 card: 37 out (5-4-4-5-4-4-4-3-4) and 34 in (4-4-4-4-4-4-3-4-3), with par threes at the 8th, 16th (185 yards) and 18th. When the first nine opened in December 1936 it was par 36 over 3,440 yards, with the 1st a par 4, so par or routing changed by 1940. The course was announced in 1934 at 6,666 yards and measured 6,500 in 1938. The best other rounds reported were Harold Samson’s 68 in the 1940 qualifying and Art Bell’s 66, with a back nine of 31, in the 1940 final. Club scores were seldom printed; Buzz Beattie’s 71 won the medal in the 1940 Marin County amateur.
Whiskey merchant Anson P. Hotaling buys the former Dutton ranch; local museums give 1887 or 1889, and no contemporary record has been found.
The family company's directors (Lavinia, Fred and Richard) sign a deed of the ranch to Richard, which stays unrecorded for years.
The Marin Journal reports Supervisor R. M. Hotaling erecting a spacious residence on the 'Sleepy Hollow' tract, with a fountain lawn and trout lake; the architect was probably E. L. Van Cleeck.
Hotaling advertises Holstein bulls of the Sleepy Hollow herd in the Dairy Produce Review.
Richard Hotaling entertains a large house party at Sleepy Hollow over the Fourth of July.
R. M. Hotaling's cattle win three prizes at the State Fair, credited to the Sleepy Hollow Dairy at Fairfax.
S. K. Herzog's family returns from 'Sleepy Hollow, their summer place', the earliest firm evidence of a lease that probably began about 1906.
S. K. Herzog Co. agrees with Ideal Farms for the sale of certified milk from Sleepy Hollow Ranch.
The San Anselmo Herald describes the Butterfield or Hotaling road ending at the world-famous Hotaling dairy.
On Marin County Day at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, Herzog's staff hand out hundreds of gallons of Sleepy Hollow certified milk.
Lavinia and Fred Hotaling and the Hotaling Estate Company sue Richard in Marin to quiet title to Sleepy Hollow.
The trial over title to the ranch opens before Judge Edward I. Butler and runs until 20 December.
Judge Butler holds the 1899 deed invalid because Richard voted as a director for a transfer to himself.
A great Marin fire burns down to the rear of the ranch, but green lawns save the residence buildings.
The California Supreme Court confirms the Hotaling Estate Company, Lavinia and Fred as owners of Sleepy Hollow.
The Hotaling feud ends in a compromise dividing the estate equally among Lavinia, Richard, Fred and Ella.
Papers report Lang Realty Co. has bought the 1,600-acre Hotaling ranch for homesites around a golf links and clubhouse; Lang will not confirm.
S. K. Herzog, operator of the Sleepy Hollow Certified Dairy, is given notice to leave the ranch.
The Mill Valley Record reports the Lang purchase closed, with a golf course to be developed immediately.
Golf constructor John Clarke supervises the groundbreaking for a course on the ranch, the first documented golf work in the valley.
Richard Hotaling dies in San Francisco at 57, after pneumonia and influenza.
Richard Hotaling dies in San Francisco; his Sleepy Hollow ranch had only recently been sold.
The Herald reports talks to sell 1,100 acres to an Eastern syndicate for a 200-room hotel, lake and golf courses.
A sale of 1,609 acres to an eastern syndicate is reported, with O. A. Broadway holding an option through Lang Realty.
The dairy buys 2,200 acres near Lakeville; the herds stay in the valley until the Lakeville barns are ready, probably in 1927.
The MacKenzie Chronology says MacKenzie and Hunter were apparently asked to view the ranch while building the Meadow Club.
A Novato rancher's suit claims the ranch belongs to Walter Graf, not to O. E. Boadway's company.
P. H. Davis is listed as of the Sleepy Hollow Ranch in Sonoma County, so the move is complete.
Architect H. C. Baumann completes plans for a seven-story hotel, clubhouse and golf links on 600 acres.
Thebo, Starr & Anderton win the contract for a $1,250,000 seven-story hotel at Sleepy Hollow.
Watson wins a contract for a 6,640-yard course crossing the creek 18 times, plus a nine-hole supplementary course.
The Herald calls the Sleepy Hollow hotel practically assured, the last hopeful word before the crash.
California Arts & Architecture pictures the hospitable old Hotaling place at Sleepy Hollow, still standing and idle.
The Sacramento Union reports E. Byrne-Cavendish directing construction of an 18-hole Sleepy Hollow Golf and Country Club layout.
The Marin Herald reports a low-cost golf club planned on some 350 acres of the old Sleepy Hollow ranch, with H. A. 'Polly' Willard behind it and options on the land.
The Argus-Courier says Willard has started an 18-hole links on about 160 acres, 6,666 yards long and costing close to $50,000, with the Hotaling mansion as clubhouse.
The Mill Valley Record calls it Marin's first public golf course, with E. Byrne-Cavendish in charge of construction.
Willard reports 13 of the 18 greens graded and ready for seeding, and the mansion to be remodeled as a public gathering place.
Willard tells the Marin Municipal Water District the course will use 40 million gallons a year and asks for an extension of time, offering a bond.
Willard, George V. Kaenel and Charles McLaughlin incorporate a pay-as-you-play course; contracts are signed and the first water pipe arrives.
San Anselmo fire captain Robert 'Bert' Meagor dies fighting a 30-acre brush fire on Sleepy Hollow Acres.
Authorities suspect a boy firebug of also riding a horse across the newly seeded greens.
Kaenel tells the county fire chiefs that every department will get fittings to use the golf course water lines.
The first unit, a practice driving green east of the mansion-clubhouse, opens to the public (the Mill Valley Record says Saturday the 21st).
Kaenel and Willard announce the first nine, east of the clubhouse drive: par 36, given as 3,440 yards.
The second nine opens while the first nine is closed to rest the turf.
The full 18-hole Sleepy Hollow Golf Course opens to the public as a public links, said to be in splendid shape.
University of California seniors, guests of Marvelous Marin, spend the afternoon golfing at Sleepy Hollow and Marin Golf and Country Club.
Minority stockholders sue to remove 62.5% owner Willard as director, citing losses, $45,000 debts and unpaid water bills on a leased course.
Realtor Thomas T. Kent takes over the course and clubhouse under the minority stockholders' reorganization plan as Polly Willard leaves for San Francisco.
Judge Edward I. Butler warns both sides in Doherty v. Sleepy Hollow Properties that whoever wins will lose money; the parties agree to try to settle out of court.
A former Dollar liner chief steward from the Pastori Station family takes over the Hotaling mansion as the Sleepy Hollow Club.
An unsigned front-page column, almost certainly by W. G. Weaver, praises George Kaenel and associates for making golf affordable for salaried people, and complains about the bumpy road.
Fifty San Francisco players hold a sweepstakes at Sleepy Hollow, the biggest play in the club's history to that point.
The Burlingame professional becomes adviser on course maintenance and praises the holes as some of the finest he has seen.
President George V. Kaenel appoints the former Del Monte and Pebble Beach man as pro.
E. Boyd Stewart of the Rio Del Mar Club takes charge; the road is resurfaced and lights go up on the driving range and putting green.
Before a gallery of 150 or more, Frank Dolp and Mark Fry each shoot 69 on the par-71 course and beat Earl Fry and Matt Palacio 2 and 1.
The Marin County Putting Championship opens under the lights on the practice green.
The club cuts green fees while tractors reseed the fairways after the autumn rains.
Don Taylor, formerly of Vallejo, follows de Haven and Jim Gordon as Sleepy Hollow's professional.
In the Northern California PGA pro-am, Willie Goggin and Ed Hitzelberger win with 69-65; the AP says Goggin's own afternoon 65 set a new competitive course record.
Lang Realty and David S. Adams show an early-California ranch house in Sleepy Hollow on the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition's Model Homes Tour.
The first home-and-home match with the Petaluma Golf and Country Club is played at Sleepy Hollow, and Sleepy Hollow wins.
About fifty people form a social club at the public course; Taylor is pro and Stewart manager, and the course stays open to the public.
A wind-driven fire north of the clubhouse misses the course but threatens the night driving range.
The Petaluma Archery Club beats the golfers six down over 18 holes at Sleepy Hollow.
Twenty-five women form the Sleepy Hollow Women's Golf Club, with Mrs. Frank Schrader as captain and Tuesday as ladies' day.
Walter V. Lake gives notice that he will sell beer, wine and spirits at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club, at the end of Butterfield Road.
George F. Finnin (Finnan in 1942), living on the course, registers to do business under the name Sleepy Hollow Golf Course.
Thirty-five women of the North Bay Women's Golf Association play the course for the first time and lunch in the clubhouse.
The first Northern California PGA championship held in Marin opens with 36 holes of qualifying, led by Harold Sampson's 68-70.
In the semifinal Mark Fry shoots 33-32 = 65, six under par 71, tying Willie Goggin's 1938 record.
Art Bell beats Mark Fry 3 and 2 in the 36-hole final, coming home in 31, a new nine-hole record for the course.
The club beats a 21-man Petaluma team in the home-and-home series, with lunch on the clubhouse porch.
The Junior Chamber of Commerce's county amateur championship is played on the course; Buzz Beattie is medalist with a par 71.
John Palacio beats Byron Lewis 8 and 7 over 36 holes to become Sleepy Hollow Golf Club champion.
The Northern California Golf Association announces that the Sleepy Hollow Golf Club has become a member.
Pro Don Taylor leaves for the Mare Island club, and his assistant Clair Dunham takes over at Sleepy Hollow.
The historic Sleepy Hollow ranch house near the clubhouse burns at dawn; the ten occupants, including the Fagundes family, escape.
The Marin Journal holds a 36-hole handicap tournament at Sleepy Hollow to mark its 80th year (17–18 May).
W. G. Weaver recalls that he had urged the county to buy the course at a fair price and asks Ross Valley groups to push for it.
Sleepy Hollow's Freda Schrader loses the 36-hole North Bay women's final at Sonoma to Margaret Risdon.
The Sleepy Hollow Golf Club holds its tournament on the Sonoma course, not at home; Jim George wins with 80.
George Finnan of the golf course claims $3,024.50 from J. A. Fagundes for cattle damage to the course.
The Women's Golf Team of Sleepy Hollow holds its weekly Tuesday tournament, the last play on the course that we have found.
With golf no longer reported, Lake, manager since at least 1940, advertises the old mansion for dining and dancing under the Sleepy Hollow Country Club name.
Kaenel's Sleepy Hollow Investment Co. rejects the Smith brothers' counteroffer for 1,085 acres around the course; the courts later uphold it.
Al G. Raisch (printed A. J.) and William Lang buy 1,154 acres from the option holder, Kaenel's Sleepy Hollow Investment Co.; the golf course is excluded and slated for homesites, and Weaver pleads 'Save the Golf Course!'
Eight acres at the old ranch house and barns are reported occupied by army ordnance.
Weaver reports the Sleepy Hollow fairways plowed up and the thousand-dollar greens gone, to be replaced by potatoes and corn.
After four years Lake bids farewell to Sleepy Hollow and opens Rancho Nicasio on 15 July.
J. C. Oglesby's map of 'Sleepy Hollow Golf Course, Unit 2' lays numbered lots over part of the former course.
A petition to annex Sleepy Hollow Acres to San Anselmo covers some 125 lots centred on the former greens 4, 5 and 6.
Kaenel, Frank Healion and David Adams buy 87 acres of the former course and sell thirty homesites within a week.
The Raisch paving company's annual barbecue fills the grove behind the old mansion.
Oglesby's Sleepy Hollow Unit Two map lays out Van Tassel, Van Winkle and Van Ripper on former course land.
A USGS vertical photograph records the valley as the first homes rise on the old course.
Some 3,000 Shriners parade in San Rafael and hold an outdoor ceremonial and barbecue at Al Raisch's Sleepy Hollow Ranch.
The Independent-Journal's Marin Magazine prints the valley's history, turning the 1943 Argus-Courier's unnamed syndicate into the 'Chicago syndicate' later writers repeat.
The empty 18-room mansion, once the golf clubhouse, burns; the fire chief suspects it was set deliberately.
A sports column names the Sleepy Hollow Golf Club among victims of the Depression and later building expansion.
A 'Century Plus Parade' carries the Dominican Convent school from San Rafael to its new home as San Domenico School for Girls.
Only the stone steps and foundation fragments of the Hotaling mansion remain at the San Domenico entrance.