Bill Kammerer
• Age: 81.
• Resides: Cameron Park.
• Occupation: Retired from Sears management.
• Handicap index: 17.9.
• A bit about Bill: He has 11 kids, none of whom shares his love for the game. "That's why I played golf," he said. "I needed to get away."
Brian Upton
• Age: 70.
• Resides: El Dorado Hills.
• Occupation: Retired from banking industry.
• Handicap index: 18.5.
• A bit about Brian: He chairs the golf arm of the local Sons In Retirement branch 95 and hooked up our group with Kammerer, a friend through SIR.
Anthony Snow
• Age: 47.
• Resides: Fair Oaks.
• Occupation: Nuclear medicine technologist.
• Handicap index: 15.6.
• A bit about Anthony: He won this year's California State Fair net amateur championship. He has several movie credits to his acting résumé and an awful nickname for a golfer: Snowman.
COURSE OVERVIEW
I kept thinking two things as I played Cameron Park Country Club for the first time:
• I would love to live on this golf course.
• I wish I could read these *!@#$%! greens or putt half as well as Bill Kammerer. I'm thinking about getting a WWBKD wristband in honor of our fun-loving and sweet-swinging 81-year-old member host.
Cameron Park is one of the most natural-feeling courses you'll ever see whose perimeter is lined with homes. The homes along the hilly and tree-lined layout are not only gorgeous, they blend in beautifully.
Sacramentans Larry and Ruth Cameron, who conceived the idea for the course and the golf community, should be commended. The course, initially known as El Dorado Royal, has been a staple on the private-club scene since it opened in 1963. It was renamed Cameron Park in 1975.
Kammerer has been a member for 22 years. Playing in the club's annual Goldorado member-guest invitational with a friend for years before that, he longed to become a regular.
"I always wanted to retire and play here," said Kammerer, who fulfilled his own wish and lives a mile from the course.
Kammerer is right at home. Of Cameron Park's 380 members, 154 are over 65; 80 percent live within 10 miles of the club, said general manager Peter Lam.
The initiation fee is $5,000, down from a high of $25,000 earlier this decade. Monthly dues are $452. No changes to the course are imminent, Lam said. A renovation of the clubhouse overlooking the property is the next big project.
Cameron Park is located just off Highway 50 across from where Sam's Town was until 2002. And while my father often talked about the Arnold Palmer Golf Academy that existed in conjunction with the club for three years in the 1970s, it wasn't until last week that I first set eyes on the course.
The sidehill greens lived up to their reputation. Whatever break you see, double it. You'll feel as if you're leaning when you get to the clubhouse. Elevated greens and lots of out of bounds are also part of the equation on the course that offers yardage options between 5,200 and 6,500.
Cameron Park member Judi Dowd published a club history in 2003. An abandoned gold mine was discovered while the 15th green was being built, she reported. Money was tight, and nuggets found later helped pay for the green and the 16th tee. Dottie Stamps, wife of course architect Bert Stamps, had a necklace made from gold found on No. 12.
The nickname "Jewel of the Foothills" was born. And it still applies.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.