Willowick Municipal Golf Club

Willowick Municipal Golf Club sits in Santa Ana, California, designed by William P. Bell and opened in the late 1920s. Bell, a prolific Southern California architect of the era, created numerous public and private courses throughout the region during the golden age of American golf design. The course reflects the straightforward, playable municipal style that characterized many of his public works, with routing that accommodates golfers of varying abilities while maintaining strategic interest. The layout occupies relatively flat terrain typical of Orange County's coastal plain, with mature trees—many planted decades ago—now defining fairway corridors and framing greens. The course plays shorter than modern championship standards, a common trait of designs from this period, but the compact routing and tree-lined holes require accuracy over distance. Greens are modest in size and contour, consistent with Bell's approach to accessible public golf. As a municipal facility, Willowick serves a broad cross-section of Orange County golfers and has functioned as an affordable option in a region where private clubs and resort courses dominate the landscape. The course has undergone various updates and maintenance adjustments over its decades of operation to preserve playability while managing the constraints typical of urban municipal properties. It remains a working example of early twentieth-century public golf architecture in Southern California, offering a straightforward test shaped by Bell's understanding of the game and the practical demands of municipal golf.