ON THE SUNNYSIDE
“The Sunnyside Way” is a different kind of country club life. Sunnyside Country Club has been changing things up for 111 years, but one thing remains constant: their commitment to being the friendliest place to play golf in Fresno. After undergoing a year-long renovation, the clubhouse is even more inviting than ever before, and the recent increase in membership (in spite of the pandemic) is proof alone that they are indeed doing something right.
If you lived in the Central Valley before Sunnyside Country Club was built in 1911, you’d have been keenly aware that playing a round of golf wasn’t easy to plan. With the closest courses 150 miles away and over a mountain range in any direction, the sport was a scheduled destination rather than a weekend activity—Los Angeles and Pasadena had 13 courses to choose from, while Monterey and San Francisco had a mere five options. Today, Fresno County alone boasts 10 golf courses and two municipal courses.
Club founding fathers George C. Roeding, C.C. Teague, Frank M. Romain, Harvey Swift, and A. W. Goodfellow built the original 9-hole course along approximately 2,500 yards of rough turf and oil greens at the turn of the 20th century. A feat in Fresno at the time, it was still considered primitive even by yesteryear’s standards—metal crossbars affixed with a swatch of carpet served as “flags” at each hole and doubled as a device for smoothing footprints and snake tracks on the greens before putting.
The second nine holes, added in 1925, were much more sophisticated. Designed by William Park “Billy” Bell, the then-fledgling architect was working under golf course architect George Thomas at the Annadale Country Club in Pasadena when he was hired to design the expansion of Sunnyside’s greens. At the same time, all 18 holes were planted with bentgrass. Bell would later go on to design Bel-Air Country Club, Riviera Country Club, La Jolla Country Club, and Del Rio, among many others; he returned to Sunnyside in the 1940s to retool his design with the help of Bob Baldock.
It has always been important to Sunnyside Country Club that the institution evolved with current times. The golf course itself has undergone numerous changes over the past century. In the 1950s, the 18th left green was constructed. New tees were added to holes 11, 16, and 17 in the 1970s, at which time the green on hole 16 was redone. Golf cart paths were built in the 1980s, with said paths being extended in the 1990s when additional bunkers were also revamped.
A membership vote taken in 1998 enabled all 19 greens and the two practice greens to be redone, bringing them up to Untied States Golf Association specifications. Bell’s original design was even kept in mind when several of these greens were reshaped to allow for more hole locations. Reconfiguring the third and forth holes made room for expanding the driving range—now, the third hole is one of the Valley’s longest par-4 holes at 466 yards from the back of the championship tee. New championship tees were installed in 2005 on holes seven, 11, and 18, bring the total course length to nearly 7,000 yards.
Sunnyside Country Club’s evolution can be largely attributed to the people who have been devoted to it since the beginning. Among these leaders are Eliot Callender, Olin Dutra, Grant Halstead, Dave Martin, Derek Hardy, and Gary Loustalot—each has left Sunnyside a better place. Yet, Steve Menchinella alone has arguably made the biggest impact there. A golf professional since 1959, Menchinella has been a fixture at Sunnyside since first coming there in 1968. A pro’s pro, Menchinella served as Head Golf Professional for 43 years and as General Manager for 15 years. He now holds the position of Director of Golf Emeritus and Membership, and is unofficially the club’s historian.
Published in 2011, Sunnyside Country Club’s Centennial Celebration is immortalized by a book created in its honor. Sterling Swartout, a 48-year club member and former board president, spent approximately two years compiling the book with the help of Linda Estep. Included are numerous photographs from the Pop Laval Collection, which were laid out with the help of the photographer’s great-granddaughter Elizabeth Laval. “The number one resource was all of the pictures that Steve Menchinella had taken over the fifty years that he had been at the club,” Swartout reveals. Many of those images and accompanying articles had already been recorded in the club’s monthly newsletter, called Club Lites, which was edited by Sid Cox for over two decades and used as yet another writing reference.
Coupled with the photos that survived the fire that consumed the original clubhouse, “I had a really good resource when you put all that information together from the old photos from Sid’s work on Club Lites and all of the pictures that Steve had from golf tournaments and just events at the club,” imparts Swartout. The result is a superb reference covering the first 100 years of Sunnyside’s rich history, grand traditions, and beloved stories.
Even through Swartout’s extensive research, it was evident that “The real common thread for Sunnyside is really the friendly nature of the club. We’ve kind of adopted a moniker, you might say, as the friendliest club in the Valley. And that seems to be a theme that you pick up when you’re reading old material and looking at old pictures—it’s just a really good, friendly place for camaraderie, golf, and entertainment, and it seems to just been maintained for forever.”
Former club president Brad Silva addressed the “Friends of Sunnyside” in a letter introducing the book. “Our history tells us that Sunnyside is a friendly place,” he wrote. Indeed, a commitment to being friendly is at the heart of what has come to be called “The Sunnyside Way.” The Sunnyside Way encompasses a manner of conduct as well as a methodology. “That was kind of started back in the seventies,” Menchinella explains. “When I first came here, everybody used to have starting times. But we did away with starting times … We haven’t given a starting time since October of 1968.”
No start times also encourages golfers to play with each other, fostering the friendliness creed that Sunnyside holds so dear. “That’s part of being The Sunnyside Way. When you want to play, you get to play … Cliques will kill any organization. If you’re members of something, everybody’s got to be involved and that’s what we try to do. Everybody plays with everybody. Our motto is ‘We’re the friendliest club in town’ and I think we are. I think, I hope I’ve had something to do with that,” shares Menchinella.
From the friendly environment and the outstanding golfing facilities, to the exceptional food and beverage experience offered at the clubhouse, Sunnyside is committed to being the premier country club in the Central Valley. Sunnyside’s Board of Directors understands that being the best requires not only maintenance, but also updates to both the course and the clubhouse. A fire in 1941 destroyed the Oothout Mansion, which served as the original clubhouse, yet a new one was constructed in its place and opened in 1948. It was because of the war effort that construction was delayed, but members found creative ways to adapt in the meantime. While it has undergone revamps over the years, the clubhouse recently underwent a full remodel that took years to be realized.
Being away from city growth coupled with the economic downturn of 2008 left Sunnyside struggling to retain members. When former board president Michael Der Manouel, Jr. came on at that time, “Membership was at historic lows and we had a lot of deferred maintenance on the facilities.” Much of the clubhouse and grounds hadn’t been touched in three decades then, and some tough decisions had to be made. “If we were going to continue to be a club, we were going to have to have amenities that would cause people to want to be a member. So with no members and no money, we decided to remodel and refresh the entire facility.” Planning began in 2015. A contractor and interior designer were brought in to get an estimate for funding purposes.
Then-board president Der Manouel, Jr. was a huge catalyst for getting the project approved and funded, but it was the core group of members at Sunnyside what really gave the board confidence to move forward on such a massive project. “I came to the conclusion that this project had no chance of failing,” Der Manouel, Jr. reasoned. “So we formed a member lending facility, and several members of the club lent money to the lending facility, and that facility funded the construction and remodel and refresh of the clubhouse and a lot of other parts of the grounds.”
Since its completion in 2019, membership has gone from 333 to 500, revenues have doubled, waiting lists exist for several membership categories, and Sunnyside is now booking events into 2023. It’s kind of a “if you build it, they will come” story, but Der Manouel, Jr. is quick to point out that without a great team, Sunnyside wouldn’t be nearly so successful. “Our great golf staff, and Steve Pellegrine, our head golf pro, and a great clubhouse team with Jason and Anna Zeller—you have to have those pieces in place. It doesn’t matter what your facilities are. You’ve got to have a great golf experience and you got to have a great clubhouse experience to make it work.”
One of the biggest changes made was moving the bar to the living room. “We just didn’t use that room very often,” admits Joe Sciarrone, a club member and former board president who was intricately involved in the remodel process. Previously, there was a service bar behind the living room, and there was debate about whether or not to keep it there. “The guys that wanted the bar in the living room won, and it’s the best thing we’ve ever done!” admits Sciarrone. “It’s a great place for people to come in early before an event. Have a cocktail. Sit by the fireplace. We have meetings in there sometimes. People like to sit in that room. It’s a pretty room with a lot of natural light. So we get a lot of use out of that space now.”
In addition to moving the new bar into the living room, dated furniture was also replaced and the walls were painted a light grey color. An original Stan Bitters ceramic piece has been featured above the fireplace there since the 1960s—while many of his works can be seen around Fresno, this is one of his larger sculptures. “All of a sudden, with the lighter wall color, that piece really popped,” Sciarrone remarks of the room’s centerpiece.
Sonja Sorrick from CORE Spaces + Design was charged with updating the interior décor and Zumwalt Construction was hired to do the entire clubhouse. “Everything was taken down to the studs. All the flooring was removed. Everything—so the banquet rooms, the living room, what we call the garden room, and also the grill.” Sciarrone elaborates, “We went floor-to-ceiling on everything. We replaced all the windows, all new flooring, new paint, new electrical, new alarm system. I mean, we did it all.”
Construction was done in phases. “So we did the back room phase, the garden room, living room, and banquet room is phase one, and that took about six or seven months. And then when that was finished, we did the grill, and that probably took another two or three months,” bringing the total timeline to about a year. As with all remodels, much was learned about the building during construction—both figurative and literal layers of club history were uncovered in the process. “We just rolled back layers of history and it was good for everybody. We learned a lot about the club,” Sciarrone reminisces. “The membership bonded. We had a good time doing it and everybody’s happy with it.”
The bar in the living room has become a member favorite, and a card room was transitioned into a bridal suite that has been met with warm reception. “Everybody loves the grill,” acknowledges Sciarrone. “We took all the windows out—they were half windows and we made them full windows. All the windows are floor-to-ceiling, so you have a better view. Jimmy Ashjian made custom chandeliers for us in the garden room and the banquet room.
Current Club President Mark Creede, a 34-year member elected to the board in 2018, summed it up with: “Eleven years into our second century, the future is bright for Sunnyside Country Club and its members and staff. We always strive to deliver an enjoyable golf and club experience in a welcoming atmosphere to our members and guests. Collectively, we are very proud of, and have tremendous love for, Sunnyside Country Club, and we will continue along the path paved by our predecessors, maintaining and building upon the legacy of our amazing history and traditions.”
Sunnyside Country Club may have a new look, but they still have the same spirit of camaraderie. The friendships facilitated there and the enjoyment derived from this Fresno landmark are held together by something greater—Sunnyside’s members are the strong foundation upon which the country club has been built for well over a century, and it only shows signs of getting better. Come discover what life at Sunnyside is all about.
Editorial Director Lauren Barisic
Photographer Don Dizon
Historical Photo Courtesy of Sunnyside Country Club
