Seaver Golf Academy is named after one of the finest amateur golfers to ever play the game: Charles Seaver. Born in 1911 and passing away at the age of 93 in 2004, Charles Seaver was the consummate amateur golfer and gentleman. The word Amateur stems from the Latin “amare” meaning to love, and Charlie loved the game of golf. His father, Everett Seaver, taught Charlie to play by giving him a wedge and a putter. Charlie had to learn to chip and putt first before he was ever allowed to hit a driver. Although he could hit the ball as far as the best of them, the strength of his game was always his chipping and putting.

Seaver won his first major tournament, the Southern California Junior Amateur Championship, at the age of 15. Two years later he was invited to play in the first 4-some to ever play Cypress Point Golf Course, a week before it opened. With course architect Alister Mackenzie following, Charlie shot a 67 and established the first course record.

In 1929 Seaver qualified for his first US Amateur. He qualified again in 1930, 1931, and 1932. In 1931 he not only qualified but was the medalist. His 1930 US Amateur run at Merion Golf Club was memorable because had he not lost one down in the semi-finals he would have faced Bobby Jones in the finals the year Jones won his famous “slam.” Seaver and Jones became good friends and played a number of times in later years.

In 1931 Seaver attended Stanford University, where he is a charter member of the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame. His teammate at the time was Lawson Little. Little won both the US Amateur and British Amateur Championships in 1934 and 1935, the US Open Championship in 1940, and the NCGA Amateur Championship in 1928 and 1931. Seaver and Little played against each other in the first ever Stanford University Championship in 1931, which Little won on the 36th hole. The next year Seaver and Little again played each other in the finals, and that year Seaver won on the 37th hole.

In 1932 Seaver was invited to play on the US Walker Cup team with captain Francis Ouimet. He went unbeaten and helped the US win 8 -1 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. He also played in an exhibition match the day before with Cyril Tolley, Leonard Crawley, and Dr. Bill Stout, touted by the Walker Cup committee as a match between the longest amateur hitters in the game. Charlie could really hit the ball, and the crowd got a great show. Seaver was featured on the front cover of The American Golfer as “one of the five outstanding stars” in amateur golf “good enough to win a national championship.”

In 1933 Seaver won the California State Amateur Championship and the Northern California Amateur Championship. A few months later he followed up by winning the Southern California Amateur Championship, becoming the only person besides George Von Elm in 1925 to hold the Northern, Southern, and California State Amateur titles all at the same time. Charlie may also have the sole distinction of being the only player to have to play against his father in the California State Championship in 1926. His father’s advice on the tee? “You better play good, kid, or I’ll beat your butt.” He did.

Charlie married Betty Lee Cline in 1934 and had 4 children, including youngest son Tom Seaver, a Hall of Fame pitcher for the New York Mets. A devoted family man, Seaver passed the opportunity to play golf professionally because there was not enough money in the sport to support his family. He continued to play outstanding amateur golf, however. He won the Fresno City Championship six times and the Northern California Open in 1949. He was friends with stars and notables like Douglas Fairbanks, Bobby Jones, Howard Hughes, Walter Hagen, Francis Ouimet, Johnny Goodman, and Bing Crosby. He played in the Bing Crosby (Now AT&T) for 39 years, more than any other golfer, and won it in 1964 with professional Mike Fetchik.

In 1988 the Northern California Golf Association, the Southern California Golf Association, and the California Golf Association decided to create a biennial series of matches between teams of the best amateur golfers from Southern California and Northern California in a modified Walker Cup format. The matches were named the Seaver Cup in honor of Charlie, for his many contributions to the game of golf as a player and as an ambassador. He is the only individual to be so honored by these golf associations.

Charles Seaver was the epitome of a gentleman on and off the course. It is his spirit and example that serves as the guiding principle for Seaver Golf. Click on the link for more interesting stories from and about Charlie Seaver.