Breaking Barriers Again: Maggie Hathaway GC Gets $15 Million Upgrade

Maggie Hathaway Golf Course , a public par 3, 9-hole course in South L.A., sits just 2.5 miles East of SoFi Stadium within Jesse Owens Park. This county-owned oasis for pin-hunting Los Angelenos has served the club-toting community since 1962. Originally known as the Jack Thompson Golf Course, the municipal facility was renamed in 1997 to honor Hathaway—a blues singer, sportswriter, golf instructor and civil rights advocate instrumental in helping to break the color barrier on public courses in the area.

The L.A. landmark's next chapter will be defined by a transformative $15.2 million renovation, which broke ground last week, led by L.A. County Parks and Recreation in partnership with the Fore Youth Golf Foundation . The scale of the public level of support is indicative of the community's commitment to Maggie Hathaway's future, with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approving $7.8 million for the project from the city's 2024-2025 supplemental budget. Key national and local organizations like the USGA, the SCGA and L.A. Country Club (Los Angeles' premiere private golf club) also chipped in considerable resources to make this happen with additional support for the long overdue makeover coming via contributions from LA Clippers owner Steve Ballmer as well as the Kroenke Family Foundation.

Offering their design services pro bono, architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner—known for the Ohoopee Match Club and recent L.A. Country Club renovation—lend top of the leaderboard design talent to the course makeover. Beyond fine-tuned and aesthetically recalibrated golf holes, planned upgrades include a reconfigured and expanded driving range, enhanced practice areas, a new clubhouse with administrative offices and a curated art exhibit celebrating the course's rich history.

Outside of the gussied-up layout and enhanced infrastructure, the renewal project aims to expand on programming and services for underserved youth, giving more area kids a chance to fall in love with the game.

Back in January, the founding owners of the TGL's Los Angeles Golf Club team—Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, tennis GOAT Serena Williams, and seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams—committed 10% of their annual sponsorship revenues towards the revitalization of Maggie Hathaway Golf Course.

For Ohanian, this commitment is about more than just generosity—it's part of a broader strategy, one he spearheaded with Angel City Football Club, now majority owned by Bob Iger and Willow Bay.

"Most professional sports teams, once they are billion-dollar franchises that everybody knows and loves, go out of their way to connect with the community and show that 'hey, we care,' giving out turkeys on Thanksgiving and doing community efforts and what not," Ohanian explained. But his thought is to why not jumpstart those community connections right from the start?

This approach, Ohanian believes, works because it fosters long-term community buy-in and sets a foundation for sustainable growth. The ethos likely contributed to Angel City's ability to secure $55 million in sponsorship deals through 2025 and win the 2024 ESPY Award for Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year.

Bringing philanthropy into the fold again was a natural decision and choosing the Maggie Hathaway Golf Course renewal as the beneficiary felt like an authentic fit for LAGC, a team in the tech-infused golf league which tees off its inaugural season in January. Their first player signee on the four-man roster is Collin Morikawa , who was already heavily involved with the course as the honorary chair of a committee raising funds for the project.

"It's nice when you don't have to force it to make fetch happen. There is already one of the leaders on our team involved in this great community project in L.A.," Ohanian said, noting that both Serena and Venus were very familiar with the course having grown up training on tennis courts in nearby Compton.

The project, he explained, reflects the team's values of inclusivity and community connection.

Looking ahead, Ohanian expressed his hopes for the project's long-term impact. "If LAGC can continue to grow and be a big part of the Los Angeles golf community, I can't think of a better way to do it than reinvesting in this course. A decade from now, we could have someone on the tour who talks about getting access, and getting onto a golf course early in their career through Maggie Hathaway. To be able to see that impact on the sport will be a helluva story. And for many more people who will never play golf professionally, it'll still break down barriers, make the sport more inclusive and create access and opportunities for Angelenos."

Teeing Up a Template

Ohanian has already had conversations with other TGL team owners interested in their philanthropic model and how the Hathaway project came together. Those discussions could inspire similar public-private golf initiatives across the country.

"Forget the altruism—there is a responsibility for those who have found success in the sport to be reinvesting in creating more access, because you should want more golfers and more golf fans. This is a sport, where because of the nature of it, you've historically had a lot of guardrails or obstacles keeping folks from getting into it."

Growing up as a suburban middle-class kid, even Ohanian didn't feel golf was a sport he necessarily fit into. His parents didn't belong to a country club and never even so much as swung a club.

"It felt not only economically prohibitive but culturally prohibitive, and if it felt that way to me, how many people does it feel that way to? That's exactly what we can correct with projects like Maggie Hathaway," he explained.

The hope is that cities across the country view the Maggie Hathaway renewal not just as a golf project but as a framework to reinvest in public spaces, creating opportunities for those who might otherwise feel excluded, and laying the groundwork for a more inclusive future where golf serves as a unifying force in communities.

For Ohanian, golf is a conduit to learning skills not often taught in schools: "Golf is special because it bridges generations, industries, and levels of expertise," he explained. He added that while he could never pick up a racquet and play tennis against his wife Serena—a match that would be so lopsided neither of them would have fun—he could play a round with Tiger Woods using spotted strokes and they'd both have a blast.

By offering young people access to the sport—especially those from underserved communities—it's not just about teaching them to swing a club; it's about learning resilience, grit, and valuable life skills. While it's still early days for shaping the particulars of the educational mission at Maggie Hathaway post-renovation, Ohanian envisions the municipal course expanding opportunities beyond just long and short game tutelage, into areas such as personal finance and the art of negotiation.