Does Clint Eastwood still own a golf course?
Clint Eastwood has a lot of acres, most notably the spectacular 2,000 rising high over the Monterey Peninsula in Carmel, California.Eastwood was drafted during the Korean War.I went to Carmel because I was broke and had only an afternoon off.The people were very hospitable and the air was clean and brisk.If I ever figure out how to make a living, I would love to live here.
He made a buck or two in the movie business and went back to Carmel, where he was elected mayor in 1986.It took until 1998 for the actor-director to build a club of his own, A Club of His Own.He began caddying at 13 and knew he could carry clubs, but never thought he'd swing one.When that spirit-changing moment miraculously occurred at 21, it inaugurated a lifelong obsession, leading to the creation of the Tehma Golf Club.
Nestled atop a stretch of gorgeous land with breathtaking panoramas, including the Santa Lucia mountains as well as a rush of raw coastline beauty stretching from Monterey to Santa Cruz, Tehma comprises not only an exciting 18-hole, laced-in-the-hill course."It was wonderful," says Eastwood, whose enthusiasm is shared by his wife, Dina, and their beautiful eight-year-old daughter, Morgan.We didn't have to ruin it.It's like a good movie script if you don't screw it up.He pauses.A lot of people buy stuff.I only buy things I really like.I will always take care of it if I love it.He has for himself and others.There are lots available to anyone who wants to build their dream home, even though the membership is limited to 300.
Eastwood looked no further than his own 1928 hacienda-style home when it came to his dream club house.I asked my architect, Alan Williams, how about something like this, only set up as a club?I wanted it to be intimate.It was important that people felt at home."Clint wanted something classic but not prototypical," says Williams.With the added attraction of underground parking, it could have been built 150 years ago."When you fly over, you don't see a lot of cars," says Eastwood.The panorama doesn't look like a wreck.
The Native American name of the club is "abundance of nature" and it has the same kind of long, quiet calm as its owner.
Henry Bumstead, Eastwood's renowned art director, oversaw the creation of the interiors for Tehma.I showed Bummy the plans and asked her what she thought.He says that.The architects did a great job, but Bummy is a movie guy who is great with details.He seems to spot things.I don't know how to explain it to you.The two were in sync."Clint trusts me 100 percent," says Bumstead.Both of us wanted the rooms to be warm and friendly.
"Clint is like the old studio system where you knew everybody," says the 89-year-old two-time Oscar winner."You don't make a film for a couple years, but when you do, all the same people are there."It's like a family.Clint likes to hang out with people he knows.
From the first time the two men worked together as director and designer on the western town in 1973, he trusts.After we staked out the location, Bummy asked, "At what point during construction would you like to come back?"When it's done with the camera, I said.He laughed and then fainted.I said here.You have a good reputation if you send pictures along the way.It was built before I saw it.You're paying people unnecessarily if you have to micromanage them...Might as well do it on your own.I get good people and they do it.
Making the place look like it has been there a long time was Eastwood's main concern.The art director says he's a stickler for aging.I paint, then glaze the walls.I leave small crevices when I paint so that the paint sticks and makes it look older.
Bumstead and Williams collaborated with Michael Waxer to flesh out the hacienda.Williams says that he and Henry had a great time at "The Bumstead Bar," which is affectionately dubbed by the owner."We did the countertops and table bases," says Williams, "while Henry, who designed the bar, took care of the leather, tabletops, cabinetry and woodwork."It's not perfect, but it is not pretentious about it.
Even in this most subtle of men, joy is evident when it comes to Tehma and its realization.He says it was exciting to see it all happen.People want to join and enjoy it..."
It was his pleasure to create something meant to endure for decades, like the art director himself, because Henry Bumstead's work inevitably gets torn down when the director yells that final "Cut" on film."I would never have worked this long if it wasn't for Clint Eastwood," says Bumstead, who is preparing for his 90th birthday as well as his next Eastwood film.I try to keep the set neutral and let the color come out in the costumes and set dressing.The sets should look like the people who live there.
The warm, charming, original, detail-perfect Tehma also does.Is anything going to change on this project?