Santa Barbara Polo Club Turns 100

By Paula Parisi March 26, 2011

When polo season starts in May it will mark the 100^th Anniversary of the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club, which will celebrate with festivities that include a star-studded charity match on July 9 and a black tie dinner gala on Aug. 12. An additional grace note to the centennial  jubilance: the world’s No. 1 ranked player, Adolfo Cambiaso, will return for the second season running, to play on John Muse’s Lucchese team. Not surprisingly, the 10-goal rated Cambiaso drove the team to the championship last year.

The 58-acre property unfolds only footsteps from the beach, on the outskirts of Santa Barbara.

While the club is often referred to by members as “heaven on earth,” things haven’t always been quite this celestial. In the early 1970’s, the property was developed to accommodate a village of condominiums whose construction was disastrously timed to an economic downturn. The club wound up in bankruptcy. “In 1973 my father, Ken Walker, along with some other members ―Norm Ringer and Glen Holden, ―decided to take over the bankrupt operation,” Danny Walker recalls. “It was through their efforts that the operation of the club was saved. We credit Glen for keeping the operational side going, my father for creating and constructing the existing barns and tennis courts and Norm for keeping both gentlemen on task!”

That camaraderie is typical for life at the club, which has a distinct family-and-friends feel. “We start our children riding the horses when they turn six- or seven years old,” Walker says. “This is when they’re physically strong enough to sit on top of a horse, have balance, their legs long enough to have a little control and get some speed.” And the members would no doubt agree that all the fresh air and horses keep them young. Walker’s son at 13 participated in a match with his great-grandfather, Gus, who was 90 at the time. “Between us we had four generations of players, and we won that day,” he recalls with a chuckle.

A wide range of polo takes place on the grounds – from entry level to high performance sport. “There are less expensive places to play polo, but the best polo in the world is world is played right here,” says Jonathan Burrows, who hails from Long Island, the heart of polo country, and has been playing for 27 years. But you don’t have to play polo to enjoy the club. Tickets to the matches are made available to the public on a weekly basis. In addition to a charming stack of vintage green and white bleachers, the lush lawns invite picnicking. Charity events also encourage community involvement.

“Overall, the club has been an incredible success,” says Glen “Jeep” Holden. “And as a polo property, it’s kind of unusual now, because the sport will played here in perpetuity,” Holden said, explaining that even if polo ever falls out of fashion the sprawling seaside acreage will be safe from developers. “When we took it over from the bank, we put it in trust. It’s a nice thing for the polo world, because as you can imagine having 57 acres about 100 yards from the beach is pretty great.”

For more information, visit www.sbpolo.com.

Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet's clubhouse was built in 1911, and remains largely unchanged today ― save for the addition of lots of photso and trophies.

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