As play got underway at the U.S. Open Golf tournament at Los Angeles Country Club next to Beverly Hills Thursday, there was a lot of excitement 15 miles away in South L.A. The fervor focused on the Maggie Hathaway Golf Course at the corner of Century and Western.

You see, when the United States Golf Association announced it would hold this week’s tournament at one of L.A.’s fanciest golf clubs, the organization and club wanted to figure out a way a less-privileged community could benefit. They hatched an idea for a $15 million renovation of the county’s Hathaway course.

The course is an oasis of green tranquility in what some might call a rough neighborhood. It’s a par 3 nine-hole layout that includes a practice driving range and putting green in Jesse Owens Park.

“It really is a great golf course,” said Fred Terrell, co-chair of the club’s U.S. Open Legacy Committee, which is leading the effort. “It just had been under-cared for.”

He said the committee is about halfway to raising all of the money and has yet to establish a timeline for when the renovation will begin. Perhaps the niftiest part of the project is that renowned golf course architect Gil Hanse will lead the redesign. Hanse renovated the L.A. Country Club more than a decade ago.

The work will go beyond the golf course. “We are going to improve the facilities to make them more inviting to young people and provide a place for not only golf but additional learning working with the schools,” Terrill said.

“It’s more than just the dollars,” he said. “It’s putting a bear hug around Maggie Hathaway for the benefit of the kids and the community.”

Hathaway was an avid golfer, golf instructor, and civil rights activist in L.A. who helped break down the color barrier on public golf courses. The course was named after her in 1997.

At the course Thursday, those who’d heard about the project were thrilled.

“This is going to be the number one par-3 in the state of California, right here in the inner city,” said Mike Williams, 67, who teaches golf to kids at the course. “It’s going to be really good for the inner-city kids to see the attention that’s being placed in their community.”

He stopped for a moment to instruct 14-year-old Emma Aviles on how to better turn away from the ball before hitting it.

“That’s it,” he exclaimed, when she pounded one out onto the driving range.

“I am very excited to see how it turns out,” said Aviles, who just finished her freshman year at Warren High School. Invited to talk more about golf, she called it “very mental. It’s taught me patience and discipline and how to cope with different emotions because golf can be complicated mentally.”

Her father Alfredo Aviles, 51, is the golf coach at Bell High School. He also teaches math.

“I just heard about the renovation.” he said. “I was excited and surprised. Just happy for this golf course.”

Rony Soto, 17, played for Aviles and just graduated from Bell.

“I love the game of golf,” said Soto, who made it to the CIF sectional finals this year. “I’ll be excited to see how it develops,” he said of the planned renovations.

Soto plans on becoming an airline pilot.

Every few minutes, jetliners of all sizes noisily pass over the course on their way to land at LAX just 6 miles to the west. It doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

“I love it here,” said Richard Duval, 74, a retired building contractor who lives in nearby View Park. “I’m excited about it,” he said of the coming improvements.

“Right here on Western Avenue. Wonderful. We need that in our neighborhood,” he added.

Golfers often enjoy waxing eloquent on how the game is a lot like life, and Duval was no different.

“Some days you hit the ball really great. And some days you don’t,” he said. “But there’s always a second shot. Just like life.”

Williams could not resist chiming in too.

“Golf is a chronicle to life,” he said. “Ups and downs and the only thing that is going to come out of you is what you put in it.”

Williams added that when you get to a golf course, the game erases racial differences and disagreements. “When the kids and all the races come, they forget about that,” he said. “Golf just commands total attention.”

The honorary chair of the committee raising the money for the project is golfer Collin Morikawa, who won the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 British Open Championship.

“It’s something that means a lot to me,” said Morikawa, who grew up in La Crescenta. “There’s a huge divide between private golf and public golf in Los Angeles and most people are playing public municipal golf courses.”

The renovation will provide opportunities “to teach kids the real world,” he added. “You can learn a lot from golf. I think to leave an impact like that is pretty awesome.”