William Land accrued his fortune as a hotelier, establishing the Western Hotel on 2nd and K and the Land Hotel in downtown Sacramento. When Mr. Land died in 1911, he left $250,000 in his will for the creation of a public park within a suitable distance of Sacramento.

The William Land Golf Course opened as part of those instructions in 1924, the same year golfers started using actual golf balls instead of leftover dinosaur eggs. Today, the course shares the 160-acre William Land Park with baseball fields, picnic areas, and ponds for fishing. The 18-hole layout stretches to 6,018 yards from the tips, and a pair of par fives—holes 8 and 17—stand out on the scorecard as the course's longest. Competitors can also set aside their clubs and use their feet instead during rounds of FootGolf.