Bob Bonino began playing golf at an early age, while attending Tahoe Lake School, located next to the golf course. Bonino said that he and his three brothers were always running around town, catching lizards and crawdads and building tunnels in the snow. “It was a pretty cool town to grow up in. You could not get in trouble, everyone would look out for you,” said Bonino.
At 13, Bonino’s life in Tahoe came to a temporary halt. His parents divorced and his father Angelo began raising his brood of six alone in South San Francisco. Soon after, Angelo got Bobbie and his brothers into the golf industry. At 15, Bobbie began working at Cypress Hills in Colma working for Fred Venturi, father of the great golfing legend Ken Venturi. He also played golf in high school, junior college and in college. And, all along the Boninos would come up every summer to play golf at the family course in Tahoe City. Angelo Bonino managed the course from 1951 to 1974.
Bonino played golf at USF, and after graduation, he began managing the Tahoe golf course and continued from 1987 to 2004. His brothers Brent and Brad were also involved, each of them acting as superintendents of the course for more than 10 years. For the first few years as manager, Bob lived in Tahoe City, but after marrying he moved to Auburn and commuted to the lake to run the course. In 2004, he went into the construction business in Auburn (TahoeGuide).
