Point: Municipal golf still plays an important role in game's growth / Counterpoint: The time and need for municipal golf has come and gone

Golf Course News, Nov 2002 by Pascuzzo, Damian, Karen, Jay

A friend of mine, Les Clayton wrote a terrific master's thesis titled "The Evolution of the American Municipal Golf Course: 1895-1940." It is fascinating reading, as Les chronicles the development of the country's first public golf course, Van Courtland Park in New York, in 1895. The initial success of this nine-- hole Bronx-based course encouraged the city of Boston to follow a year later with the creation of Franklin Park Golf Course. Other cities around the country were not far behind in building their own nine- or 18-hole golf courses.

Claytor's research documents how, despite primitive conditions, these courses thrived. Often people would line up for hours waiting for their turn at the first tee. By all accounts, a great many people learned to play the game on the early municipal layouts and it would be logical to assume that a fair number of these players went on to join private clubs or patronize resort courses during their vacations, all of which contributed to the growth of the game.

The early impact of municipal golf on American parks and the people who used them was best stated by a park official who in a 1927 New York Times article claimed, "I know of no enterprise of similar character that has afforded so much recreation and pleasure to so large a number of people."

It's been more than 100 years since the creation of Van Courtland Park and I have to wonder, how much has changed in a century?

Certainly we have seen golf continue to grow through the decades to the point that we have around 22 to 25 million participants. But, have we provided for everyone?

Recent research out of the Golf 20/20 initiative indicates that there are many people who want to play the game but don't. They make up the latent demand segment of the market. Conservative estimates place the number of people in the latent demand segment of approximately 10 million. Other estimates take that figure up to 20 million people. The reasons most often cited for not playing golf are time, expense and difficulty.

This is where municipalities still play an important role in golf. Municipalities, counties and other government entities are not under the same pressure to maximize profits as developers in the private sector. This allows them to develop those simple, inexpensive golf courses that meet the needs of so many existing and potential golfers. In the same way that they provide ball fields, soccer fields, tennis courts, skate parks and BMX tracks for their citizens' use, they need to build golf facilities in a way that the private sector can't.

Over the years, metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Spokane, Wash., and New York have built a terrific collection of municipal golf courses that are simple, affordable and fun. They service their citizens as they have for decades. But as new communities continue to sprout up across the country, it is important for them to understand the value and role a municipal golf course plays in their future.

I believe municipalities also have a responsibility to think beyond traditional, regulation-sized golf courses. In most instances they are better positioned than the private sector to develop and operate executive-length and par-3 courses. These "alternative golf courses" often act as the entryway to golf to many aspiring golfers. Not unlike baseball's minor league system, par3s and executive courses allow players to improve their skills, learn the etiquette of the game and gain the confidence necessary to move up to regulation golf courses.

Again the research of Golf 20/20 bears this out: "alternative facilities open to the public share a complementary relationship to regulation-length courses nearby. That is, golfers pay and play more at traditional facilities in communities with abundant alternative facilities."

While it is easy to focus on bringing new players into the game, we cannot forget about older players who for either physical or economic reasons, simply don't want to go the full 18 anymore. Alternative facilities are a great way for them to continue their participation in the game.

Cities can take a leadership position in environmental stewardship by converting degraded sites in municipal golf facilities. We've seen in recent decades the conversion of many landfills, and brownfield sites into player- filled golf courses.

Enjoyable, accessible and affordable are the keystones of municipal golf courses. They have played a historic role in the growth of American golf and will continue to be an important part of the game's future.

Damian Pascuzzo is a partner in Graves & Pascuzzo Ltd. in El Dorado Hills, Calif., and is past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.

Jay Karen is director of membership for the National Golf Course Owners Association and is based in Charleston, S.C.