Golf Courses: Desirable or wasteful use of resources?

[suburban george3]

I do think golf courses can be both desirable and a wasterful use of local resources, however they can bring BIG benefits to a community.

I lived for 6 years in a small (2200 pop) mountain town in NE TN. This town was home to little industry and the county wasn't much bigger (17K pop). However, they had an excellent golf course which brought in people from the whole region so this added tremendously to the local economy.

Where I live now, there is a golf course up the road which has been constructed in a flood zone. This land would be unusable for any other kind of urban development but it has also added to the community, even though it goes underwater a few times per year.

As long as local governments regulate pollution concerns and course owners are environmentally responsible, I don't have a major problem with golf courses. In some towns they are also a big draw for the booming number of retirees looking to relocate.

[colin]

I opened a thread on this in the Arizona forum some time ago, but, like most threads in USA West, it's fallen to the bottom of the pile.

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=27628

I originally posted it because Pima County (Tucson) has been discussing banning new golf course developments because of water use concerns.

I'll re-iterate myself and what others have said, that golf courses are a tremendous waste of resources and contradict most elements of sustainable development. Although the sport is a tremendous economic boost for Arizona (especially Phoenix), a game invented for the green, rolling hills of Scotland makes no sense in the barren, scrubby hills of the Sonoran Uplands.

[Spartan]

it seems to me that a golf course in arizona is the epitome of artificial environments. I mean, its called the "desert southwest" for a reason. I know that Phoenix/Scottsdale has some of the best courses out there... but you have to acknowledge that they are not appropriate for that environment. I wonder if a xeriscaped golf course could work, and if people would play on it?

[Pillsbury]

Okay, I'm a golfer and I'm from Augusta so I guess I'm going to be biased to say the least. Obviously there are pollution concerns with golf courses and they do tend to take up a lot of space. In recent years though, I've noticed a lot of golf courses trying to be environmentally friendly. For instance in Augusta it used to be the vogue to keep the grass green all year, but I've noticed a lot of really nice courses opting to let the fairways go during the winter. Also, a lot of golf courses (including the Augusta National) use water brought in straight from rivers. Golf has always been associated with the upper-class; however, there are many nice golf courses in this town which have very diverse membership rolls.

[FromCityToRural]

I golf, so...I happen to like golf courses. The problem is when they make these private membership courses (Texans seem fond of doing this), which IMHO translates to fewer people garnering the benefits and extending the rich white guy golfer stereotype.

Back in California, we had a great little course where you could play for $10/person in the afternoons and get in as many holes as you could before dark (we usually got 10-12 in, but we got there well after the $10 rate started - conceiveably you could play all 18). We saw all kinds of people of all ages and types out there and it really was a nice experience. It's a real shame there's nothing like that around here.

[colin]

Arizona courses usually use reclaimed water (i.e. - drainage and sewage), but that's still water that would have been used to recharge an aquifer or for marshlands.

I don't like the idea of any large amount of open land being roped off to the public, so I'm a little more apathetic toward private courses. The Tucson area has about as many public courses as private, which themselves mostly belong to resorts.

I totally agree about Texas too. I can think of maybe five public courses in the Houston area, a city of 5+ million where a good portion of the people play golf. Pretty ridiculous.

[FromCityToRural]

Yeah, even around here, there are about a half dozen courses in town, but we have to drive 20 miles to the nearest public one, and even then it's very expensive for what you get. It's one of those little things that drive you nuts.

[suburban george3]

One interesting thing to happen here was a private golf course that was losing money. One of the older clubs in the city it had been suffering from rising expenses and a stagnant membership roll. They sold out the development and it is now being turned into a mixed use residential/commercial/office development.

[goodbye]

One interesting thing to happen here was a private golf course that was losing money. One of the older clubs in the city it had been suffering from rising expenses and a stagnant membership roll. They sold out the development and it is now being turned into a mixed use residential/commercial/office development.

That sounds similar to a golf course in Greenville. It was a very nice course, but somehow couldn't attract enough business in its location, so the owners are planning to redevelop as mixed-use/residential. I was sad when it closed, but perhaps it will be best in the end.

[GRDadof3]

With a continued saturation of golf courses around the country (as talked about earlier), a lot of the older less profitable courses are being sold for development. There are approximately 26 public courses in the Grand Rapids Metro, and at least half a dozen private country clubs. Way too many, IMO. I would never buy a home on a golf course, because there is no guarantee it will be that way in perpetuity. One public course built in the Grand Rapids area back in the 80's surrounded by condominiums is now going out of business. The golf course owners are just shutting down and the golf course will be left to grow wild. Although some people might like that, most of the co-owners did not sign up for that, and there is now a frenzy of people looking to dump their condos and get out. You can imagine the bloodbath of property values.

But back to golf courses and the environment.

[FromCityToRural]

Most of the golf courses I play at leave the clippings...

[urbanaturalist]

Great topic. I think there are more than enough golf courses. I'm not hating on golf, even though I don't play, but the current forms tend to pollute and just take up crazy acres of land. And if you take golf from an international perspective, golf almost becomes sinister, when I here they want to build a golf course in the middle of the rainforest or some mangrove swamps. I know there are some golf course that are very eco-conscious, but you have to go to CANADA or some place progressive to find them. I think the current golf courses neeed to have a morotorium on golf courses, as well as the worst polluting offenders get their courses to be benign contributors of pollution before anymore be built. Baby boomers, are only going to make it worst if they keep demanding courses. IMHO.

[dtown]

They are taking a feild and forest in my township and turning it into a golf course with condos. Its a real shame, too. Used to be a very productive soybean farm with many acres of forests.I hunted there just last year. Now its just going to a be a place for retirees to park their Cadillacs and sit in their golf carts admiring the grass.

[Raintree21]

Charlotte Observer

News and Observer

North Carolina State University is asking for the North Caroina legislature to support a proposal that calls for acquiring about 376 acres of farmland along the Albemarle Sound, adjacent to the Eastern 4-H Environmental Education Conference Center. It would restore former wetlands and establish 58 acres of greenways and buffers along waterways to prevent runoff. N.C. State would put conservation restrictions on 90 acres of forested property it owns along Bunton Creek. The long-range plan envisions an environmentally friendly research golf course for 4-H members and the public.

"We would bring in experts and build a nine-hole course that would keep the natural grasses in place, not use agricultural chemicals, and make it an ecological model," said Marshall Stewart, leader of the state 4-H Youth Development Program, which is part of N.C. State's Cooperative Extension. He said 4-H leaders were focused on acquiring the land before it was developed and would raise money privately to build the golf course.