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EDITOR'S NOTE:
For more on this topic,
click HERE to read
GCI's MAY 2010
cover story: "In Muni's We Trust "
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They were Jackson County’s (Mich.) first 18-hole public golf courses and remained the only ones for decades.
They are the places where generations of Jackson residents have learned the game that has remained a lifelong recreation.
They are the sites of many of the most memorable moments in Jackson golf history.
But the City of Jackson (Mich.) and Jackson County’s merger of oversight of their Sharp Park and Cascades golf courses this year in the midst of industry-wide struggles has raised again the question:
Should government be in the golf business?
Officials managing the county-owned Cascades and city-owned Sharp Park courses say the tradition of their facilities and their importance to the growth of the game mean they should continue to operate under municipal control.
Those opposed to courses operated by governmental units generally fall into two camps. Golf course owners contend that municipal courses provide unfair and unnecessary competition that adversely affects the industry. Government watchdogs say they divert tax dollars to the benefit of a small portion of the population.