My morning routine is pretty predictable. Get up, make some coffee, read the newspaper and then check out a bunch of Web sites that feed my need for daily information.
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The homepage on my laptop has been set for Google for years. But, about six months ago, I modified it to use what’s now called iGoogle, a customizable homepage that automatically displays a sampling of news, information and interesting stuff from a variety of sources. So, with iGoogle, my homepage now includes headlines from The New York Times, the Washington Post, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, etc. I even have local weather, a “quote of the day,” video clips from “The Colbert Report” and a daily “Calvin and Hobbes” cartoon. In short, iGoogle allows you to create your own personal multimedia newspaper that’s instantly up to date.
There’s one more option on iGoogle that I love. You can save personalized Google News searches for key words or phrases like “New York Mets” or “wireless phones” and the results are displayed in the customized Google News section. I saved searches for “golf course” and “golf course superintendent” that I look at each morning. Oftentimes, the stories are random (a grand opening of a course in Scottsdale, a new superintendent in Charlotte, or some debate between a homeowners association and a developer in Portland). But, throughout time, you start noticing trends.
The biggest trend that I’ve picked up from watching these Google news items throughout time is that government golf is really struggling. Story after story from around the country confirms that government-operated courses are becoming points of controversy within their communities. Cash-strapped municipalities are looking at their golf operations and wondering why they’re losing money, why they’re not making more money or why they’re in the golf business at all. Many municipalities are looking to outsource their operations to management companies to stop the bleeding or because they’ve realized they just don’t know how to manage a for-profit business within the scheme of running a city or county. Some are simply debating whether to close their courses completely.
Clearly, competition is one factor. Muni golf used to represent an important niche in our economic scale. Muni golf was, by definition, cheap. Now, with mom-and-pop facilities discounting and marketing heavily, the “city course” isn’t always the cheapest option. The old farts and the occasional players now have a bunch more options when they’re trying to decide where to plunk down their $14 to play nine holes on a sunny Wednesday afternoon.
Running a muni is tough enough under normal circumstances given higher wage scales, petty local politics and bloated bureaucracies. But, running a muni successfully in these times is damn near impossible. Last year, I wrote about the “death” of muni golf. At the time, I was worried. Now, I’m becoming convinced that muni golf won’t survive unless communities become better educated about the recreational, social and physical fitness benefits of our game.
The question is how we can do that. Any suggestions? Any great success stories out there about government courses that are “winning” in the battle for players? Click through to the forum now to let us know.
