I woke up this morning worrying that municipal golf in America might be on its deathbed.
An article in today’s newspaper detailed the decline in play at a number of Cleveland’s municipal and county-owned facilities. Rounds at a couple of the urban courses owned by the city of Cleveland have declined almost 50 percent in 2005. Others have declined anywhere from 10 percent to 28 percent.
The “experts” in the article blamed bad conditioning and a relatively small ($1 per round) rate increase for the decline of play. But that’s overly simplistic. Let’s look at the factors that really are threatening the long-term health of muni golf:
1. Competition: The market is overbuilt; play is flat; and privately run, daily-fee facilities are discounting and offering value-adds like crazy. Muni courses don’t usually have that flexibility. The same bureaucracies that built them aren’t able to respond to competition.
2. Budget cuts: Tax revenues have declined, and most munis operate as government-subsidized recreational facilities. When finances are in poor shape, one of the first budgets that cities and counties are likely to cut is recreation – and golf, which is considered a “luxury” activity, is often at the top of the list. The result? The turf budget gets whacked whenever the politicians need to find a few bucks.
3. Poor spending priorities: It was interesting that the only significant improvement made to the failing Cleveland city courses in the past decade was a new clubhouse. Gee, you think a decent irrigation system might have helped them compete more effectively than a nicer place to hang out after a round?
4. Privatization: With a plethora of management companies out there making wild promises about how cost-effectively they can operate courses, many cities have turned or will turn to private industry to operate their courses for them. Who wins these city contracts? You guessed it … the lowest bidder. And we all know what usually happens when a low-baller does a government job.
5. Poor player development: Another area that seems to get slashed when muni budgets are tight is player development programming. These days too few muni operations have legitimate programs to encourage young people and females to try the game.
Some of you might read this and say, “Good riddance. Government shouldn’t be in the golf business anyway.” I disagree. Muni golf provides a recreational opportunity and helps to build golfers who might eventually pay to play at your place or join your club. Also, Uncle Sam’s stamp of approval is a great piece of evidence that golf is more than a rich, white man’s game. It adds legitimacy to our assertion that golf for everyone.
I hope that government-driven golf can make a comeback. But, unless cities and counties stop throwing the baby out with the bathwater, I fear that munis will continue to decline or even disappear entirely. What a shame.
PJ