The (Very Strong) Case for Converting Golf Courses to Public Parks
Simply put, golf courses are too much for too few
My daughter says it’s “not fair.” As a stormy pre-teen, she thinks most things aren’t fair these days, but on this particular point, I wholeheartedly agree.
Whenever we take a family walk to a nearby golf course, we follow a dirt trail around the perimeter, the only area in which us non-golfing “commonfolk” are allowed. We appreciate gazing out at the gently rolling hills, always well-groomed and always a lush green, even during the dog days of summer.
As we circle back toward home, on the other side of the course, the view becomes obscured by an ugly chainlink fence. But whichever side of the course we’re on, there is a distinct sense of exclusion. We can enjoy the rolling hills from certain vantage points, but we are unable to traverse them, immerse ourselves.
That privilege is reserved for the golfers — and yes, perhaps unsurprisingly, these golfers are mostly middle-aged and older white men. They dot the landscape in their small, sparse flocks. We never see more than a dozen of them at a time.
That so much land is reserved for so few people incenses my daughter. It’s not fair. She’s going to write a letter to the mayor, she says.
