GOLF COLUMN FOR SAN MATEO COUNTY TIMES SPORTS
by Gib Papazian
The American Society of Golf Course Architects recently had their annual meeting in Pebble Beach to discuss the state of their business. This year, much of the buzz centered on a highly controversial article by Golf Digest Architecture Editor and historian Ron Whitten.
The oft posed question, ““why is golf so expensive”” was explored, laying much of the blame at the feet of high tone designers like Tom Fazio. The inference is that the high cost of building and maintaining modern golf courses is having a negative effect on the growth of the game. Inflammatory or not, I agree with his observations. Golf - particularly quality golf - has become too expensive in most major population areas and statistics show that the number of rounds played in America has been flat-lining for several years. This, despite the explosion of televised golf. Tiger, Ernie and Phil make compelling theater. So do Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie on the women's tour. Yet, their popularity is not translating into more rounds played.
Why golf is expensive in the Bay Area is more complex, and has nothing to do with America’’s leading designer; Fazio has no courses in Northern California. The problem begins with our location and the anti-golf attitude of arrogant public officials on the county level. City courses like Poplar Creek are still affordable, but can service only a small percentage of the demand.
There are more than 16,000 golf courses in America, with a reverse correlation between local population and number of courses. Some areas in the nation are overbuilt, but these are almost invariably in remote areas. It ought to be a fairly simple matter to provide the people in our population centers with enough facilities to supply the demand, but it does not work as it should. Here are a few complicating issues in our part of the world, and what we ought to do about it:
TEE TIMES: There is no issue finding a place to play on non-peak hours, but most people work Monday through Friday. Golf courses must jack up their prices on the weekend, partially to offset the cheap deals they offer to fill the tee sheet during the week. The formula in San Mateo County comes down to Price vs. Location vs. Availability; pick any two. A reasonable price with available tee times usually requires a bit of a drive. Available tee times at a nearby location translates into expensive fees. A decent green fee somewhere close means a mad scramble for tee times.
SLOW PLAY: The practice of spacing tee times out seven minutes instead of 10 minutes apart makes the congestion immeasurably worse. Taking six hours out of a weekend day to play a round of golf is tough on families. In an era where children are shuttled from one activity to another, putting aside a chunk of time like that will put anyone in bad stead with the spouse. In Scotland, everyone plays at a brisk clip and the course is usually the centerpiece of the community. Here, we have not figured out how to push along the snails and it discourages play.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESTRICTIONS: Pure insanity in San Mateo County. The Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay - on the site of a useless mud-hill - cost the investors over 1.5 million in legal fees and wrangling to permit. Those costs must eventually be passed on. The wealthy Sierra Club and their irrational minions have been nothing less than obnoxious for decades. The San Mateo County Course, as part of a land trade to build the 280 freeway farther from the watershed off Edgewood Road, died after 35 years of obstruction by zero-growth crazies masquerading as environmentalists. The barrier of entry for a privately funded facility in San Mateo County is prohibitive unless you have the staying power to survive years of pointless red tape.
CLUB INITIATION FEES: Even after the collapse of the NASDAQ, which partially fueled the unprecedented rise in membership costs, joining a private club in San Mateo County remains out of reach for the vast majority. Like public courses, there are not enough facilities to supply the demand. Members who joined for a comparative pittance in the late 1980s have no problem prostituting their open membership spots to the highest bidders, in some cases for ten times the old fee or more. Where clubs once opened their doors and welcomed local junior teams, people who cough up enormous sums for access to a club are not interested in playing behind a high school golf match. With one exception, every private club on the Peninsula costs at least twice as much money to join as does Pine Valley outside of Philadelphia; the world’’s number one golf course.
DIFFICULTY OF COURSES: Even with the rock star status of Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam, women statistically give up golf at roughly the same rate at which they take it up. Besides the time commitment, women find the difficulty of many courses discouraging. Layouts like Boulder Ridge in San Jose are impossible for them because of the demand for long carries off the tee. Deep Cliff in Cupertino - a par 60 golf course - has a thriving women's club, which is the fastest way to fill the tee sheet on a slow Tuesday morning. We could use a few more of these on the Peninsula.
MAINTENANCE EXPECTATIONS: All things being equal, providing a well-conditioned course is comparatively cheap as long as expectations are in line with budget realities. I am not using a sewer like Sharp Park as a comparison because there is no excuse for that kind of obscene neglect. However, the ““Augusta Syndrome”” is a growing problem in both private clubs and high fee public courses. Too many players equate a lush green golf course and super fast greens with quality. Any superintendent or architect will tell you this belief is complete nonsense. The gripe that private clubs (particularly) use too much water and chemicals is partly true. Golf was not meant to be an aerial game, but one played along the ground on firm surfaces. At the club I belong to, we had one idiot who used to run around with a camera taking pictures of dry spots and showing them to our Superintendent. Anyone who has played the courses across the pond will tell you the game is far more fun over there. In addition, if we would slow down our green speeds, it would give architects the ability to build putting surfaces like Mackenzie did during the Golden Age. Over-watered fairways and lightning greens are disease magnets and twice as expensive to maintain.
Next week, we will have a look at Metropolitan Club, a facility across the bay that seems to have solved these problems and provides a fine golf course for a reasonable price.