Remove the tombstones, leave the bodies and build a course...a golf corpse.

[John Kavanaugh]

I flew over Wrigley today and thought I saw a golf course which turned out to be a cemetery.  I can't imagine a bigger waste of space than an urban cemetery.  So why not?  Given the technology of accurate GPS and the fact that most bodies are six feet under, why not remove the stones, leave the bones and put this dead space to use?  A couple of questions...Will the public let it fly and what are some of the great cemeteries that would make great golf courses?

Arlington National...What a name and what a site...Who needs a water fall when you have an eternal flame.

[SPDB]

The cut and fill might be a little dicey.

[John Kavanaugh]

To get this thing marketed, I'm thinking the cart GPS could show a picture and give a little life history on whose plot your ball sits.  I'm seeing guys who have been forgotten for years living once again in our games.  I hit it past Cecil Montgomery today and chipped in from Stan Goldstein to the ole Betty Laakman pin placement for eagle.  It was a great day all around.

[Roger Tufts]

Besides the obvious immorality of it, Omaha Beach is a very, very beautiful site, with beautiful landforms.

Just pull a poltergeist on the public, they wont know.

[Joe Hancock]

Will this idea be more acceptable post-rapture?

 

[Mike Sweeney]

10 minutes from Midtown, Calvery Cemetary in Queens



Southampton Cemetary - I would argue that we should keep the tombstones of CB and Seth!

[Bill Brightly]

I think John found the keys to the liquor cabinet again...

[Joe Hancock]

To get this thing marketed, I'm thinking the cart GPS could show a picture and give a little life history on whose plot your ball sits.  I'm seeing guys who have been forgotten for years living once again in our games.  I hit it past Cecil Montgomery today and chipped in from Stan Goldstein to the ole Betty Laakman pin placement for eagle.  It was a great day all around.

Very nice! Snatching an eagle from the jaws of death= priceless!

[JMorgan]

Kensico and Gate of Heaven in Westchester County.  Prime real estate with the Sultan of Swat thrown in.

[John Kavanaugh]

Will this idea be more acceptable post-rapture?

 

Rapture happened long ago...Us sinners are still down here fighting it out.

This may seem like nothing but a joke but is no more than one generation away.  I do believe that modern technology can pay tribute to the dead in a tasteful manner while making use of available green space.  In some cases poor golf courses that fit a better economic model as something else could be used for development knowing that the cemetery was replacing the recreational value.  It is a win/win.

[Bill Brightly]

Well, I cant think of a better way to get the lefties/save the planet/hate golf courses/liberals on the same page as the religous right...

[Joe Hancock]

Brings the term "Old Dead Guy Architecture" to life......

[Mike_Cirba]

Will this idea be more acceptable post-rapture?

They may have to tell paying customers that they've recently aerated.  

[Joe Hancock]

Will this idea be more acceptable post-rapture?

They may have to tell paying customers that they've recently aerated.  

Customer service may not be high on their priority list at that point.

[John Kavanaugh]

Enough of the one-liners.  Let's get some possible sites and ideas to make this possible.  Urban golf could be a real growth area for the game...It is only the land that is missing and it has been right there before our eyes the entire time.  Who hasn't been to a gravesite service and not thought of the possiblilities.

[Joe Hancock]

Getting permission from all the deceased families is worse than any committee work at an existing club. I bow out of the running for this task.

[James Bennett]

Well, many clubs already allow ashes to be spread across a golf course (preferably without accompanying plaque and definitely without memorial plantings).  Why is it that walking across an area strewn with ashes is ok, but graves are treated with a higher level of 'respect'? Different sets of values by those invovled perhaps?

James B

[John Keenan]

In the small hamlet of Colma just south of San Francisco sits a small 9 hole course called Cypress. Colma is a community made up mainly of cemeteries. This small course plays above and overlooks Cypress Lawn Cemetery. I am told it started as an 18 but the cemetery took 9 holes and now word is they may well want more.

The options are relay out this course or close it I would guess

In effect the opposite of what this post is suggesting.

[Mike_Cirba]

John,

I do love how you think outside the box, you sick buster.

Speaking of hallowed ground, I had much the same thoughts walking through Valley Forge National Park many a time.

First of all, it's wonderful, sprawling land.   Second of all, it already has many a Macdonald/Raynorish obviously artificial, geometric feature, built as fortifications for the anticipated British assault.

There are about 100 possible redan holes out there, not to mention many a Biarritz through trenches dug for hiding spots.

I'd also imagine it being a great spot for a Ryder Cup, if only I could convince the US Park Service to let me have free reign.

The fools don't seem to want to listen!!!  

[Mike_Cirba]

I do think the course should offer a Rapture Day special for those left behind.

At first I thought this might not be necessary since any course overcrowding issues might be instantly alleviated, but then I thought about most of the golfers I know and decided that we probably wouldn't experience anything much different than the norm.

[Michael Blake]

John,

Speaking of hallowed ground, I had much the same thoughts walking through Valley Forge National Park many a time.

That's funny because I do as well every time I'm there.  Great piece of property for a golf course.

....though it's Valley Forge National Historical Park.  

[Mike_Cirba]

That's funny because I do as well every time I'm there.  Great piece of property for a golf course.

....though it's Valley Forge National Historical Park.  

Michael,

You have to start thinking in modern golf marketing terms.

It would surely be "The Colonial Mews Links AT Valley Forge National Historical Park Golf and Country Club".  

[mike_beene]

Sorry,but all I can think about is the headline on the counter cultural paper at Baylor a few years ago:  "Rapture.Still Here?" Which followed with an interview of W.A. Criswell explaining where everyone else went.

[Tim Gavrich]

I'd imagine there are golf courses built on sites where bloody Civil War battles took place.  If we can lay them out over the souls of some of our country's long-forgotten finest...

I know of two golf courses where tombstones are on/near the line of play:

- #13 at Blackmoor (half-decent Gary Player design) in Myrtle Beach, just of the left side of the fairway LZ.
- #8 at Heritage Club (The Dan Maples/Larry Young/Mike Strantz course almost next door to Caledonia) in Pawleys Island, SC, where there's a fenced-off slave cemetary just in front of and below the tee box.

[Rick Phelps]

John, you may be on to something big -- but you have it all backwards.  For all of the struggling golf courses in the US, why not let them start selling plots?  A whole new revenue stream!  As long as there are no tombstones or any other markers to disturb play.

How may of you would like to rest in peace at your favorite course?  How much would it be worth to you to reserve that special spot?

Hmmmm...