We recently had a lecture about golf and the Olympic games at the "Deutsches Golf Archiv" in Cologne by Dr. Stephan Wassong from Liverpool University. At the discussion after the lecture Bettina Hauert, who played in the 2007 Solheim Cup European team, she is also a LET players reprentitve, gave an enthusiatic statement saying that participating in Olympic Games is and will allways be the greatest dream of any sportsman and -woman! I think that is the argument that counts here!
see also
http://golfarchiv.dshs-koeln.de/Whether or not most Americans oppose Golf at Olympic Games it is important to note that professional golfers association worldwide so far have failed to sign the Olympic anti-drug regulations - at the end of the day this will probably be the most important argument against Golf at the 2016 Olympic Games, unless the 17 men’s and women’s professional golf tours and the leading PGAs from around the world will now quicls sign the relevant anti-drug use documents until when the IOC decision will be made in Copenhagen this autumn.
As Tom Doak correctly states the idea of golf at the Olympics is big outside the U.S., also here in Continental Europe.
Golf was proposed for the 1916 Olympic Games at Berlin and George Duncan was allready trying to teach some decent Golf to the German National Amateur Golf Team. The 1916 games where cancelled and for the 1936 games the organisers failed to apply in time at the International Olympic Committee but they organised a post-olympic golf tournament at Baden-Baden won by the English team (Bentley & Thirsk).
Baden-Baden is some 600 km away from Berlin where the Wannsee Golf Course couldn't be used as it was part of the cross-country event for the 1936 modern pentathlon event....
It can be noted that today every city applying for the Olympic Games does have an 18-hole golf course, be it a rather dull (quote Mark Rowlinson)) Glyfada course at Athens or the exclusive Gavea course at Rio de Janeiro - Tokyo and Chicago as everybody here knows have plenty of golf courses and certainly several suited to host an Olympic Golf Tournament. Madrid also has a nice choice of courses...
Btw. I played Glyfada some years ago, the course was designed by the Anglo-Swiss architect Harradine during the 1960s and it might not be exceptional but has become more attractive since the neaby Athens airport was closed and a new airport on another side of the city was opened.
It will be interesting to see if golf will again find it's place in the Olympic Games.....