Now that the Symposium is over, I am surprised that this thread has yet to be returned to the front page ....
Richard, I enjoyed it all and appreciate your patience with me. A fee to offset costs is reasonable.
My take away observations of it are the following: (please remember that I am just a golfer whose view of the the game is from the worm's eye view looking up)
1. the Symposium was more about the question of the game being Affordable for whom? ... the golfer?, the golf course owner?, the golf architect?, the real estate developer?, the super?, the irrigation contractor, the aspiring caddie? Is the game at this point a zero sum affair??
2. the governing bodies, tour pros, equipment mfr's and the top 1% of clubs are doing great ... never been better
3. Mr. Whitten's comments about the trevails of being a golf course owner will make me more sympathetic to the challenges that the owner's of the golf courses I frequent. The corporate outing scrambles, that I do not like, may actually subsidize the golf I play.
4. Though I got involved in the game through caddieing, my experience (or perhaps imperfect memory of my life long ago) of being a caddy was very mixed. At Wellesley CC, outside of Boston, I was 12 at the time, often exploited and basically treated as a cockroach. Mr. Shreiner, a very engaging and likeable individual, has a romantic view of the caddy that I cannot share.
5. The perception of elitism of the game has as much to do with the ability to play the game as it does with the means to pay for the game.
6. 4800 yard course lengths make sense.
Finally, I live in Tidewater Virginia 10 minutes from an early Doak course and fairly close to a variety reasonably OK courses that do not break the bank. For that reason, I have never felt the need to join a private club (get lots of invites). For me the game has never been better.
I hope for some more comments...