Stevinson Ranch to Close in July?

[Kalen Braley]

Salt Lake City is losing two courses in the next couple of years as well, including the always fun WingPointe near the airport..
 
 

[Mark Provenzano]

More NorCal courses closed or closing: http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_29391764/bay-area-golf-courses-struggle-to-stay-in-the-game.

[Kalen Braley]

Mark,

Bummer to see this, but lets be real...most of those courses were a Doak 1, with the courses at Sunol being a 2 on their best day..

I don't see any of these as "losses"...

[John Keenan]

 Kalen
 
 
 Sunol may not have won any awards  for architectural excellence but it did provided low cost golf in a nice setting. The Cypress course was a great course to walk. Ita closisng is a loss.
 
 
 Sorry they did not meet up to your expectations and requirements. 

[Kalen Braley]

Kalen
 
 
 Sunol may not have won any awards  for architectural excellence but it did provided low cost golf in a nice setting. The Cypress course was a great course to walk. Ita closisng is a loss.
 
 
 Sorry they did not meet up to your expectations and requirements.

John,

I'm far from a golf snob...but Sunol Valley didn't add anything to the golf world that the bay area or thousands of other munis already had.  To boot it was too high on the "bring your helmet" scale.

P.S.  I only played out there once because Sunol Valley was out of my price range at the time...I stuck to places like Lake Chabot, Willow Park, Delta View, Alameda North course, Tony Lema (pre-takeover), etc.

[Mark Provenzano]

Mark,

Bummer to see this, but lets be real...most of those courses were a Doak 1, with the courses at Sunol being a 2 on their best day..

I don't see any of these as "losses"...

I only posted it as follow up to the larger discussion of California course closures that followed the initial Stevinson discussion in this thread. The San Jose issues ($2.6 million in annual subsidies for those three courses?) are shocking. But if you lose a place like Rancho Del Pueblo--not great (or even good) golf, but kid-friendly, with First Tee activities 4-5 days a week--and other places like it, where will the golfers that will sustain the game 10-20-30 years from now come from? For my kids (now teens) "graduating" from the 9 holers to Sunol (and places like it) was a huge deal.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Mark, I'd put Grayson Woods in that category as well.  A pretty mediocre par 3 course, but great fun for kids and a good spot for beginners.  Where else could a kid do a Bear Grylls impersonation on the tee of a downhill par 3 (this was my then 9-year old son hamming it up for the camera and being guided by his older brother).

https://youtu.be/bYfwAepaeYY

[Kalen Braley]

Just to clarify,

I get the whole thing with 9 holers and exposing new golfers to the game, in all their various forms.

As I see it, its more of a financial/state of the game thing.  Given the glut of golf courses, and the inevitability that some of them will close, especially in a place like the bay area with such high land values....I'd much rather see these go, than some of the other more interesting courses.

That was the context I was intending with my original post.