This is only anecdotal, but virtually all the public courses in NE Ohio where I grew up playing and learned to play the game have recently closed — sold for redevelopment of the land for either housing developments or commercial use, such as an Amazon distribution center.
I’m sure the course and property owners were able to get more money from the land than operation if the course. It’s their right as owners to maximize the return on their investment/asset. But without public golf courses, I (and my friends) would never have had an opportunity to learn the game of golf.
When I was 13, my mom purchased a summer golf pass for me to play the local course. It was, at the time, a 36-hole facility. Nothing to speak of architecturally, but it was a place to play golf with my friends. We each had a pass, which for something like $200 entitled us to unlimited play during the week before 5:00pm when league play began. Our parents would drop us off each morning and we would play at least 27 holes before lunch. Then we would have a burger or sandwich at the clubhouse lunch counter. The afternoon would entail another 27 holes or so until our parents came to pick us up for dinner. Looking back, it was unbelievable how fortunate we were to have a place we could play golf virtually all day, every day (and that we were not made to get summer jobs!). We each probably got at least 10 times the value out of that pass than it cost.
Just two weeks ago, I learned that course closed for good. The land is set to be turned into yet another residential neighborhood. One of the courses had closed about 20+ years ago, but the second course had been completely renovated and was continuing as a seemingly successful operation. But over the summer the property was sold and it finally closed October 15th. An old friend played it with his dad the final week. He texted a group of us who grew up playing together that it felt like a piece of our childhood was ending, and he was absolutely right.
I worry that golf, particularly here in the US, is quickly becoming (if it already has not) a game solely for the wealthy. We already see the growth of high-end destination golf resorts. Even public golf has become prohibitively expensive at many courses. But where are the options for kids and those who want to learn the game? In my own case, unless my parents had been members at a private club, which certainly was not realistic when I was a kid, there no longer is that opportunity to conveniently (or affordably) have an opportunity to learn the game.