George P said, "If PA and NY are so tough in regulations, and the land is too expensive, does that mean that California shows a similar disparity between public courses and private courses?
Honest question, I'm not throwing stones. The answer would seem to be yes."
George, PA and NY have poor public courses save for a small smattering of the better ones (e.g. Bethpage Black, Nemacolin Woodlands, etc, etc). It seems from my experience that those with the $$ concentrated their efforts on the private side. The evolution of public golf in those two locales has come through taxpayer owned muni's and the like. Daily fee golf -- the CCFAD variety and others has taken a very slow turn to the positive side -- especially when compared to other states -- see Michigan and Colorado, as just two quick examples.
California has not seen the same situation as NY and PA. In fact, one can make a very compelling case that CA is likely the leader in depth of top notch public courses -- say the top 10-15 layouts.
I know people have mentioned the land costs and environmental aspects have played a role and I don't doubt that -- but the emphasis has really been on the private side so even when land costs and environmental are thrown into the picture that has not stopped those types of courses from moving forward.
Ryan:
The Pittsburgh area has a few public courses of note -- they are certainly not of national caliber from my viewpoint. I've played the ones you mentioned and Birdsfoot is fun to play, ditto Cranberry Highlands, etc, etc. You failed to mention Quicksilver in Midway as another example. While all of them are decent local options I would not be suggesting they merit a visit to play from anyone outside a 100-mile radius of Pittsburgh.
Joe B:
The courses you listed in SE PA are OK courses to play -- nothing more than that. I will concede the quality of Wyncote, Lederach and Inniscrone but they are more the exception than the general rule. Like I said previously the gap between PA's top public and private is as wide as the Grand Canyon. No doubt the satisfaction level for many people will vary greatly but when one weighs in the quality and range if public courses from other key states in America you can easily discern that PA and NY have been left back at the train station.