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Gib_Papazian

San Mateo County Times Rant
« on: May 10, 2005, 11:15:26 AM »
GOLF COLUMN FOR SAN MATEO COUNTY TIMES SPORTS
by Gib Papazian

The American Society of Golf Course Architects recently had their annual meeting in Pebble Beach to discuss the state of their business. This year, much of the buzz centered on a highly controversial article by Golf Digest Architecture Editor and historian Ron Whitten.


The oft posed question, ““why is golf so expensive”” was explored, laying much of the blame at the feet of high tone designers like Tom Fazio. The inference is that the high cost of building and maintaining modern golf courses is having a negative effect on the growth of the game. Inflammatory or not, I agree with his observations. Golf - particularly quality golf - has become too expensive in most major population areas and statistics show that the number of rounds played in America has been flat-lining for several years. This, despite the explosion of televised golf. Tiger, Ernie and Phil make compelling theater. So do Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie on the women's tour. Yet, their popularity is not translating into more rounds played.


Why golf is expensive in the Bay Area is more complex, and has nothing to do with America’’s leading designer; Fazio has no courses in Northern California. The problem begins with our location and the anti-golf attitude of arrogant public officials on the county level. City courses like Poplar Creek are still affordable, but can service only a small percentage of the demand.


There are more than 16,000 golf courses in America, with a reverse correlation between local population and number of courses. Some areas in the nation are overbuilt, but these are almost invariably in remote areas. It ought to be a fairly simple matter to provide the people in our population centers with enough facilities to supply the demand, but it does not work as it should. Here are a few complicating issues in our part of the world, and what we ought to do about it:


TEE TIMES: There is no issue finding a place to play on non-peak hours, but most people work Monday through Friday. Golf courses must jack up their prices on the weekend, partially to offset the cheap deals they offer to fill the tee sheet during the week. The formula in San Mateo County comes down to Price vs. Location vs. Availability; pick any two. A reasonable price with available tee times usually requires a bit of a drive. Available tee times at a nearby location translates into expensive fees. A decent green fee somewhere close means a mad scramble for tee times.



SLOW PLAY: The practice of spacing tee times out seven minutes instead of 10 minutes apart makes the congestion immeasurably worse. Taking six hours out of a weekend day to play a round of golf is tough on families. In an era where children are shuttled from one activity to another, putting aside a chunk of time like that will put anyone in bad stead with the spouse. In Scotland, everyone plays at a brisk clip and the course is usually the centerpiece of the community. Here, we have not figured out how to push along the snails and it discourages play.



ENVIRONMENTAL RESTRICTIONS: Pure insanity in San Mateo County. The Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay - on the site of a useless mud-hill - cost the investors over 1.5 million in legal fees and wrangling to permit. Those costs must eventually be passed on. The wealthy Sierra Club and their irrational minions have been nothing less than obnoxious for decades. The San Mateo County Course, as part of a land trade to build the 280 freeway farther from the watershed off Edgewood Road, died after 35 years of obstruction by zero-growth crazies masquerading as environmentalists. The barrier of entry for a privately funded facility in San Mateo County is prohibitive unless you have the staying power to survive years of pointless red tape.



CLUB INITIATION FEES: Even after the collapse of the NASDAQ, which partially fueled the unprecedented rise in membership costs, joining a private club in San Mateo County remains out of reach for the vast majority. Like public courses, there are not enough facilities to supply the demand. Members who joined for a comparative pittance in the late 1980s have no problem prostituting their open membership spots to the highest bidders, in some cases for ten times the old fee or more. Where clubs once opened their doors and welcomed local junior teams, people who cough up enormous sums for access to a club are not interested in playing behind a high school golf match. With one exception, every private club on the Peninsula costs at least twice as much money to join as does Pine Valley outside of Philadelphia; the world’’s number one golf course.



DIFFICULTY OF COURSES: Even with the rock star status of Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam, women statistically give up golf at roughly the same rate at which they take it up. Besides the time commitment, women find the difficulty of many courses discouraging. Layouts like Boulder Ridge in San Jose are impossible for them because of the demand for long carries off the tee. Deep Cliff in Cupertino - a par 60 golf course - has a thriving women's club, which is the fastest way to fill the tee sheet on a slow Tuesday morning. We could use a few more of these on the Peninsula.


MAINTENANCE EXPECTATIONS: All things being equal, providing a well-conditioned course is comparatively cheap as long as expectations are in line with budget realities. I am not using a sewer like Sharp Park as a comparison because there is no excuse for that kind of obscene neglect. However, the ““Augusta Syndrome”” is a growing problem in both private clubs and high fee public courses. Too many players equate a lush green golf course and super fast greens with quality. Any superintendent or architect will tell you this belief is complete nonsense. The gripe that private clubs (particularly) use too much water and chemicals is partly true. Golf was not meant to be an aerial game, but one played along the ground on firm surfaces. At the club I belong to, we had one idiot who used to run around with a camera taking pictures of dry spots and showing them to our Superintendent. Anyone who has played the courses across the pond will tell you the game is far more fun over there. In addition, if we would slow down our green speeds, it would give architects the ability to build putting surfaces like Mackenzie did during the Golden Age. Over-watered fairways and lightning greens are disease magnets and twice as expensive to maintain.



Next week, we will have a look at Metropolitan Club, a facility across the bay that seems to have solved these problems and provides a fine golf course for a reasonable price.





























« Last Edit: May 11, 2005, 10:13:00 AM by Gib Papazian »

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2005, 11:25:51 AM »
Thanks for sharing - I hope you post the Metropolitan piece as well.

It's not hard to see what people love about northen California - it's about as beautiful as a place could be. But I personally couldn't survive the negatives, they would drive me up the bell tower. :)
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Dan Kelly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2005, 12:15:58 PM »
You don't see the words "arrogant," "idiot," "insanity," and "sewer" often enough in the golf pages of our publications.

Had I been your editor, Gib, I would have said: Why "prostituting"? What's wrong with buying cheap and selling dear?
"There's no money in doing less." -- Joe Hancock, 11/25/2010
"Rankings are silly and subjective..." -- Tom Doak, 3/12/2016

Gib_Papazian

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2005, 12:29:49 PM »
Dan,

At Redan Hills GC, we judge our members on their love and respect for the game, not ability to spend NASDAQ money.

 ;)

A_Clay_Man

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2005, 12:34:49 PM »
Gib, Your ecoonomy of words is top notch. This one article touches on so many contemporary subjects and issues that one has to wonder how many of your readers will get it all.

Bravo, and have fun across the pond.

Dan Kelly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2005, 01:14:50 PM »
Dan,

At Redan Hills GC, we judge our members on their love and respect for the game, not ability to spend NASDAQ money.

 ;)

Gib --

I got that.

I'm still confused, though: Seems to me you're judging members (or, rather, former members) on their willingness to COLLECT NASDAQ money.

But, then again, I'm no expert on prostitution!

Dan
"There's no money in doing less." -- Joe Hancock, 11/25/2010
"Rankings are silly and subjective..." -- Tom Doak, 3/12/2016

Gib_Papazian

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2005, 03:19:34 PM »
redanman,

"at least" twice. . . . .

John Keenan

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2005, 04:04:26 PM »
One issue that has always made me curious is, so total rounds played is not growing should I care.

I would assume that some people take it up while other drop it so the total remains fairly static. Now if I were a club manufacture that should should be ok as the new folks would buy clubs so my sales would grow. A course owner same situation. Country Club are joined for reasons beyond golf yet golf is a key item.

I played a lot of tennis in college and I sadly watched the almost death of that great sport. Was it due to the migration to the serve and volley game? Was it due to the lack of an "hot" American player? I don't know it could also be an age issue as we get older tennis is much tougher to keep up with.Hopefully golf is not heded down the same path. I think not as the ruling bodies in Golf for all there oddities are far better than the groups that rule tennis.

Just my idle musings


 
The things a man has heard and seen are threads of life, and if he pulls them carefully from the confused distaff of memory, any who will can weave them into whatever garments of belief please them best.

Gib_Papazian

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2005, 04:21:40 PM »
John,

I'll try to dig up a piece I did a few years back comparing tennis and golf. I think the tennis craze died off because the sport is too confining. I mean, let's face it, tennis is ping pong on a larger scale. Unless you are playing on grass, it all looks the same. Plus, it is not a terribly social game. The idea is to "beat" your opponent on the other side of the net. Life is too confrontational as it is.

I might have a different opinion if I could play on those lovely grass courts I see at the older east coast clubs, but barring that, I don't see the attraction.

Plus, tennis is a less expansive subject. A website like this could not exist in your sport - if that is still your main activity. There is only so much to discuss because the field of play is two-dimensional and static.

We *should* care if interest in the game stagnates because the next step is downward. It is sad, but after the craze of the 1970's, nobody but nobody cares about tennis anymore. Too bad, but that is the fact.

The reasons stated in my column are undermining the game of golf. That might not inflict any pain on over-crowded courses near the major Met areas, but some of the best layouts in America are in remote areas and get their support as part of the spillover from the population centers.


John Keenan

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #9 on: May 11, 2005, 09:14:47 AM »
Gib,

Yes I agree that if the chance exsists that if the game does not grow we will become like tennis. That is a very bad fate. But tennis lost players millions of them and for a variety of reason. I fully agree that tennis lacks many of the items that makes golf such a great game. You did an excellent job in listing many of them.

Golf has a solid following and sadly this is,to some degree, the upside of advanced technology in clubs and balls that at times is disparaged on GCA. Clubs that are easier to hit allow new players to enjoy the game much earlier. As with most things in life there are two sides to even the technology issue.  

Hopefully we do not face the same fate as tennis, I do not think we will. Golf is, as you noted a far better overall experience than tennis.



 
The things a man has heard and seen are threads of life, and if he pulls them carefully from the confused distaff of memory, any who will can weave them into whatever garments of belief please them best.

THuckaby2

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #10 on: May 11, 2005, 09:51:21 AM »
I'll give you an amen on that, Brother Shivas.

And our similarities continue... I too played freshman football at a powerhouse Catholic high school (well, off and on powerhouse anyway)... only not to get away from the geekiness of golf, but more because I always had played the game and it seemed normal to continue.  As I'm sure it was/is at your school, football is basically year round.  So after the season ends, and it's OK but dammit a lot more work than fun...  January comes and they're gearing up for off-season weight training, and I see that golf tryouts are happening... well I love that game also, so I figure what the hell... By absolute luck I made the team, and then said goodbye to football forever.  In fact my deal was the FOOTBALL coach coming to me asking where the hell I was and why I missed the first two days of weight training... I still relish to this day my reply... "I'm playing a varsity sport instead."

But anyway, that diversion aside... I concur with you.  I've never understood why I should want or need golf to grow.  Give me a few non-packed courses - as they were when I was a kid - and I'd be damned happy.

All this being said, Gib's article was great and summed up our situation here well.  And to George P. I'd say this:  talk to me in January.  The good does outweigh the bad here.

 ;)
« Last Edit: May 11, 2005, 09:52:13 AM by Tom Huckaby »

Darren_Kilfara

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #11 on: May 11, 2005, 10:04:31 AM »
Gib - excellent article. Just watch out for the inevitable firebombing of your house by the "irrational minions"...

Shivas - my advice? Move (or retire) to Scotland or Ireland, where the demand is high but the supply is greater, and pretty much all of the rest of your conditions are met. I'll happily propose you for membership at Machrihanish! Can't offer much in terms of the weather conditions in January, but if you're still trying to prove that golf isn't a "pussy sport", that's certainly a good place to start... ;)

Cheers,
Darren

Scott_Burroughs

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #12 on: May 11, 2005, 10:24:33 AM »
I was waiting for Huck to say that his when his football coach found out he wanted to play golf instead, he shouted "Yeah, Baby! ...er....I mean, oh, sorry to hear that."     ;D


On the other topic, I've thought the same thing, why can't it be like it was?  Well, for one thing, if I still lived in Corning, NY, where I grew up, golf would still be dirt cheap on a bunch of modest daily-fee courses.  Probably hasn't been a new course built in that area in 30 years.  One private club in town, and I likely could afford to join.   Heck, I'd get to go play hidden gem munis/df's Mark Twain and Soaring Eagles that probably cost less than $20 to play.  Granted the season would be short vs. the virtually year-round golf I get now.

But that's not the case.  I lived in a mid-sized (in the 40's in the country in size) metro area with 0 (that's ZERO!) municipal courses in the area.  Too many courses rely on cart revenue, even though it likely doesn't make them as much money as they think.  Private clubs are expensive, though much cheaper to join than in places like NYC area or metro CA areas.

Hard to say what's worth what today.

THuckaby2

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #13 on: May 11, 2005, 10:29:54 AM »
Glory days.....
Shivas man, you are way too caught up in this dork thing.  But I know how this goes... golf was seen as very dorky at our school as well.  That is until they saw our perks... . participation in selection of cheerleaders (all seniors and varsity lettermen got that honor - pretty cool to be in that as a freshman)....getting out of school early A LOT...

Funny how a bunch of my football-playing friends all tried out for golf senior year.
 ;D

Scott, the football coach was genuinely surprised and disappointed.  I did start at CB most of the freshman season... no mean feat where there are 80+ kids on the total roster.  ;)

BUT... I saw the writing on the wall... the shelf life of a short, not very fast CB is not a long one.

Thank God for golf.




THuckaby2

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #14 on: May 11, 2005, 10:38:53 AM »
Gotcha man, I figured as much.

And that is one HELL of a team.  Holey moley... 6 under losing a match... wow.

Glory days.....

 ;D ;D ;D

PThomas

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #15 on: May 11, 2005, 10:54:00 AM »
Dave

at first I thought that you might get your wish, that the golf market will continue to correct itself and fewer courses get built and some even get closed -- even some good ones like that one out in NJ, a Smyers course? ...

but then I realized that what might/is? happening is that the lesser quality courses will be the ones that don't survive, thereby making it even harder to  get tee times at some courses >:(

and I too remember the golf/dork feeling ...  I used to hit wiffle golf balls at my house from the park right across the street, causing many kids to wonder about me I'm sure

I think Darren has the right answer:  move across the pond!  I swear, I really think I was born in the wrong country sometimes, I should have been born where golf is THE game, and not baseball (although my greatest sports moment, pardon the commercial, is being on the Illinois State champion team when I was 12, being the third baseman...if we had won the game we lost, we would have gone to Williamsburg PA for the Little League WORLD series :'( :'()

anyhoo, that idea of living in Scotland or Ireland when I retire or at least going there for at least a month every year gets curiouser and curiouser, and my wife is Irish , and if I give my kids only 2 meals a day that'll save some money, and.....

as Dan Jenkins wrote in "The Game of Golfe", " I had been there forever".....
199 played, only Augusta National left to play!

Gib_Papazian

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #16 on: May 11, 2005, 11:00:21 AM »
There is an eerie similarity in these stories . . . . I believe it was Lord Tennyson who famously uttered:

"Whatever you are to know, know this: you are dreadfully  like other people."

I was determined to shed the geek label and tried my hand at C &  D basketball. At the end of the season, the coach took me aside and told me (rather gently, I might add): "Gibby, you are a nice kid, you try and practice hard. . . . . but you stink. You're already a good golfer, maybe you might think about sticking to that."

Basketball and football were Fall sports, so there was no time conflict and I spent the time practicing for Spring golf . . . . . Baseball is also a Spring sport here, but I sucked even worse at that. In little league, I got beaned in the head my first at-bat and took one in the ribs my second time up.

Stepping in the bucket and squirting one out to right field does not cut it on the high school level. I gave up everything but golf and never looked back.

Shivas,

First, thank you for the present you left on my doorstep. Second, I also pray about golf, but that it will continue to grow beyond the ability of enviro-Nazi's to stop it.

PThomas

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #17 on: May 11, 2005, 11:03:34 AM »
Dave -- sounds like your personal version of the Hogan/Nelson vs. Venturi/Ward? match at CP!
199 played, only Augusta National left to play!

THuckaby2

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #18 on: May 11, 2005, 11:04:27 AM »
shivas - yikes - that is one hell of a match.  I can attest no high school match I played in approached those numbers - not even close.  Wow....

And I did tell you somewhere along the line that one of my wife's best friends attended New Trier, right?  I've heard too much about the place.  To say I am not surprised they were a golf power is an understatement.

Now Gib... you raise a very interesting question.  Do you really think golf could sink to such low participation levels that people so inclined to do so could eradicate it?  Man I don't see that.  But I guess it is be careful what one wishes for?  I sure do wish for less crowded courses....


Gib_Papazian

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #19 on: May 11, 2005, 11:10:10 AM »
Shivas & Huckster,

We were a pretty awesome team, too. . . . . Nathaniel was not even the best player in my era. Playing us was like staring down six assassins. We had so many good players for so many years that the biggest problem was not beating the other teams, but staying near the top of the ladder.

Amazing times . . . . what a league! I can think of ten guys who turned professional.  

THuckaby2

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #20 on: May 11, 2005, 11:17:15 AM »
Gib - what school?  Burlingame HS?

Down in SoCal there were some GREAT teams.  As you'd imagine, Pacific Palisades HS was always tough - home course Riviera.  We played them all four years and beat them once there.  Quite a few pros came out of our Catholic school league also.  Then there was Duffy Waldorf at the rival public school next door... My best team at the illustrious all-boys CRESPI HS finished T3rd in CIF Southern Section.  That might not sound like much, but look up how huge Southern Section is and what area is covered.

We were certainly never six assassins though.. six screwups who drank too much and had too much fun, yes.  Assassins?  No.  

As I say, glory days.....  ;D



« Last Edit: May 11, 2005, 11:17:50 AM by Tom Huckaby »

THuckaby2

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #21 on: May 11, 2005, 11:32:41 AM »
We did 5 scores out of six... and getting under 200 was good playing.  Our low was 176, I remember that one very well... just a freakish day... one guy shot a 31 for 9 holes (par 36) and everyone else was near par...pretty easy course called Rio Hondo (Tommy has played it I know)... 195 or so was more normal for us.  And 195 would win most of the time.

Interestingly, we did only one year of stroke play like that - my senior year.  All prior years were a very cool team match play thing... 5 points in each group... 2 for head to head each guy, one for better ball match with partner... all match play, 9 hole matches...15 total points.  You wanna talk pressure?  Every stroke was meaningful, very little time to erase deficits.  And being in the last group with the overall team match on the line?  Man I remember shaking when that happened.  Won some, lost some.  Damn that was a fun format.

TH

ps - re being drunks, well... you went to a Catholic school, as did I.  No more need be said.   ;D
« Last Edit: May 11, 2005, 11:34:14 AM by Tom Huckaby »

Rick Shefchik

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #22 on: May 11, 2005, 11:39:31 AM »
I recently wrote a story about inner-city tennis in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and there might be some interesting parallels to what could happen in golf.

The inner-city tennis programs are booming in the Twin Cities, for two reasons:

1. The programs are incredibly cheap (something like $40 for six weeks of lessons and matches, and if you can't or won't pay, you don't have to.)

2. Suburban parents who grew up playing tennis are hauling their kids into town to take advantage of the programs. Although the programs were designed to kindle interest in the game on the part of the kids who actually live in the inner cities, they are largely ignoring the game, as always; meanwhile the demographic that has always played tennis is filling the void, and taking advantage of the deals.

The parallels with golf, it seems to me, are these: the game is being passed on from golfing parents to their children, but it isn't pulling in many, if any, converts from non-golfing families. And golf faces an even tougher challenge than tennis in terms of access and affordability.
"Golf is 20 percent mechanics and technique. The other 80 percent is philosophy, humor, tragedy, romance, melodrama, companionship, camaraderie, cussedness and conversation." - Grantland Rice

THuckaby2

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #23 on: May 11, 2005, 11:45:01 AM »
Somewhere in HS, we switched from 4 out of 6 to 4 out of 5, but I dont' remember when.  The coaches, however, usually brought 8 guys to play, and just designated who was going to count for the 6 or the 5.  2 or 3 guys didn't count, and were playing for experience.  How bad is that?  Not even counting on a dork team -- a sub-dork!  ;D

We had a version of that also... 6 guys counted, but a 7th also always came along and those guys played with the coaches!  Oh yes, sub-dork for sure.  

But it's funny how #7 was always damn better than #8... we carried 8 on the team.  Poor #8 didn't even get to go to the matches.  Subbest of sub-dorks that guy was.

 ;D

Gib_Papazian

Re:San Mateo County Times Rant
« Reply #24 on: May 11, 2005, 01:47:23 PM »
We played 18 hole matches with 5 of 6 , which is far better than today because there is time to catch a guy who comes out of the chute draining bombs.

I do not mean to say we were all GREAT players, just that we always seemed to play well enough to win regardless of what the other team did.

My partner Mark Young and I always played in the 3-4 spot; the one time they put me with Nathaniel Crosby we barely squeaked out a win against two chops.

I remember one match we were getting crushed on the front nine at Crystal Springs by a couple kids from Aragon High. NOBODY beat us on our home course. One of their guys made a snide remark on the way to the 10th tee.

We got so pissed Mark shot 34 (2 under) on the back and I finished par-birdie-eagle-birdie-par (33) to wax those two assholes by 18 shots. They were so intimidated one started hitting it OB and the other got a case of the laterals.

It bothers me that I never get on those crazy runs as an adult. That used to happen to me a lot - with persimmon woods and soft golf balls. . . . . youth is more of an advantage than technology.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2005, 01:56:43 PM by Gib Papazian »

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