[Jeff_Brauer]

The great thing about designing public courses is hearing testimonials like Tony's.  While I would love to be designing more high end resorts, I do believe I have done more for golf in America by bringing some semblance of good golf to more folks at reasonable prices, a la Highlands, Sand Creek, etc.  Not a terrible legacy if I go down in a plane crash tomorrow.

There wouldn't be 25 million American golfers without our 10,000 (?) muni courses.

BTW, as I have related, part of that comes from starting golf as a guest of the next door neighbors at Medinah, and then continuing my play on the local public courses, and thinking the two ought to have been more equal in quality.  And, when I moved to DFW, one goal was to be thought of as the next Ralph Plummer, who was known for designing literally dozens of moderate cost public and private courses around Texas.  Right now, I am at a bakers dozen so I have a ways to go, and not as much time to get there.

[Steve Strasheim]

I did not grow up playing golf, but my son is. Municipal golf is the best place for kids, I'm convinced of that.

It's nice to see several folks talk about the great Muni choices in Lincoln. Sadly, the politicians are screwing it up. Fired a couple of long-time pros last year and now there is more talk of cuts. The following article was in the local paper last week:

http://journalstar.com/sports/local/golf/city-golf-program-tries-to-move-ahead/article_9d428971-7c9a-517c-bdf4-dd750bae4fb9.html

Making Highlands into a premier "destination links" course?  Seems opposite of what we are admiring on this thread.

[Tony_Chapman]

I did not grow up playing golf, but my son is. Municipal golf is the best place for kids, I'm convinced of that.

It's nice to see several folks talk about the great Muni choices in Lincoln. Sadly, the politicians are screwing it up. Fired a couple of long-time pros last year and now there is more talk of cuts. The following article was in the local paper last week:

http://journalstar.com/sports/local/golf/city-golf-program-tries-to-move-ahead/article_9d428971-7c9a-517c-bdf4-dd750bae4fb9.html

Making Highlands into a premier "destination links" course?  Seems opposite of what we are admiring on this thread.

Steve -- It's quite obvious to me that Lincoln needs to be rid of Mahoney. It's an awful golf course built in the late 70s with no character. With Hillcrest CC just down the road it'd do better as a housing/retail development. Holmes and Pioneers are wonderful city courses and Highlands should be considered the premium of the three. I'd think it'd be prudent to charge a slightly higer fee at that course, say $5 or somethin per round. Or, pass holders pay $3 instead of a $1 to play or whatever

[Philip Caccamise]

I'm watching Morning Joe, and one of the bumper songs is from Supertramp. Song that was big when I was in college. For some reason, I have this reflex - it's time to go play golf at Sheridan Park - the course back in Buffalo I grew up playing.

Sheridan is quirky, short, cheap, and amazingly fun.  It was designed by William Harries.   Run by the Town of Tonawanda, it's a perfect municipal course.

We really need more golf courses like Sheridan - without Sheridan (which cost me $60 per year to play in 1980), I'd have never taken up the game I love so much.

+2

A lot of people on the board already know this, but I had the opportunity to play golf as a kid mainly because the late Geoffrey Cornish designed a municipal course a mile from my home in Stamford, CT -- Sterling Farms -- which opened when I was ten years old.  I'm told Mr. Cornish's fee for such projects was $1,000 (plus another $1,000 if they wanted him to make supervisory visits), and that's one of the factors that allowed the city to let juniors play for $1 after 3 p.m.

There were several fine country clubs within a few miles of where I lived, but my family didn't play much golf, so we didn't belong ... and by the time I got serious about it, the waiting lists were much too long for it to make any sense to join one of them.  We did go play on vacations, and that's how I got interested in golf architecture, but I would never have had the chance to play if it wasn't for the proximity of a good muni.

Sterling Farms is a lovely muni. Maybe not as good as the Griff, but honestly- without SF, Griff, Oak Hills, Brennan, Richardson, etc would  kids whose parents didn't play golf (kind of like your story and my story) living in a place like Westchester County or Fairfield County get into the game? There just isn't the public venues if the munis didn't exist.

I love municipal golf.

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