To borrow from Bobby Jones, there are two kinds of golf: golf for the super rich and golf for the rest of us. And they are not the same at all.
Lately, they seem to be drifting apart even more.
The pandemic-era boom in participation has spurred a burst of development in high-end private clubs and resorts.
On one level, that’s undeniably good news. The more golf is built – especially golf that is thoughtfully designed and responsibly run – the better the game.
But the high rise also illuminates a complex reality within the market.
Municipal golf, in many areas, is enjoying a renaissance. Full tee sheets. Long-neglected subjects have been stimulated by intelligent restoration. The need is there. Elsewhere, however, the pressure is palpable.
As Jay Karen, CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association, noted, privately operated fee-for-day courses — especially in urban markets where land prices and labor costs are high — are facing strong headwinds. They do not have the funding of municipal funding and the funding of special clubs. They live and die by the tee sheet.
So what does that mean for the future of accessible, high-quality community golf?
That question came up on a recent episode of the Destination Golf podcast featuring architect Jay Blasi.
Blasi cut his teeth working under Robert Trent Jones Jr. and played a key role in the creation of Chambers Bay before launching his own company. You’ve been busy lately. In the San Francisco Bay Area – his adopted home – he led two very interesting regional projects to reach out to the community.
The other is the Golden Gate Park Golf Course, better known now as the improved Golden Gate Par 3, a gleaming municipal complex nestled on San Francisco’s signature green. Another is the Poppy Ridge Golf Course, which Blasi reimagined for the Northern California Golf Association.
Poppy Ridge is an unusual case. Owned by the NCGA, the course benefited from an owner willing and able to finance a complete redesign as part of a comprehensive renovation. The result is a renewed daily charge that has kept prices relatively low. But as Blasi admits, it’s not a model you see every day.
The Golden Gate Par 3 project, however, may provide a transferable blueprint.
That renovation was done in partnership with the San Francisco chapter of The First Tee, which raised private funds to finance the restoration without touching the city’s coffers. Public land. Philanthropic capital. Civil servant.
“It gives an indication of what might work,” Blasi said.
Blasi often cites an analogy shared by Bo Links, founder of the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance: Think of public golf the way universities operate. Colleges don’t run on tuition alone. They depend heavily on money from alumni and benefactors.
There is no shortage of similar examples in the game.
In Augusta, The Patch at Augusta Municipal is being renovated with the support of the Augusta National Golf Club. In Philadelphia, Cobbs Creek Golf Course is undergoing a major renovation supported by private philanthropy. Ditto Normandie Golf Club in St. Louis. The list goes on.
None of this suggests that all public studies are – or should be – dependent on beneficiaries. Nor does it ignore the economic realities facing operators caught between rising costs and price-sensitive players.
But Blasi’s larger point is that the future of the game may depend less on choosing between “elite” and “everyday” golfers, and more on finding ways for the two to complement each other.
“The game of golf has been great for a lot of people,” Blasi said. “Equipment companies. Fortune 500 companies. There’s probably something to do with golf in some shape or form.”
To hear more from Blasi about his life in golf, and his thoughts on the state of the game, you can listen to the entire episode here.
