Let’s relish this moment

Government and golf have never meshed better. This increasingly symbiotic relationship since the pandemic makes communities greener, drier, calmer, and mentally and physically stronger.

Our cities, boroughs, townships, counties and states become better places when they offer residents quality and affordable recreation. Golf enhances society by satisfying varied human and environmental needs.

People need safe social spaces. Neighborhoods need permeable plots. Salamanders need landscapes to slither. Owls need branches to roost. Foxes need spots to scurry. Municipalities need pleasing landscapes to attract and retain populations.

Policymakers at all levels concur their communities need golf. America’s municipal golf supply has swelled to a record 2,939 courses, according to the National Golf Foundation. Nearly every anti-golf legislation introduced over the last four years has been thwarted like a meek approach shot hitting a false front.

Smart communities are using post-pandemic golf windfalls to protect beloved assets. Lincoln City Golf, a Nebraska municipal system featured in this month’s cover story (page 17), released an updated 10-year Capital Improvement Plan in 2023. The plan includes upgrades at all five city-owned courses. Perhaps Lincoln City Golf’s quintet eventually becomes a sextet. City officials project to add 105,000 residents by 2050. Good luck securing a tee time if the golf supply doesn’t increase.

Imagine suggesting in spring 2020 that municipalities would be in the business of evolving and acquiring golf courses. The conversation surrounding municipal golf flipped faster than one of Rory McIlroy’s stances on the professional game.

At least one friendly publication believed municipal golf possessed the elements to flourish amid global uncertainty. We planned our April 2020 issue before the world changed. We opted to forge forward with our “Maintenance for the masses” cover theme, profiling the logistics of municipal golf in four divergent regions: California’s Coachella Valley, the Pacific Northwest, New Jersey and northeast Ohio.

We had practical reasons for keeping the issue intact: the lag between sending Golf Course Industry to the printers before it reaches mailboxes is around two weeks. Things were changing fast in spring 2020. Because of the lag, we risked sending pages with outdated information to readers. We strayed from speculating on golf’s short- and long-term prospects and avoided chasing stories that risked being irrelevant the moment we hit send.

A printed magazine represents a forum for measured analysis. Fear and uncertainty permeated the early stages of the pandemic. Amplifying those sensations by presenting outdated coverage would have been irresponsible.

Symbolic reasons also existed for keeping the April 2020 issue of Golf Course Industry on its intended course. We realized people everywhere, and especially those living in tightly packed urban areas, were going to need escapes. And our readers specialize in providing tidy, safe, aesthetically dazzling escapes for millions.

Our April 2020 cover (pictured above) depicted a woman carrying a bag alongside three children. The quartet was approaching a pond with a defined buffer zone as they walked on a flat, open fairway.

The image foreshadowed golf’s future. Women and children are responsible for the game’s largest post-pandemic gains in America. The female golf population is at an all-time high of 7.9 million, a net increase of 2.3 million since the start of the pandemic, according to the NGF. Golfers ages 6 to 17 total 3.7 million, a 48 percent increase compared to 2019. Parents needed safe and affordable places to take children in 2020 — and they still need them in 2025. They will also need them in 2050.

Everybody in golf benefits when municipal golf flourishes. Grumbles about government-supported properties competing with privately owned and family facilities quickly subsided once courses became packed in 2020. Perspectives change when demand surpasses supply and money flowing into an industry resembles a theme-park waterslide in July.

Five years into golf’s current era, America has more municipal courses than ever. Those courses are in better physical and financial condition than ever.

The longer municipal golf’s moment lasts, the better golf and everything around it will become.