I grew up in South Florida, playing junior golf all over the region.
Most of the courses I played as a kid no longer exist. I can name at least a dozen that were developed into apartments or other residential developments. Golf in the state of Florida — which leads the nation with more than 1,200 courses — was hit hard in the 2000s and 2010s as a glut of facilities matched tepid demand before the pandemic.
We’ve seen a rebound from the golf industry since then, and Florida has been a leader. From 2019 to 2023, no state produced more course openings (21). Only Texas (13) reached double figures in that time.
While those new courses like The Park West Palm and Sandhill Crane’s The Nest Par 3 have been widely supported — they offered much-needed affordable public golf in an area that leans heavily toward private golf — the latest proposal for public golf has been met with howls. almost unanimous.
last week, The state of Florida announced a proposal to build numerous golf courses in state parks, potentially threatening the beloved land that hosts some of the country’s most spectacular wildlife. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s “Great Outdoors Initiative” for 2024-2025 also includes the development of pickleball fields, 350-room hotels and golf courses in parts of nine state parks.
Protests followed, including hundreds of people gathered in state parks this past Tuesday.
There is still a lot of turmoil and confusion about where the plan stands. The proposal originally called for the construction of three public golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park near Jupiter. However, the builder — the mysterious nonprofit Tuskegee Dunes, which promised to channel the proceeds to the Folds of Honor organization that supports military veterans —decided to withdraw after the overwhelming response.
And on Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the FDEP will “go back to the drawing board” on the entire project with nothing imminent.
Golf course construction may still be on the table, but we won’t know much in the short term. FDEP had previously announced this public hearings originally scheduled for this week have been delayed.
This isn’t the first time Florida has attempted to build golf courses on state park land. In 2011, lawmakers attempted to add courses to state parks through bills that would have created the “Jack Nicklaus Golf Trail of Florida.” Jonathan Dickinson State Park was also included in that proposal.
The bills were quickly withdrawn after a similar public backlash.
As a golfer, I am very disappointed and saddened that someone is trying to build golf courses on protected land. Forget politics or anything other than just being human – all golfers should be against this type of course construction.
It is positive that more courses have started to be built. Last year saw more course openings than any of the previous 13 years. This is great for the game.
But it is even more important that the golf industry acts in environmentally responsible ways. More than 40 percent of all golf courses in the world are in the United States—that’s a lot of land. How it is maintained makes a significant difference.
There is a misconception out there that golf courses are unnecessary and harmful to the environment. When a story like this comes out, it perpetuates the stereotype that golf course development is about money instead of reasonable efforts to be a good neighbor in the community.
The reality is that USGA Green Section it is difficult to identify ways to be more efficient with resources such as water and fertilizers. Golf and nature are meant to coexist and golf – contrary to popular belief – has much more power to benefit the environment than one might assume. Academic studies have shown that stormwater that falls on a wetland golf course leaves cleaner than when it enters. And the greens, contours and edges around a golf course regularly return wildlife to thriving levels in areas where it once suffered.
However, with a state park like Jonathan Dickinson, more than 600 acres of carefully protected land would be replaced with a golf course. As some golf courses can be useful for wildlife protection, any type of development in this situation can adversely affect animals such as
The park is the southernmost natural habitat for the threatened sandpipers with 130 birds living there.
“If we continue to cut these parcels into smaller pieces as has been done further south, local extinction of the bird is almost inevitable,” said Jim Howe of Audubon Florida.
The bird has already lost its natural habitat in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Development around the state park has caused the population to decline by 90 percent since 1990. The bird does not migrate so Jonathan Dickinson is an area critical to its survival.
Florida’s common habitat is the most endangered habitat type in the state with only 10 to 15 percent of its original habitat remaining.
The negative impact on that habitat is a high price to pay for three public courses.
As stated in a petition: “There are now at least 47 golf courses between Stuart and Jupiter. That’s FORTY SEVEN golf courses within a 20 mile radius; we don’t need to destroy a beloved state park to add more.”
All of which is to say this: There is a line to draw when it comes to building golf courses.
Any course being built has to move dirt, requires the use of certain chemicals and the need for plenty of water at a time when parts of the country are in a water crisis. Maintenance standards are much safer than they were just 15 or 20 years ago, but golf courses are not perfect at preserving the environment. You still have to develop the land and that comes with consequences when you do it in delicate ecosystems.
It’s an odd position to be in, but golfers need to take a stand ANTI building golf courses—if the result is more harmful than positive benefits.
In this situation, it is clear that so.
Main photo caption: Golf course development in Florida state parks could be harmful to animal habitats. (GETTY IMAGES/James Gilbert)
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