To borrow from Bobby Jonesthere are two kinds of golf: golf for the very rich and golf for the rest of us. And they are not the same at all.
Recently, they seem to be changing even more.
A pandemic-era attendance boom has fueled an explosion of development at high-end private clubs and destination resorts.
On one level, this is definitely good news. The more golf that is built – especially golf that is carefully designed and responsibly driven – the better for the game.
But the surge at the top also shines a spotlight on a more complicated reality in the middle of the market.
Community golf, in many places, is enjoying a renaissance. The roof sheets are packed. Long-neglected courses have been boosted by smart restorations. The demand is there. Elsewhere, however, the squeeze is being felt.
like Jay KarenThe CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association has noted that privately operated daily fee courses — especially in urban markets where land values ​​and labor costs are high — face the strongest headwinds. They lack the subsidy of municipal support and the financial cushion of exclusive clubs. They live and die by a sheet.
So what does this mean for the future of accessible, high-quality public golf?
This question was raised in a recent episode of Destination Golf podcast with architect Jay Blasi.
Blasi cut his teeth working under Robert Trent Jones Jr. and played a key role in designing Chambers Bay before starting his own firm. He’s been busy lately. In the San Francisco Bay Area—his adopted home—he has led two of the region’s most intriguing public access projects.
One is Golden Gate Park Golf Coursebetter known now as the renovated Golden Gate Par 3, a smart and compact layout set in the green space of San Francisco. The other is 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 fund a comprehensive redesign as part of a broader overhaul. The result is a refreshed daily rate facility 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 offer a more transferable plan.
That renovation was executed in partnership with the San Francisco chapter of The First Tee, which raised private funds to fund the remake without straining the city’s coffers. Public land. Philanthropic capital. Community mission.
“It gives a clue as to what might work,” Blasi said.
Blasi often cites an analogy shared by Bo Links, co-founder of the Public Golf Alliance in San Francisco: Think of public golf the way universities operate. Colleges don’t run on tuition revenue alone. They depend heavily on donations from alumni and benefactors.
There is no lack of parallel examples in the game.
In Augusta, The Patch at Augusta Municipal is being redone with support from the Augusta National Golf Club. In Philadelphia, Cobbs Creek Golf Course is undergoing a comprehensive revival supported by private philanthropy. Ditto Normandie Golf Club in St. The list goes on.
None of this suggests that every public course can – or should – rely on charities. Nor does it ignore the economic realities facing operators caught between rising costs and price-sensitive players.
But Blas’s bigger point is that the future of the game may depend less on choosing between “elite” and “everyday” golf, and more on finding ways for the two to reinforce each other.
“The game of golf has been very good to a lot of people,” Blasi said. “Equipment companies. Fortune 500 companies. Probably has a connection to golf in some shape or form.”
To hear more from Blas about his life in golf, along with his reflections on the state of the game, you can listen to the entire episode. here.
