Among the hundreds of courses built or renovated by WPA-funded labor in the 1930s were Prairie Dunes (above) and Southern Hills. Photo: GD Resource Center
While golf always could use another Bethpage, President Obama and Congress should not be asked to build too many full-length courses unless there is a specific need or a Chambers Bay-type wasteland reclamation project. Instead, communities could use more par-3 courses and Himalayas-type putting courses similar to what the locals adore at St. Andrews. And why not restore the countless 1930s public layouts WPA crews created that have since deteriorated, making them instead look and function as the jewels they were intended to be? Way too many of these vital munys sit in cities with shiny new First Tee facilities producing talented young golfers who have no affordable, respectably maintained layouts to which to graduate.
More immediately, most of America's 16,000 courses need "Green" retrofitting to better fit into a world where water and energy will be precious resources.
A different type of environmental component drove many WPA projects. Soil quality was a priority, and numerous layouts were renovated to merely improve turf growing conditions. And as George Kirsch writes in his new book Golf in America, the entire industry focus shifted from an era of excess, with golf trade publications devoting space to articles on "eliminating waste and corrupt business practices."
Jerris notes that the 1930s were an epic era for the game thanks to an increased interest in and expansion of public golf. As playing costs plummeted and elitist stigmas disappeared, golf became more accessible to working classes and women, with 20 percent growth in new female players each year from 1930 to 1936.
While public golf courses should be the focus of grant aid in the Obama administration's version of the WPA, country clubs doing their part for charity and community should be offered the chance to earn incentives for eliminating unnecessary turf, updating their irrigation systems to reduce energy costs and any other job-producing activities.
The vision, ingenuity and workers are in place for golf to experience a transformation. The only question is whether golfers can shed their love of green in favor of President Obama's forward-thinking push for Green.
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