Municipal Bonds

By Chris Millard
Photo By Erik Rank/James Rexroad June 6, 2008

For many americans the very word golf suggests a Smails-ian world of clubby elites. Golf, as they see it, is a small circle of small people putting a small ball into a small circle.

But broad trends, underscored by the U.S. Open's arrival at municipally owned and operated Torrey Pines, suggest that the clubby image of golf and the on-the-ground reality of today's American game are miles apart. According to the National Golf Foundation, 99 percent of American golfers play at least some golf on public courses; 77 percent of all rounds played in the United States are played on public courses; and 72 percent of all American golf facilities are public. Furthermore, between 1990 and 2007 when the game saw a net decrease in the number of private clubs, the NGF says the number of public facilities actually rose by 3,519.

This is not in itself shocking. Golf was born as an equal-opportunity activity (The Old Course at St. Andrews is public parkland). What is surprising is the degree to which in recent years public golf has virtually commandeered the sport and the extent to which public courses are now go-to venues for elite championships.

It has been 36 years since the U.S. Open was first played on an arguably "public" golf course (exorbitantly priced Pebble Beach); nine years since the damp-eyed drama of Payne Stewart at the not-inexpensive Pinehurst Resort's No. 2 course; and six years since the elite universe of USGA Championships was completely inverted and the world was let in on a truly public, truly affordable celebration called Bethpage Black on Long Island.

At the time these venues—particularly Bethpage—were announced, it was newsworthy that the USGA, founded in the 19th century for and by private golf clubs, was not only embracing public golf (which it has actually done for some time), but entrusting the nation's golfing crown jewel to the hoi polloi. Now Bethpage looks as if it is the sire to a new tradition: Of the 71 U.S. Opens played prior to the 1972 national championship at Pebble Beach, all were at private clubs. Of the 17 Opens that have been or will be contested between 1999 and 2015, nine will be staged at publicly-accessible venues, and the next three years represent a perfectly public trifecta: next week's Open at Torrey, the 2009 edition at Bethpage and the 2010 staging at Pebble Beach.

And the USGA is not alone. Consider the PGA Tour. Of the 49 events on the PGA Tour's 2008 calendar, 25 will be contested on publicly accessible golf courses (albeit some of those are TPC courses from which the tour derives a healthy income and where the tour avoids costly course-rental fees it has to pay private clubs). Still, contrast that with 28 years ago when only 14 events were staged on public courses.

What's driving these changes? Several disparate but confluent factors, ranging from the 1990 PGA Championship at Shoal Creek to the PGA Tour's PR dust-ups with antitrust regulations and Casey Martin, and, to a lesser extent, Martha Burk's criticism of Augusta National. These chinks in the game's image spurred grassroots feel-good initiatives such as The First Tee program, the "These Guys Are Good" campaign, and a heightened focus on the tour's charitable donations.

At the same time the American golfer weighed in. Citing cost, lack of time and hectic family schedules, he began eschewing private clubs. The children and grandchildren of older Baby Boomers arrived at adulthood and turned their back on the notion of private-club exclusivity.

The result has been a boon to public golf. Today approximately two-thirds of the USGA's member clubs are public facilities. Same with the USGA Members program: More than 60 percent of those ubiquitous red, white and blue bag tags (signifying USGA contributions) are dangling from bags at public courses.

The USGA and the PGA Tour deserve credit for embracing public golf. But in reality, they are simply following the migration. Willie Sutton robbed banks because that's where the money was. Championships are increasingly headed to public courses because that's where the sport is.

"Since I joined the USGA in 1978, we've witnessed a fundamental change in the profile of American golfers," says USGA executive director David Fay. "A majority of American golfers play most of their golf on daily-fee courses, as opposed to private courses. The idea of periodically playing the Open at a public-access course had and has great appeal. For folks to plop down a fee and play the U.S. Open course is—for me at least—pretty cool."