Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2011 - 42

(backspin
)
Budget Cuts and Birdies
Do local munis still make sense in tough
economic times?
By Jon Roe
M
any more years ago than the
memory can remember, a
group of six golf writers-
three from daily newspapers and three
from a national golf magazine-were conversing
outside the media center at Augusta
National Golf Club during the Masters.
It was more than conversing, actually. It
was a lecture in which the three magazine
writers took the three newspaper writers
to the woodshed for the amount of golf
coverage-or the lack thereof-in the
daily rags.
" More than 50,000,000 people play golf
in the United States, " the magazine writers
said. " More than 50 million. You guys
should have more golf coverage in the paper.
More coverage every day. "
Finally, after several minutes of this berating,
one of the newspaper writers, Tom
Callahan, had heard enough. Callahan was
working in Cincinnati then, but he later
moved to the Washington Post and eventually
to TIME, the magazine.
" So 50 million people in the United
States play golf, you say? " Callahan said.
" Yes, yes, 50 million, " repeated the magazine
writers.
" Well, " Callahan replied snidely, " that
means more than 200 million people in
the United States don't play golf. "
That 80 percent of the people in this
country don't play the game we love has
stuck in the memory bank ever since Callahan's
retort.
Our game, our historic
game, has also been known as Cow Pasture
Pool and a Good Walk Spoiled; four
out of five of our neighbors don't know a
Titleist from a Tiddlywink. That's not said
critically, that's just the way life is. Lots and
lots of golfers don't know anything about
soccer, lacrosse or hiking.
So, last March, when the editorial page
of the Los Angeles Times said city officials
might want to ponder whether city golf
40
MINNESOTAGOLFER Summer 2011
courses are the best way to use taxpayer
money, there was a moment to chuckle at
those goofballs on the West Coast. Then
there was the realization that 80 percent of
us don't know an overlap grip from burlap.
Our game is not above being the target of
budget cuts.
how much losing almost a month can cost
you in revenues.
" But overall, we're very excited about
the amount of play we're getting at our
courses, and we think there's good reason
to see growth in the future. "
" We have had the support of the [city]
Budget cuts are very likely to chop into many
aspect of our lives. What are the chances the
knife slices into city or county golf courses?
" City budget crunchers must begin
to see that golf belongs to an era not merely
in which a greater proportion of residents
played the game, but which had different
priorities for civic dollars that were
then less scarce, " the Times editorial read.
" The city is-or should be-in the soulsearching
process of re-thinking what
services and benefits it absolutely must
supply residents, and which ones it can
no longer afford. "
With every level of government screaming
about a lack of money, budget cuts are
very likely to chop into many aspects of
our lives. What are the chances the knife
slices into city or county golf budgets
around the Twin Cities?
Conversations with Tim Kuebelbeck,
director of golf for the Minneapolis Park
and Recreation Board, and Susie Odegard,
director of special services for the St. Paul
Park and Recreation Department, sounded
reassuring.
" Our five golf courses are profitable, "
Kuebelbeck says. " The number of rounds
was down last year for the entire season
because we lost 28 days because of the bad
weather. When you can generate $8,000 to
$10,000 a day in golf revenues, you can see
www.mngolf.org
council for our courses, and we're always
trying to find ways-like the First Tee program-to
generate more golf interest in
the young people, " Odegard adds. " Obviously,
the problems with the economy did
mean fewer rounds last year and the previous
couple of years. But I do think we're
going to see that trend reverse. "
Just in case, however, let's keep in mind
that while Minnesota may lead the nation
in golfers per capita, we're still a small minority
at the feeding trough.
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2011

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