This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Ho-hum, another year, another budget and the proverbial soup can that is municipal golf in Salt Lake City gets kicked down the road again. When will elected officials acknowledge their business model for golf is not only flawed but outdated as well?
The only valid reason to build a golf course, according to the National Golf Foundation, is to sell building lots as an amenity adding value to home sales. Once the lots are sold and houses built, the golf course belongs to the home owners to do with what they want. Sell, manage or privatize — the choice is theirs. Why then do municipal governments in Utah continue to build, maintain and operate golf courses as a business? The answer, of course, is related to our pioneer heritage and historical self-reliance.
Six months after Brigham Young led the migration into the greater Salt Lake Valley, he sent envoys throughout the region to explore and colonize potential settlements. The first thing those hardy pioneers did was build a church, a cemetery and then a park in that order where the community could worship, mourn, recreate and gather socially. When golf was introduced in the early part of the 20th century it was only natural for the community to add a golf course, usually designed and constructed by the local population. They were built not as a business but as an extension of the park for the residents to use and enjoy. It was not a commercial business enterprise, it was a service provided for the public's use.
Where did this altruistic concept go wrong? How did cities and counties end up building, operating and managing multi-million dollar properties? When did the notion of golf, as an industry, become a cash cow for those municipalities? Well, like most things of this era, blame it on the Baby Boomers.
It started in the 1950s: GI's returning from World War II suburbanized America; a popular president, Dwight Eisenhower, played golf and national TV brought us Arnold Palmer in all his swash buckling glory. Golf became a sport of the masses and the public clamored for better facilities, programs and golf courses that looked like they watched the pros play on television. Municipalities rushed to keep up, bonding to build, expand and improve their golf courses. The boom continued with bigger clubhouses, driving ranges, carts, restaurants and pro-shops with all the latest equipment and merchandise. Municipalities became fully engaged in the golf business and there was no turning back. Parks departments looked on golf as their golden ticket to fund recreation programs and facilities.
The conundrum was, the public looked on golf as an elitist sport and insisted that golfers pay for their right to play and utilize those courses, including maintenance, capital improvements and bond payments.
Like all booms, it was inevitable that municipal golf was destined for change and when golf participation slowed in the '90s, public golf became an unsustainable business model which municipal government has been loath to address. In Salt Lake City's case they are closing courses.
Where does it end? It's a simple fact if you close golf courses they won't be re-opened. Even a cursory analysis of generational studies indicate Boomers play golf, their kids (Generation Xers) don't, but their kids (Millennials) are embracing the sport and participation is rising along with revenues, but the problem of deferred maintenance and capital improvements continues to be the elephant in the room.
Why then do city officials not consider moving golf courses into a special service district? Services once provided by cities are increasingly being managed by special districts and that model is already operating in Salt Lake County with police, fire, sanitation and now municipal services, all moving to special districts. Economies of scale, centralized management, the ability to bond and tax, and most of all, preserve golf courses the citizens of this valley have built, paid for and enjoyed for almost 100 years.
The can has been kicked down the road way too long; it's time for Salt Lake City to get out of the golf business and move their golf courses into a special service district.
Jeff Waters is a PGA master golf professional, president and CEO of Rocky Mountain Golf Enterprises, chairman of the Canyon Rim Citizens Association and serves on the advisory board of Salt Lake County's Municipal Services District.