Maybe a minature golf course putting green complete with a giant 12' diameter head of Hillary with here mouth chomping as an obstacle to pass your ball through.
Posted on 05/24/2003 5:04:01 AM PDT by Archangelsk
But Could Tiger Drive the Statue of Liberty?
By JOHN ATWOOD
Now that the federal government has finally turned over Governors Island to New York State, it's time to get serious about what we're going to do with it. The leading proposal, a City University of New York campus, is nobly intended, but in this era of fiscal collapse we need to be careful about the size of the next hole we dig. The city estimates that simply keeping up the island to support a new college or museum would cost $20 million to $40 million a year, which would be offset only minimally by taxes from a planned hotel and conference center there.
I've got another idea. How about building a cultural institution that pays for itself? How about building a golf course? I'm not talking about just any golf course — the city already has a handful of decent public facilities (and there is actually a six-hole course on the island already). I'm proposing one of the world's greatest golf courses, right in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty.
Call it Manhattan National — a layout that golfers around the world will want to play, just as we all want to play Shinnecock Hills on Long Island and, yes, Augusta National. Only this course, being public, would be one that we could actually play.
As for the design, with the island's harbor winds and lack of trees, an Old World links would be a natural — something with Irish airs, right in sight of Ellis Island. My first thought was Tom Doak, a young architect who shot to fame in 2001 with the creation of Pacific Dunes, a masterpiece of sand and swale and windswept grasses on the Oregon coast. So I called him. "Great," said Tom, who was born in Manhattan. "I'd love to come back and work in New York."
Is the portion of the island's 170 acres that could be used for a course sufficient for a championship 18 holes? "More than enough," said Tom, especially for a course cleverly designed in the traditional Scottish links style — in which fairways and greens are shared by separate holes and used simultaneously by golfers on each. And for picturesque tees and greens set off on small islands, the city has no shortage of landfill.
Such a world-class course could cover its costs — and then some. It could charge, say, $250 a round, which may seem steep but is only half of what high rollers pay at clubs like Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. Wall Streeters would salivate at the prospect of ferrying over to the course, which many would be able to see from their offices. Estimating 40,000 rounds a year, we're talking about $10 million in revenues before we even consider profits from the pro shop and conference center (not to mention what the course would do for downtown Manhattan hotels and other local businesses).
Sure, many Wall Street guys and gals will be expensing their greens fees. So what? We want those big firms to contribute more to the city. And to combat the inevitable charge of elitism, we could set aside a handful of tee times each day at much lower rates, dispensed by lottery. The course could also sponsor a First Tee program, which teaches the game to inner-city children. It could be the home course for a golf team from Stuyvesant High School in nearby Battery Park City. And if it were a walking-only course — no golf carts, except for physically handicapped players — it would provide caddying jobs.
Of course, the whole island would still be open to day visitors, and the National Historic Landmarks there — Castle Williams and Fort Jay — would be maintained by the course's profits.
If you're looking for a precedent, how about the world's most famous links: the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland. Set right in a historic district and adjacent to Scotland's oldest university, the Old Course is owned by the town and is its biggest tourist attraction. Ask residents of St. Andrews if they don't consider their course to be a "cultural institution." It's the sort of culture New York could use more of.
Which means it will never see the light of day.
Which is a pity.
Maybe a minature golf course putting green complete with a giant 12' diameter head of Hillary with here mouth chomping as an obstacle to pass your ball through.
You keep Hillary the hell away from my balls! (I'll be having nightmares tonite.)
;-)
10-4. What would make it work is participation of private management and investment capital. Keep the city out of the deal other than receipt of revenue.
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