Golf and its Growing Popularity

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[Proud_texan]

I bet the public participaton is related to the economy. Private clubs (I'm a muni player) around here are giving away memberships yet they're still building courses like there's no tomorrow.

[Phantom Lord]

He had 2 arms, but only one hand. His name was Jim Abbott.

[engrpat]

I took up golf about 3 years ago (retired) and some of the nicest people I have ever met have been on the course sharing a cart. I have a lot to learn and have made many mistakes and not one person ever had anything nasty or mean to say. If anything they went out of their way to be helpful. It is about the only thing I am not good at that I say I truely enjoy.

[SoothingDave]

I have actually played several variations with only two players and one with only three players.

We used to play a three player version that was OK, but the 2 handed euchre I know is not any fun.

SD

[Protagoras]

400 yd drives? Kinda cool. Maybe you could have a contest with Tiger or Daley, they can't hit it that far.

[Phantom Lord]

Virtually no property taxes would have been paid on it in comparrison as it was mostly actual farm land with a small, piece of crap 18 hole course the guy built.

Jim Goodnight, owner of SAS bought it, the surrounding land, and built 3 championship courses, thousands of homes and a dozen very large shopping centers. The total value of all the real estate is probably approaching, if not over, a billion dollars now.

[mountaineer]

I haven't noticed the "blue tee" problem with black fellows, but with 20- and 30-somethings who don't want anyone to think they're lacking in the testosterone department. These yahoos step purposefully and manfully up to the blue tee, take innumerable practice swings, waggle, waggle some more, finally take a cut - and watch the ball travel about 100 yards before hooking into the adjoining fairway. Never fails.

[Protagoras]

but the 2 handed euchre I know is not any fun.

It was fun for me until I found out it was a sport if I played alone, then I didn't like it because I'm not into sports, just games. :^}

[Phantom Lord]

I would like to qualify for that Tiger Trap thing Buick is doing and then tell Tiger instead of closest to the hole, we are going for the longest drive.

Daly seemed real long to the golfing world because the avg drive on the PGA Tour back in 1991 was a short drive of about 265 and he was bombing them 300 to 320, some times up to 340. No one else was doing it. No though, that is to be expected from most of the players, mostly due to technology changes in both the drivers and the balls.

[zygoat]

Wow! That was a fast reply! Although I must admit that if some little puke tried to put me into the wall at 180 mph, then had the audacity to brag about it on his radio, I would be tempted to introduce him to Mr. Knuckles at the nearest oppurtunity. But, this thread is about golf, I just had to ask what you meant.

[Alberta's Child]

Oh, now I remember.

Yeah, it sounds to me like baseball wouldn't exactly be a "sport," either. Especially when you consider how non-athletic many of those players are in the first place (especially pitchers).

[Grando Calrissian]

I appreciate your condescension.

There are plenty of public golf courses that don't turn a profit and are propped up by the City that operates them.

[Phantom Lord]

Especially when you consider how non-athletic many of those players are in the first place (especially pitchers).

Does David Wells come to mind? And he threw a perfect game!

[Phantom Lord]

Of course there are. But there isnt a single stadium that runs a profit for the government. There are thousands of muni courses that make hundreds of thousands and millions for the government that operates them.

[mountaineer]

Let's not forget Mickey Lolich. That was one prodigious gut.

[Alberta's Child]

You are mixing apples and oranges here. You're telling me how much property tax revenue this land generates, but every time you post something about it there is another feature that shows up. First it was a golf course with a bunch of homes around it, then it had shopping centers added to it. Maybe there's 1.8 million square feet of office space, too.

I'm trying to get a grip on how much property tax revenue a private golf course generates. Maybe your example isn't a good one, because there may be one "owner" of all the property around the golf course. I'm talking specifically about a stand-alone golf course (Upper Montclair in New Jersey, for example -- where they have a Senior PGA Tour event every June) without any adjacent homes on the same property.

[Alberta's Child]

Wells may be a top-rate pitcher, but let's be blunt here -- the guy is a fat slob.

[SoothingDave]

Daly seemed real long to the golfing world because the avg drive on the PGA Tour back in 1991 was a short drive of about 265 and he was bombing them 300 to 320, some times up to 340.

He was here in Pittsburgh earlier this summer, driving balls across the Mon river.

SD

[Phantom Lord]

Stand alone private clubs with no homes on it are a rarity.

[Protagoras]

That was one prodigious gut.

Babe Ruth