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Why Golf Has Gotten So Expensive by Steve Sailer UPI, December, 2003 |
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Second of a four part series Although golf courses are now sharply discounting published greens fees, long term trends are making new golf courses ever more costly to build and time-consuming to play. America's 14,725 golf courses impose a surprisingly large footprint on both the landscape (if the average course is a quarter of a square mile, then in aggregate they take up nearly as much space as Delaware and Rhode Island combined) and the economy (golf course revenues exceeded $20 billion in 2000 according to a study by SRI International). In comparison, movie box office revenues, which the press reports in breathless detail each week, add up to less than half that. About 3,000 new courses have opened over the last decade. The average cost, now running around $5 million, has been going up for a host of reasons, including rising land prices, increased earthmoving to make holes more exciting for jaded golfers, and a trend toward prettier courses. Much of the golf course building boom of recent decades has been subsidized by the premium that developers can charge for homes situated on a fairway, a markup that SRI estimates at $50,000 to $75,000. As golfers' tastes have grown more sophisticated, though, they've tired of playing down "condo canyons." So, many new courses are part of "core" developments where the golf course resides in splendid, or at least partial, isolation from the housing. Enhanced environmental sensitivity has its costs, too. Golf architect Todd Eckenrode of Origins Golf Design in Irvine, Calif., pointed out to United Press International that he has courses still on the drawing board after eight or even 12 years of their developers struggling to obtain permits from all the regulatory agencies. In contrast, Eckenrode's celebrated design for the Barona Creek course northwest of San Diego became a reality in 18 months because it is on an Indian reservation, where most environmental laws don't apply. Environmentalism has also contributed to another expensive trend: new golf courses are significantly larger than the old standard of 140-160 acres for 18 holes. Veteran architect Jeff Brauer of Jeffrey D. Brauer Golfscapes of Arlington, Texas, told UPI, "My new courses never occupy less than 200 acres. The reason is often environmental areas. To get 160 acres of useable golf land, on property that has 40 acres of 'off limits' environmental areas, you need 200 acres." Many newer courses are even vaster. Brauer's 7,525 yard long Colbert Hills course, a widely praised $11 million project for Kansas State University, sprawls across 300 acres. Another cause of bigger courses is longer holes meant to contain today's technology-boosted longer hitters. The top driver on the PGA Tour in 1990, Tom Purtzer, averaged only 279.6 yards, while this year Hank Kuehne hit it 15 percent farther -- 321.4 yards. Golf architecture historian Geoff Shackelford, who co-designed the acclaimed new Rustic Canyon course in Moorpark, Calif., told UPI, "We've gone from an average new course of 6200 yards in the early 1920s to 7000 yards and beyond today. That extra 800 yards adds no interest but plenty of construction and maintenance expense, not to mention at least another 45 minutes for a round. And now, we've seen a sudden jump the last few years that's taking us to 7,500 yard courses and Lord knows where else." In Las Vegas, Walters Golf has announced plans to build an 8,000 yard course called "El Grande Hombre." Golf holes have also been getting wider, for a variety of reasons. With golfers paying $400 or more for a new driver from Callaway or Titleist, they want to swing from the heels. This means they want holes wide enough to accommodate their wilder driving. Also, broader hole corridors are safer, both for golfers on adjoining holes and for the residents of fairway homes. Finally, golf course architects are once again emphasizing the strategic interest that ample fairways, such as those at Scotland's home of golf St. Andrews, add to the game. With the paltry 28 yard wide fairways common in the U.S. Open, golfers have little choice but to aim for the center of the fairway and hope. In contrast, with a broad expanse in front of them, they must think about where to aim to make their next shot easier. While, generally speaking, bigger is better in quality, this need for larger parcels of land means that new courses tend to be located farther out in the country, increasing travel time. Playing a round can thus take 6 to 8 hours door-to-door. All these tendencies suggests that the
typical round of golf in America golf will slowly become more like the
typical round in Japan -- something that most golfers treat themselves
to only several times a year because it costs a few hundred dollars and
takes all day. Steve Sailer (www.iSteve.com) is a columnist for VDARE.com.
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