Golf by David McPherson By the time you read this, the Masters will be over and Canada’s lone stop on the PGA Tour – the RBC Canadian Open (June 4-8 at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley) – will be weeks away. The course is just the 38th host in the 121-year history of the tournament. The return of our National Open to a public facility that is accessible and affordable is a boon for the game and yet one more step in changing the age-old narrative that golf is only for the elite. On and off the fairways of its three distinct courses (the North, the Heathlands and the Hoot), TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley is transforming its property at breakneck speed to become the new home of golf in Canada. Once realized, this sprawling property in Caledon, Ontario will include Golf Canada’s national headquarters, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, national headquarters for First Tee – Canada and a 30,000-square-foot, community-accessible, 18-hole putting course. Golf Ontario and the Club Management Association of Canada have also committed to maintaining a corporate presence on this golf campus. TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley’s main 60,000-square-foot clubhouse includes a gourmet restaurant (Two Brothers), suites for stay-and-play and a museum curated by the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame that features artifacts and ephemera which highlight iconic golf moments of this great game in our country. Municipal courses such as TPC Osprey Valley – not private country clubs – are where many golf professionals, past and present, first learned to play the game. Take the GOAT, Tiger Woods. His first rounds were on municipal courses in Southern California. In my hometown, the City of Kitchener operates a pair of courses: Rockway and Don Valley. Rockway is where the great Moe Norman started out who, by the way, Woods once said was one of only two golfers to “own their swings.” Both muni courses in Kitchener offer rates of less than $30 if you tee off after 4 p.m. And, just down the highway, kids in Toronto (from ages nine to 18) can get an annual membership to play at all five of the city’s municipal courses for $359.99 + HST. Qualifying families can even get this reduced, further lowering economic barriers. What’s great about most of these muni courses in Ontario’s capital is that they are located along the subway lines. In an age when a Meal Deal at most fast-food chains costs close to $20, that’s great value. So, without further ado, I offer you an ode to the “muni.” Canada has many options at multiple pricepoints when it comes to public golf. We boast just fewer than 140 municipal courses. For comparison, in Colombia, of its 50 “campos de golf,” only a few are accessible to the public; the sport in this South American country remains mostly for the elite. This golf model of exclusivity versus accessibility is not the norm any longer, as the following headline: “Municipal golf’s moment,” proclaims in announcing the cover story package in a recent issue of Golf Course Industry (a U.S. publication to which I’m a regular contributor). According to the National Golf Foundation, there’s been a net gain of more than 140 muni courses since 2004 in the United States, amidst the broader market correction of oversaturation that’s contributed to a 13 per cent decline in total golf supply over a 20-year span. There are now 2,939 municipal courses in the U.S. – an all-time high that represents just more than 18 per cent of the country’s overall golf course supply. Golf for the Masses: An Ode to the Muni 40 | www.snowbirds.org
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzMzNzMx