11 municipal courses that are getting the love they deserve
Richard Harris is the co-founder of the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance, a non-profit group that advocates for the viability of the city’s municipal courses. In particular, the alliance fights for Sharp Park, an historic Alister MacKenzie design from the early 1930s that perpetually must fend off existential threats ranging from lack of funding and labor issues to lawsuits filed by groups who want the course shut down for environmental reasons. In a recent Golf Digest story about municipal course revivals, he pointedly observed that in the haste to dismiss golf, adversaries and non-supportive civic leaders often overlook the ways publicly funded courses benefit their surrounding communities.
“Public courses, and I would argue muny courses, carry the biggest burden of youth programs, First Tee programs, it’s the place where high school teams are, and they’re where beginners come into the game,” he said. “They’re [also] the most culturally and ethnically diverse places in golf,” he went on, noting that they often provide jobs and opportunities to young men and women, helping prepare them for college or other careers.