The Bay Dunes Golf Course got a temporary stay of execution this week unlike all those boys Judge Smalls — the villain in Caddyshack — sent to the gas chamber.
If you saw the movie you might recall his reasoning, “didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.”
And in the same way the Bay County Commission must have felt they owed it to the golfers who used the low-cost course (which was built on top of a landfill) to try and save it. Instead of closing it the commission agreed to keep the course open for two month and ask an advisory committee for recommendations on what to do next.
WHAT'S YOUR VIEW? WRITE US A LETTER.
The golfers told the commissioners that the course is one of the only reasonably priced courses in the area and it stays busy with local golfers, tourists and snowbirds. However, it apparently was not popular enough for the lease holder to stay with it after the county called on him to fulfill his obligation to carry insurance and bonding.
And there are environmental rules to consider. The state requires maintaining the cover over the landfill.
“The cover appears to be OK. The methane monitoring system is not in good shape,” Assistant County Manager Dan Shaw said. “The buildings are supposed to have methane monitors in them. They don’t appear to be working, so there are issues with that.”
Shaw added that it would cost several hundred thousand dollars to bring the course up to “playability standards.” The golfers disagree, saying that the course is in good shape and simply needs a few inexpensive tweaks. They added that the county will have to do the environmental monitoring no matter what is on the land.
You would think that if the course were as popular as the golfers say that there would be a line of entrepreneurs willing to take over. And, the idea that it is busy also contradicts the current situation in the golf world.
Lately, golf has been about as popular as Caddyshack II.
It certainly might bounce back, especially if another Tiger Woods comes along and captures the imaginations of a new generation of Americans. However, the sport could also continue playing in the rough as young adults choose to invest what little free time and money they have into other hobbies.
Those are outside factors though. What we suspect will matter most to Bay County taxpayers is how much keeping the course open will cost them. If the costs are negligible most of us will probably take a live and let live attitude about the issue. It’s one thing to oppose a project before it is built, like the gun range for instance, but it is another thing entirely to advocate that something a group of passionate people use and enjoy be shut down entirely.
And, it’s also clear that if the sport is going to stay in the green there need to be places where middle class folks can do Bill Murray jokes while they work on their swing. But not at the expense of other taxpayers.
We’re in the opening rounds of this issue and a lot can and probably will change before the 19th hole is reached. If there are entrepreneurs out there who want to run a golf course, now is the time to speak up. And, those who think the land could be put to better use have also got to plant their flags now.