the Future of Change

Over the span of 24 hours, two notable events occurred putting what I have called America’s “golf course problem” in high relief. First, the New York Times published a feature on golf courses across the nation that have “gone wild,” where environmentalists have been able to return underutilized golf courses to more democratic, accessible, sustainable use and opened them to the public, mostly by just letting them revert to a wilder, less-manicured state. Not only does this cut down on pesticides and spare millions of gallons of water, it also makes the courses themselves inclusive public parks, rather than exclusive enclaves. The second was the issuance of the court decision in the civil fraud trial against former president Trump, and several of his children and businesses, which details team Trump’s rampant fraud in its management of the golf course in Ferry Point Park in the South Bronx. Taxpayers paid over $120 million to construct the golf course there, and Trump secured a sweetheart lease from the City of New York to operate it. He then sold the management rights to a casino company that hopes to secure a license to operate a casino on the site. Justice Engoron’s decision in the civil fraud case requires Trump companies to repay the $60 million the casino developer paid for the rights to the lease (an amount that could swell to over $100 million if the developer wins a casino license). But these two events reveal that something is rotten under those rolling green hills. Not only are golf courses an environmental disaster, but they are also heavily subsidized by taxpayer dollars, and not just public courses. Many private courses also enjoy tremendous tax breaks. It’s time to rethink how we deal with America’s golf course problem. I write about the sordid history of exclusion that is the legacy of American golf courses, the environmental damage operating those courses cause, and the fact that taxpayers end up subsidizing even the most exclusive golf courses on which few average Americans will ever set foot here.