I hate golf
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If I remember George Carlins bit correctly the amount of golf courses in the US took up two rhode islands and a delaware worth of space once counted up. He argued we should turn it into homeless shelters and public housing, and to let the golfers test actual skill at the mini-golf.
Actually looking at it semantically I wonder if the word mini-golf exist just to demean it compared to big boy real golf.Let's start calling it skill golf instead of miniature golf
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Every golf course is a dead ecosystem pretending it’s alive.
Well, they sure aren't helping the ecosystem, but I wouldn't say dead. I live near a golf course, lot's of wildlife visiting it in the odd hours. And that is just the bigger stuff I can see.
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My mistake, I hadn't considered the recycled water would be supplied by the city like that. Where I was it was mostly retention ponds like I mentioned. As for being stable in winter, that really depended on rain. If we got a decent rain a few times a month it would mostly even out, but even then we still needed topping off from time to time.
Yeah, even though they can treat sewage enough to make it safe to drink, most people don't want to anyway. So they often send it to golf courses, water features, sometimes very large companies will use it if they have a lot of grass on thier campuses. It's just a matter of piping it most of the time because they can't just release the sewage untreated, so it's there for the taking. But piping isn't cheap if it is an urban area.
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Mini golf FTW!
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Pretty sure I didn't say it made it ok. Just that it was a pointless statement because it is true of all sports that I know of.
then why did you bring it up in response sparky?
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Sorry you hate golf. Public pools and libraries are also heavily subsidized by tax payer money. Parks for that matter are too. Sometimes it's just a good thing to provide your citizens with something to do outside. I'm certainly not a rich white asshole that drives a BMW or Merc. I drive a 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe with 130k miles on it.
I no longer live there but in the 4000 population town I grew up in, the only tax funded public entity that turned a profit for the city budget was the golf course. The public pool never showed profit in the 8 years I was a lifeguard there. The best it ever managed to do was about a $6k loss. The library lost money because of building maintenance and after school programs. And the parks district was the biggest drain on public funds due to recreational sports for kids and an outdoor theater production for local kids to act in. If anything, the golf course helped fund other local programs.
pools and parks don't poison the water table with runoff from their greens.
that must be one hell of a muni golf course; or, your memory could be hazy, or, someone in the municipal gov is hoovering up funds.
I stick to my premise. The funds would have more impact elsewhere. And the damage done wouldn't happen with other uses.
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then why did you bring it up in response sparky?
Are you asking why I made a comment sharing my thought without 100% disagreeing with OP? Cause not everything is love or hate.
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Well, they sure aren't helping the ecosystem, but I wouldn't say dead. I live near a golf course, lot's of wildlife visiting it in the odd hours. And that is just the bigger stuff I can see.
Big animals don’t have a lasting ecological impact when the soil is dead. A golf course has no viable shrub cover, no insects to speak of, no real living soil, nothing. It’s basically a dead presentation field for some larger animals that abandon it after social functions. The area itself is not much more suited for live than a parking lot. Which also has wildlife visiting.
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The real problem is the children and the noise they make.
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He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of the Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul's head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit-hole, and in this way the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same moment.
Play golf the way it was originally intended and you'll never be confused about whether or not it's a sport ever again.
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Big animals don’t have a lasting ecological impact when the soil is dead. A golf course has no viable shrub cover, no insects to speak of, no real living soil, nothing. It’s basically a dead presentation field for some larger animals that abandon it after social functions. The area itself is not much more suited for live than a parking lot. Which also has wildlife visiting.
What are you talking about? They don't plow bulldoze the place. There are plenty of shrubs and such, just not on the fairway. The few times I have golfed myself, I have never failed to lose a ball in some brush. And I remember getting bitten by mosquitoes at at least one. They always have a retention pond, and that thing is a haven for insect life. The ducks and geese always stop at the nearby course and are clearly finding food.
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What are you talking about? They don't plow bulldoze the place. There are plenty of shrubs and such, just not on the fairway. The few times I have golfed myself, I have never failed to lose a ball in some brush. And I remember getting bitten by mosquitoes at at least one. They always have a retention pond, and that thing is a haven for insect life. The ducks and geese always stop at the nearby course and are clearly finding food.
A golf course is dead ecologically speaking. Mowed gras supports nearly zero biodiversity. Compare it to any natural meadow and you’ll easily see why golf courses are a joke. Having a few token species (mosquitos, ducks) that thrive everywhere is no indicator of ecological viability. Get a bat coder and find some bats, find smaller snakes, rodents and newts, then you got a living thing going. The soil deteriorates without natural cover, cultivated grass shrubs don’t retain a root system that supports a healthy soil. Instead nutrients and so on are washed out over time. Fauna dependent on nutrient enrichment by plants growing on the soil slowly dies until there is none left to incorporate eventual nutrient rich matter. Just because it might look „nice and alive“ doesn’t mean it is. It’s an ecological wasteland, optics don’t really play a role in that.
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A golf course is dead ecologically speaking. Mowed gras supports nearly zero biodiversity. Compare it to any natural meadow and you’ll easily see why golf courses are a joke. Having a few token species (mosquitos, ducks) that thrive everywhere is no indicator of ecological viability. Get a bat coder and find some bats, find smaller snakes, rodents and newts, then you got a living thing going. The soil deteriorates without natural cover, cultivated grass shrubs don’t retain a root system that supports a healthy soil. Instead nutrients and so on are washed out over time. Fauna dependent on nutrient enrichment by plants growing on the soil slowly dies until there is none left to incorporate eventual nutrient rich matter. Just because it might look „nice and alive“ doesn’t mean it is. It’s an ecological wasteland, optics don’t really play a role in that.
I think you are talking about the kind of golf courses you see in movies and TV. Those do exist. But they are a tiny minority. The shrubs and such I am talking about aren't cultivated. Most courses are not that high end. My buddy plays a ton of golf, but at low end places because he is a teacher. The fairway and the green are the only place they modify the landscape. Every hole is surrounded by untouched natural space. Trees, overgrowth, and whatever was there. Costs too much to manage. Some don't fertilizer or water anything but the greens, though only select climates can getaway with not watering in the summer. You are asssuming all golf courses are like the high end ones. They aren't.
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I think you are talking about the kind of golf courses you see in movies and TV. Those do exist. But they are a tiny minority. The shrubs and such I am talking about aren't cultivated. Most courses are not that high end. My buddy plays a ton of golf, but at low end places because he is a teacher. The fairway and the green are the only place they modify the landscape. Every hole is surrounded by untouched natural space. Trees, overgrowth, and whatever was there. Costs too much to manage. Some don't fertilizer or water anything but the greens, though only select climates can getaway with not watering in the summer. You are asssuming all golf courses are like the high end ones. They aren't.
I work in forestry. We got several courses round here and they are all the way you described as high class. We don’t get any low end places like you describe here.
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I work in forestry. We got several courses round here and they are all the way you described as high class. We don’t get any low end places like you describe here.
Where do you live? My experiences are in NY and Oregon. We have a few places like you describe. But the vast majority are mom and pop courses where they carve out a little space for a hole and leave the rest untouched. The on closest to me is surrounded by houses, so some of the trees they have are really old. Would have been cleared for housing if not for the course. So it is almost like an oasis for wildlife. Though obviously it is on the high end side for sure, it still preserves some natural space that acts as a way point for larger stuff moving through the area from the undeveloped land not too far by. Thier ecosystem isn't impressive, but still plenty of small stuff for the ducks that stop by continuously.
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Where do you live? My experiences are in NY and Oregon. We have a few places like you describe. But the vast majority are mom and pop courses where they carve out a little space for a hole and leave the rest untouched. The on closest to me is surrounded by houses, so some of the trees they have are really old. Would have been cleared for housing if not for the course. So it is almost like an oasis for wildlife. Though obviously it is on the high end side for sure, it still preserves some natural space that acts as a way point for larger stuff moving through the area from the undeveloped land not too far by. Thier ecosystem isn't impressive, but still plenty of small stuff for the ducks that stop by continuously.
Germany.
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Germany.
Interesting. I could totally see what you are saying being true throughout Europe. It might just be that golfers won't accept the kind of courses we have here. Might consider them uncouth or something.
In the US we often get this impression of Europe as old world traditionalists. Early education and media do that. I assume it isn't actually true of the majority of Europeans. But maybe golfers skew that way in Germany? -
Interesting. I could totally see what you are saying being true throughout Europe. It might just be that golfers won't accept the kind of courses we have here. Might consider them uncouth or something.
In the US we often get this impression of Europe as old world traditionalists. Early education and media do that. I assume it isn't actually true of the majority of Europeans. But maybe golfers skew that way in Germany?Golf is a Kind of expensive hobby around here, or at least it’s considered expensive. This makes golf an elite hobby and people with money tend to care about optics. Sadly.
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Golf is a Kind of expensive hobby around here, or at least it’s considered expensive. This makes golf an elite hobby and people with money tend to care about optics. Sadly.
That tracks. In most of the US it is a lot less expensive then it is perceived. 18 holes can be played for as little as $20. Though usually more like 30 or 40 if near an urban area. And clubs are easy to come by used at great prices.
