The SCGA Continues to Advocate For the Game of Golf

As regular readers of this column likely know, the SCGA’s advocacy leadership is transitioning. Craig Kessler, nationally recognized as one of the game’s fiercest proponents, has stepped down from his role as Public Affairs Director. However, we aren’t losing him entirely. He will continue in part-time capacities for both the SCGA and the California Alliance for Golf.

I want to thank Craig for all he has done for the game. I also want to offer my personal gratitude for his mentorship and friendship.

Among the many things Craig has taught me is the power of presence and the discernable influence of having a seat at the table in rooms where decisions are made. Most of those seats did not exist when Craig first began advocating for their creation and neither did the notion of amateur golf associations leading the way where golf and public policy intersect. But they do now and we will take full advantage.

Advocacy work is more often quiet and nuanced than it is loud and public. The following story is illustrative of that point.

Some years ago, a city council in a midsize city with one municipal golf course was being asked by its parks department to finish a lengthy public process to award a contract for the management of that lone golf course. The SCGA was asked to attend the meeting, not to weigh in on the department’s awardee but to be available to offer its perspective on the various ways in which municipalities manage public parkland golf properties, the public processes best calculated to land on one of them and the best practices common to both.

Because of the reputation the SCGA has gained as an impartial repository of knowledge and expertise whose only motive is what is best for the game and the game’s facilities, this is not an uncommon ask. And on this night, the SCGA was asked.

No less than 15 individuals spoke on the item to express their displeasure that the council was supporting a golf offering at all. Speakers suggested that the city close its golf course, stop wasting tax dollars, stop subsidizing an elite activity and start using the land for a higher and better purpose.

Management of the golf course, not closure of it, was on the agenda that night but that didn’t dissuade detractors from speaking their minds about what they thought of golf.

The SCGA did what every nonprofit amateur association ought to do. We refuted erroneous claims with facts and offered the societal benefits of golf for the communities in which courses are located. That was a given. What wasn’t a given were the comments issued by the city’s vice mayor, who echoed many of the SCGA’s points and then offered some very personal and memorable testimony. The following is paraphrased:

I’ve lived in this city for 50 years. I don’t use our hiking trails; I don’t use our basketball courts; I don’t play pickleball; I can’t play soccer anymore; I haven’t used a community swimming pool since I was a kid and I am not a golfer. But those are all amenities that make for a city that supports its residents, a city that makes spaces available for everyone to recreate, be social and build strong community ties.

With that, the vice mayor quieted the room. The council discussed the agenda item comprehensively, arriving at the conclusion that the process it had sanctioned had been performed according to its direction and the park department’s recommendation was approved.

While I don’t want to name the city or the golf course, I can add that the facility has thrived since and talk of repurposing it has ceased.

It’s impossible to know what the SCGA’s comments did to help the vice mayor resolve the matter but I do know that the SCGA will continue to do what it can to embolden those who want to make deals in favor of the
game. Whether leading very public campaigns to save public golf, or very public efforts to communicate the game’s conservation ethic or working behind the scenes to share best practices with single-site municipal systems, the SCGA will be present – present for members, present for golf facilities, present for all who play and love the game of golf in Southern California. That is my commitment to you.

Leadership changes. Values, visions, missions and commitments endure.▪