Ann Arbor Park Commission is considering proposals to “repurpose” the city-owned Huron Hills golf course to make it profitable. They don’t ask the city dog parks, or other facilities to turn a dollar, but somehow golf is different. The foremost plan apparently is to turn half the course into a driving range.
The Ann Arbor Chronicle has a terrific blow-by-blow of the commission’s latest meeting, in which supporters of the course turned out in force.
What I find hard to believe is that city planners, with all of their highfalutin talk of green spaces, park land and so on, would consider turning a beautiful open green golf course into a morass of nets, concrete tee boxes, fences and all the other rather ugly paraphernalia of a driving range.
I agree with you assessment and know many of those who feel that way about golf. But it’s ironic that so many who think of golf as elitist are themselves elitists.
Unfortunately, golf is not popular with a large segment of Ann Arbor. It is viewed as an elitest activity. When combined with a questionable accounting system that creates the appearance of a large subsidy, many people agree with the idea of eliminating golf entirely.