Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Golf's Growing Unpopularity and Environmental Destruction

More Americans Are Giving Up Golf

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/nyregion/21golf.html?pagewanted=all

...More troubling to golf boosters, the number of people who play 25 times a year or more fell to 4.6 million in 2005 from 6.9 million in 2000, a loss of about a third...A two-year campaign by the [Nat'l. Golf] Foundation to bring new players into the game, he said, “hasn’t shown much in the way of results.”...Between 1990 and 2003, developers built more than 3,000 new golf courses in the United States, bringing the total to about 16,000. Several hundred have closed in the last few years, most of them in Arizona, Florida, Michigan and South Carolina, according to the foundation.

Wikipedia

Environmental concerns over the use of land for golf courses have grown over the past 50 years. Specific concerns include the amount of water and chemical pesticides and fertilizers used for maintenance, as well as the destruction of wetlands and other environmentally important areas during construction...People continue to oppose golf courses for environmental and human survival reasons, as they impede corridors for migrating animals and sanctuaries for birds and other wildlife. In fact, the effective non-native monoculture of golf courses systematically destroys biodiversity...A result of modern equipment is that today's players can hit the ball much further than previously. In a concern for safety, golf course architects have had to lengthen and widen golf courses. This has led to a ten percent increase in the amount of area that is required for golf courses.