The Grass Is Always Greener...

I have been duly chastised for writing musings of literary genius that are too lengthy. Last weekend, a house guest, himself a frequent reader of my work, spent most of his stay disparaging the length of my periodic musings. He also is a contributor to his own site, but he contributes more often than I do and, as such, has shorter contributions. I prefer to savor mine until I truly have something of significance to share. Additionally, Longfellow, Eliot, and other great literary figures of the past were never asked to shorten their literary masterpieces. However, brevity will be attempted at this time.

I enjoy the game of golf. It is a sport relying only one one’s self, one’s ability, and one’s state of mind. The problem is this: the small time golfer in today’s economic state of affairs has been priced out of the game. Green fees are astronomical, most courses force you to ride a cart in order to keep up the pace, and the price of equipment is prohibitive unless you are fortunate enough to have a sponsor. It’s disheartening.

This fact was brought home to me recently in a discussion regarding my home course, the Texas A&M University (TAMU) campus course. When I started school in 1993, it cost a student $6 to play a around of golf; a guest $12. Today, I have no idea what students pay and a guest pays nearly $30. Of course, the increase in price is due to great course improvements, right? Wrong, the course hasn’t changed one iota. Oh, they’ve tinkered with the lay out here and there, but it’s still like playing in a pasture. The grass is largely dead year round (except for the three foot diameter around the irrigation heads) and the greens have a myriad of spots where grass doesn’t grow.

I mused the following: TAMU has one of the finest turf grass management programs in the nation. Can’t their golf course grass at least be alive? Couldn’t they make it a case study for turf grass classes? That’s not the only offensive grass. The grounds around the Memorial Student’s Center on campus are never trodden upon out of respect for veterans the facility honors, yet the grass around that facility remains some of the ugliest grass on campus. Half of it doesn’t grow and the other half is perpetually yellow.

Meanwhile, I’m forced to pay $30 to play in a pasture sans cattle feces if I want to enjoy the game I love. I guess it’s all about economics…if you can charge it and people will pay it, then it’s the right price. I’ll just start teeing up on my street at home…playing the TAMU course is fairly close to playing on asphalt anyway. “Now on the driveway tee, the Moffitt twosome from College Station.” Hope I calculated my fade correctly.