Speaking of Trump, Is There Any More Useless Waste of Land Than

[MineralMan]

a golf course? I can't think of one. In the first place, a golf course takes up a great deal of valuable space near an inhabited area. It is not available for use by the average person, due to the high cost of golfing. Unlike a public park, which is a similar land use, golf courses are designed to be used primarily by the wealthy. At any given time, only a few people occupy large spaces at a time, creating a population density that is lower than almost any other land use.

Even with publicly-owned courses, only those who can afford the high overall cost of engaging in this sport are allowed on the grounds. Privately-owned courses are often restricted to members of a private golf club, and some of those clubs are highly exclusive and deny membership to entire groups of people, even if they have the funds to join.

In most areas, publicly-owned courses do not support themselves through greens fees and other payment by those who use them. Since they are economically out of reach of most citizens, though, they are used only by a certain group of people, generally those in politics or who own businesses. What that means is that, since the course does not generate adequate revenues to be self-supporting, the excess costs are paid by taxpayers who cannot even use the space.

As you can tell, I'm not a big fan of golf courses. Maybe, though, someone can explain how they benefit the people in the communities where they exist.

[LexVegas]

1. Airports. I don't fly anywhere. nt

[MineralMan]

2. Do you get mail?

[LexVegas]

5. Nope. Electronic billing. I can live with ground shipping. nt

[angstlessk]

6. Do you eat? Do you wear clothes? Do you ______? (fill in the blank)

These are brought to you from somewhere outside driving distance to a neighborhood near you via air flight!

[LexVegas]

9. No. I think we should get rid of cemeteries too. Complete waste of space. nt

[angstlessk]

10. I'd go along with that...the Vikings had the best idea....but...

leave the boat on shore, either food for the fishes, or ashes to ashes

[demigoddess]

3. a golf course in our area has just been turned into

a public school and a farm/garden that grows vegetables for people. I think they give it to food banks. (not clear on all the details, tho)

[MineralMan]

4. Sounds like a good conversion to me!

[angstlessk]

7. Good for them!

[3_Limes]

8. Golf courses and cemetaries,

biggest wastes of prime real estate!

- Al Czerbic -

[Warpy]

11. Here in NM, there's plenty of land. What we lack is the kind of water they use

A lot of local courses now use artificial grass on the fairways. That has helped considerably. They need to come up with something besides water hogging grass for the greens, though. Even drought tolerant grass sucks up too much water. Personally, I think courses should reflect where they exist. Fairways here should be desert scrub and greens should be adobe. The courses would be far more challenging.

[MineralMan]

12. It's interesting to fly into Phoenix, too.

Golf courses everywhere, sucking up water. Very strange.

[rusty fender]

13. You could say that about

every football field, soccer pitch, baseball diamond; every basketball arena, hockey rink, swimming pool, movie theater complex, etc. In other words, recreational areas and entertainment facilities are going to be considered "wasted space" by someone

[MineralMan]

14. Golf courses take up far more space than those other things,

and have far fewer people who make use of them. There is a difference.

[JHB]

15. I refer you to the master on this subject...