Immediately after Assembly Member Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) amended what we are now calling the “Public Golf Endangerment Act” to transform it from a politically clumsy bill into what we immediately termed a much more politically palatable and thus saleable bill, the gist of which became the addition of $50 million in financial incentives to chop 22% of the state’s golf stock into housing, SCGA informed its 185,000 members of that fact – something we have continued to do in the 60 days since through various different communication portals, all in an attempt to set the stage for engaging rank-and-file golfers to find it in their personal interest to let their legislators know what they think of singling golf and ONLY golf out among the state’s myriad open space/recreational activities for chopping up into housing tracts.

That’s the way too many view the golf courses in their neighborhood. Whether the golf course is a private club that restricts access or a municipal course that begs it matters little.

As the statewide golf community prepares to cope with the twin onslaughts of drought and a bill that proposes to chop 22% of California’s golf courses into residential developments (AB 672 – Garcia; D-Bell Gardens), we’d like to take a moment to put what will necessarily be some very tactical short-term responses into an overarching strategy capable of getting beyond tactical reaction toward strategic proactivity.

Virtually every major newspaper in California carried a front-page story last week about Californians having responded to Governor Newsom’s call for 15% voluntary water cutbacks by cutting back a paltry 1.8%.

We were so impressed with the Golf Strategic Plan that Los Angeles County released last week that we thought we should share it with others.

SCGA members who live in proximity to Los Angeles County’s Victoria Golf Course in Carson will be receiving information from SCGA later this morning (Friday) about how to participate in an online survey as well as two (2) public meetings in August about what to do in the wake of the demise of the Kimmelman half of what was supposed to be the redevelopment of this long troubled 18-hole regulation golf course.

To be more specific, AB 672 never got placed on the agenda of either of the Assembly Committees to which it was referred. Since today was the deadline for bills to pass through committee and advance in the 2021 session, that means that no further action can be taken on AB 672 the remainder of 2021.

One and one-third human beings is what a maxed-out golf course puts on one acre of open space under current COVID restrictions, a 1.3 to 1 ratio that has been the game’s ticket to spectacular success during the pandemic. It’s the unshakable fact about the game that persuaded public policy makers that golf is among the safest forms of outdoor recreation; indeed, the safest when one considers that unlike other outdoor recreational activities, the business model of golf involves strict control over ingress and egress.

**Spoiler Alert** The News Continues to be Good for Golf!

GREAT NEWS ON A LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON!