OKC needs a new municipal golf course

[LordGerald]

Personally, we have enough public and private course already. However, I do believe that one of the long-term "visions" of the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum is a golf course by the river. Of course, the bulk of the long-range plan for AICCM is not funded, but at least they have the idea in mind.

[Spartan]

Oh great, an AICC course. So in other words they want a public course..

I do believe straight people also do this......

NO! None of us have ever been 17. If anyone tells you otherwise, it's liberal America-hating lies...

[Joe Kimball]

Personally, we have enough public and private course already. However, I do believe that one of the long-term "visions" of the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum is a golf course by the river. Of course, the bulk of the long-range plan for AICCM is not funded, but at least they have the idea in mind.

I would immediately be inclined to agree, unless a good argument was advanced that I could consider. For public courses alone that a non-member could walk on with no notice, I count eight tracks out of five courses (off the top of my head; I'm sure there are more), and Jimmy Stewart isn't bad either with its nine holes. I am at the moment unaware of how someone could get on a private course (ostensibly something more challenging than public courses) as a guest.

[LordGerald]

I would immediately be inclined to agree, unless a good argument was advanced that I could consider. For public courses alone that a non-member could walk on with no notice, I count eight tracks out of five courses (off the top of my head; I'm sure there are more), and Jimmy Stewart isn't bad either with its nine holes. I am at the moment unaware of how someone could get on a private course (ostensibly something more challenging than public courses) as a guest.

Don't forget courses in MWC, El Reno, Guthrie and Norman. You can play posh private courses frequently if you sign up for charity scrambles. I am a below average golfer and have played at Oak Tree, Gaillardia, Quail Creek, Twin Hills and River Oaks through scrambles.

[Matt]

I don't know why gays can't have sex at home like everyone else.

'Cause their Republican wives probably wouldn't appreciate that very much.

[Mikemarsh51]

Douche bags aside, it would be a very good set up with access off of Douglas or Midwest to have a course near Draper. Plenty of room to grow!

[Bigrayok]

Compared to a lot of cities I have been to including Tulsa, I think Oklahoma City's municipal courses are pretty good. Bethpage and Torrey Pines are public courses, but they are very difficult to get on. Torrey Pines has a lot of rules and restrictions for tee times. I am not going to sleep in my car to play Lincoln like people do at Torrey Pines and Bethpage. Bethpage has five different courses, but the one the U.S. Open was played on is walking only and very difficult to get on.

The Oklahoma City area has a lot of public access courses that are either municipally owned or owned by private companies. Some think there are too many. Traditions, that used to be on 150th, was the highest rated public access course in Oklahoma with Karsten Creek according to Golf Digest. It started as a Par 62 executive course then was re-done as a beautiful par 72 championship course. The owners could not make enough on the course, so they shut it down and built houses on the property.

Westbury in West Oklahoma City used to be a private club then became public access. The current owner has tried to sell it for years and did not put enough into the course for a long time. Westbury has a good layout and a lot of potential to be a really good course if more money was put into irrigation and maintenance. It is currently up for sale and might be closed by a new owner to build houses on.

Two courses have been built in Blanchard that have not done so well. South Lakes? is essentially completed but has not been open although it has been done for a couple of years. Winter Creek opened under a different name way back around 1996 then closed for a number of years. It started out as public access, then tried to go completely private, then started allowing public play again after a lack of memberships were sold.

The popularity of golf in the U.S. grew considerabley in the 1990's. Lots of new courses were built that are now struggling to stay open. Some nice courses like Traditions have closed. One thing I like about golf in the Oklahoma City area is that it is relatively affordable and accessible compared to some places I have been to. I often play by myself and like to just walk up without a tee time to play. I am able to do so in the Oklahoma City area most of the time.

I used to play the Jimmie Austin course at O.U. but when they upgraded the course for the U.S. Public Links Tournament a couple of years ago, they jacked up the green fees and started members only play at times of the day when I like to play. I only played there about three times a year so becoming a member just so I could play after 3:00 p.m. was not an option. It is ironic that they hosted the Public Links, yet became less public at the same time. Jimmie Austin is probalby the closest thing to a public access course like Bethpage or Torrey Pines in the Oklahoma City area.

Bigray in Ok

[Joe Kimball]

Traditions, that used to be on 150th, was the highest rated public access course in Oklahoma with Karsten Creek according to Golf Digest. It started as a Par 62 executive course then was re-done as a beautiful par 72 championship course. The owners could not make enough on the course, so they shut it down and built houses on the property.

Well how about that. It's something to see houses following the contours of the course, streets along the old terraces of the practice tee, and fairways converted to greenbelt.