Those who have visited the Presidio Golf Course for the past month have not been permitted to play golf there. Since March, the threat of groups of two, three or even four violating the construct of social distancing during a virus-induced shelter-in-place order apparently has been far too great a risk.
Although golfers cannot play at this 100-year-old classic located in a national park of the same name, the Presidio's non-golfing visitors recently have been congregating by the dozen on its fairways, greens, tees and even in the bunkers as San Franciscans supposedly constrained by the same shelter-in-place orders imposed on golfers seek outdoor recreational activities on the city's busiest golf course.
Lush green turf, perfectly manicured fairways and greens: Who knew that golfers and non-golfers in America's most socially aware city would have so much in common?
"People clearly don't understand what goes into maintaining a course and when they do get a chance to walk around one, then think it's "magical" and can't understand why they can't be places for picnics, soccer games, throwing their frisbees, etc.," Don Chelemedos, PGA managing director at the Presidio, said via email. "Without the offsetting revenue they produce, golf courses would not be an area that could be maintained like a park. Rather, those 125+ acres would be fields of tall grass and noxious weeds."
Fortunately for golfers banned from playing the Presidio for the past month, golf courses in San Francisco will be permitted to reopen next week, and the picnickers, dog-walkers and all the others utilizing its 150 acres of meticulously manicured turf will have to recreate elsewhere. The Presidio web site says the golf course will reopen May 4.
Although the course will welcome back golfers on Monday, the push to repurpose the property won't stop there. In fact, it's part of a long struggle between golf's haves and have-nots in San Francisco.
When public health officials in Northern California announced shelter-in-place orders last month, golf courses were ordered closed on March 31.
According to a joint order issued April 29 by public health officials in six bay-area counties, golf courses in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties will be permitted to reopen with limitations on May 4.
According to the order, "To engage in outdoor recreation activity, including, by way of example and without limitation, walking, hiking, bicycling, and running, in compliance with Social Distancing Requirements and with the following limitations: Use of shared outdoor facilities for recreational activities that may occur outside of residences . . . including, but not limited to, golf courses, skate parks, and athletic fields, must, before they may begin, comply with social distancing and health/safety protocols posted at the site and any other restrictions, including prohibitions, on access and use established by the Health Officer, government, or other entity that manages such area to reduce crowding and risk of transmission of COVID-19."
The order applies to all public and private courses in San Francisco County, including city-owned TPC Harding Park, site of this year's PGA Championship, and the Presidio, where officials expect to reopen on Monday. For golf course operators, the easing of restrictions is like Christmas in, well, May.
"We have developed a protocol and very strict procedures that will allow us to open the golf course, driving range and the cafe to a limited extent" Chelemedos said.
"We have also been inundated by hundreds of our golfers that are chomping (sic) at the bit to get back on the golf course; far more in quantity than people who have been in favor of making the golf course a park."
Richard Harris, president of the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance, that advocates for public golf on the San Francisco peninsula, sent a letter on April 22 to the San Francisco Department of Health and the Department of Parks and Recreation advocating for the reopening of golf courses. In the letter, Harris noted the health benefits of golf as well as its natural propensity for social distancing, a key component for anything hoping to reopen during the virus shutdown.
Tom Hsieh, who operates city-owned Gleneagles, said he too will reopen Monday.
"We are scrambling to open," Hsieh said. "More later."
The decision to reopen the golf course at the Presidio is up to the Presidio Trust, which manages all the lands in the 1,480-acre park. Many non-golfers utilizing the course during the lockdown have been vocal in their wish that it would remain closed throughout the duration of the shelter-in-place order - if not longer.
Non-golfers have a history of infatuation with San Francisco's golf courses. That obsession is in large part due to the city's population density and a corresponding need for public open space as well as a political, economic, environmental and social construct unique to San Francisco.
"There has been an anti-golf sentiment since the game was invented in the 1500s," Harris said.
"If you hold land, somebody else always wants it. When it's public land, you have to be able to defend your use of it. Everybody gets to make their argument, and someone then has to make a decision about what to do with it. We've been making that argument here in San Francisco."
The city has an estimated population of 880,000 people who are crammed into 46.87 square miles, which is claustrophobic compared with nearby San Jose where 1 million residents are comfortably spread across 180 square miles. In 2019, San Francisco ranked 13th in U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but was second only to New York in population density with 18,868 people per square mile.
San Franciscans obsessed with the city's golf courses have for years advocated for converting fairways into public green space, public housing or temporary housing for the city's homeless population. Other courses in the crosshairs have included Sharp Park and Lincoln Park golf courses. More than a decade ago, there was a push among non-golfers in the city to turn Lincoln Park's rolling layout into a soccer complex, event center and amphitheater.
"That was ridiculous," Harris said. "That's the hilliest course in the city and the least likely to use for soccer. There aren't 50 flat acres out there."
Non-golfers have a history of infatuation with San Francisco's golf courses. That obsession is in large part due to the city's population density and a corresponding need for public open space as well as a political, economic and social construct generally unique to San Francisco.
The non-golfer argument has been that public land should be available for all to use, not just golfers. Some hoped that movement had received a boost during the virus lockdown as stir-crazy residents converged on the course armed not with golf clubs, but with picnic blankets, but those dreams were quelled Thursday. They also contend that golf is an elitist game that leaves non-golfers behind, but Chelemedos disarms that claim while looking at the Presidio's surrounding neighborhood which features some of the country's most expensive real estate.
"It's interesting. In the case of Presidio, we are located adjacent to some of the most expensive properties in the world. Every house in Pacific Heights, Presidio Terrace, Lake Ave, etc. costs well over $4 million and range up to $70 million," Chelemedos said. "The public that is currently walking around the course are some of the most wealthy in San Francisco. Yet, our average golfer is blue-collar and has to drive to get to our course. Ironic."
The hypocrisy is that the environmentally enlightened anti-golf public has been enjoying the golf course because of how superintendent Brian Nettz and his team maintain it. Social media posts throughout the weekend showed people enjoying the Presidio's beauty, with many saying it should never again reopen as a golf course. They don't like golf courses when golfers are playing them, calling them dangers to the environment, but love them for an afternoon family picnic with the family.
While picnickers and dog-walkers enjoy the course for free, green fees for city resident golfers range from $47 to $87. And the golfers turn out in droves to support this course that has some of the city's best vistas. According to the park's annual report, 59,000 rounds were played at the Presidio in 2019, making it the city's busiest golf course, Harris said. Those rounds helped generate a whopping $8.7 million in revenue. But it takes $2 million annually for Nettz and his crew to maintain the course to its current standards. While the walkers pay nothing to use the property, maintenance is severely affected if paying golfers go away.
"Golfers pay to use that land, the dog-walkers don't pay anything," Harris said. "If you charged people a use fee to use that park, guess what? You won't have as many dog-walkers."
