Thursday
Nov192009
"On a spring day in 1951, Austin mayor Taylor Glass got a call from City Hall that two 'colored boys' were playing golf."
Kudos to USGA.org for commissioning Jim Apfelbaum's loving history of Austin’s Lions Municipal Golf Course and it's recent historic designation, along with the Kite/Crenshaw years and the current fight to save "Muny."
There is also a gallery of course images.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 07:10 PM
Reader Comments (10)
Seems to me the USGA needs to take the lead role in assisting the golf courses that serve the public.
Nevertheless, not all muni's are great courses. Sadly, Lions is not a great course and to pretend otherwise is a mistake. Furthermore, making up a grand history is sad. It was not designed by Tillinghast and Crenshaw did not grow up playing it. While he may have played a round there now and then, Crenshaw grew up playing at Austin Country Club.
Trying to save the course (which I support) with dishonesty is not the way to do it.
UT's needs alternate revenue sources as the state is cutting higher education funding (sound familiar, Geoff?) and this land is really, really valuable. Plus, as Austin enjoys explosive growth, it's hard to argue to that a non-dense use such as a golf course makes sense only a few miles from downtown.
That's just not true about Ben's relationship with Muny. If you talk to him, or refer back to his autobiography you'll see the playing ties run very deep. He played countless rounds there, both competitive and recreational. Joe Balander told me about one afternoon round when they set off, I think Ben was 15 or 16. Joe was then an assistant at Muny, and later opened the Jimmy Clay course. He'd also grown up at Muny and around Harvey. Joe was, I think, 5 or 7 under through 13, a very good score for him. Ben may have been 12 under. They had to quit because it got dark. And if I'm not mistaken, Ben held his 50th b-day party there. So, please, we can debate the playing characteristics of an over-loved muny that has certainly changed through the years, but there's no mistaking the genuine devotion for this course by many very good golfers (and bad) through the years, Ben included.
1. The story's a good read. That some cities apparently built whole separate "colored" golf courses at great expense is almost tragic comedy that racism could cause such fiscal idiocy.
2. @JSS, The USGA should be promoting public courses, but I'm not entirely sure that most of them get it. The association is still largely run by folks who play in elite private clubs. I'm not sure they completely get the difficulties that public courses face politically and economically.
Incidentally, fwiw, I hate to share Corky's assessment, but he's probably right. Maybe the down economy will save the course. There is more to the story. UT altered the writing on the historical marker, a very strange move. The world class biological field lab and the traffic woes in a tony neighborhood might also help but UT owns the land. This is, after all, a university that doesn't have one Gutenberg Bible, but two. And they usually get their way.
When I was living in Austin, I lived on Enfield Road within sight of the course. (Sadly, my studies and budget limited me to one round at the place.) If I still lived in Tarrytown, I would be doing everything possible to keep the course open. It is a great feature in the neighborhood and a perfect transition property towards the lake. If I am wrong about Crenshaw and the course, I stand corrected.
BTW - during my time studying at the 40 acres, I remember some bozos "discovered" a new species of salamander living near Barton Springs. Since they only found something like them, they immediately moved to have the new species declared endangered.
If someone could "find" a similar species living on the golf course, I am sure it would take years for the school to get clearance to tear up all that greenspace.