Have Mayor Shari Green and city councilor Dave Wilbur ever tried to book a tee time in Prince George on a long weekend?
It's a valid question, considering they both stated earlier this week that golf is a dying sport. Green and Wilbur went on the record with their comments on Monday night, when the future of the Pine Valley Golf Centre was being debated at City Hall. In their view, the waning popularity of the game is one of the justifications for demolishing the 18-hole, par-3 course and selling the land on which it sits. If the 40-acre property is rezoned for commercial use, the city projects a financial gain of more than $17 million, plus a stream of tax dollars that could amount to $300,000 per year.
These were Green's words, and they were echoed by Wilbur:
"From my perspective golf is a sport that's not gaining in popularity, it's not growing, it's in decline. If people want their roads paved, they have to understand there might be some things council needs to choose that's going to generate some new revenue for us."
Green's words about the state of golf raise eyebrows. While it's true Pine Valley's numbers have dipped, golf across the board is hardly suffering. According to the Golf Research Group, there has been a 6.2 per cent decrease in participation levels in the U.S. in the past two years but, worldwide, 56 million people still play. Fifty-six million!
Here in Prince George, it's a challenge to squeeze onto a course on a summer weekend. That's despite the fact P.G. has never had more golfing options. In the old days, residents could choose between Pine Valley, the Prince George Golf and Curling Club, Aspen Grove and Yellowhead Grove. In the last decade or so, Ness Wood, Aberdeen Glen, the Links of Maggie May and Alder Hills have all popped up on the local landscape. And that's the other point -- would these courses have been built if golf was on a downhill slide toward extinction? No. They were built because supply was short and demand was high.
Focusing on Pine Valley, the number of people who use the course started to wane after the city sold the driving range land in the early 2000s. The course took another hit after the pine beetle infestation resulted in the logging off and eventual replanting of trees. But Pine Valley remains a popular golfing destination, especially for retirees who find it easily walkable, and for casual golfers and those who are brand new to the game.
If the city rips up Pine Valley in the name of financial gain, Green's comments about golf being in decline could actually become a self-fulfilling prophecy here in Prince George. Pine Valley, after all, is the perfect place for kids to learn the basics of swinging a club. Kids grow up, and if they have developed a love for golf, they become customers of bigger courses. Cut any sport off at its roots and it will surely die.
City council voted 6-1 in favour of pushing ahead with the potential sale of Pine Valley, with Brian Skakun providing the only dissenting voice.
"Pine Valley is being made the scapegoat," he said. "It's the easy way out to make a quick buck and that's wrong."
Kudos to Skakun for standing against the rest of council and Mayor Green. It's easy to wonder if Pine Valley would even be on the block if the city hadn't strangled with red tape the attempted sale of the Prince George Golf and Curling Club. Now that the financially-strapped PGGCC has been forced to stay put instead of using cash from a sale to develop a new course in the Foothills/North Nechako area, the city can no longer count on extra tax dollars from commercial development at the existing site. Did that make Pine Valley the next target?
Green space gone for good, all in the name of greenbacks.
Instead, as Don Chamberlain of the Friends of Pine Valley suggested on Monday, why not remodel the course and put a driving range back in? Like it was in the 1980s and 1990s, Pine Valley could again become a hive of golfing activity and a nice revenue-generator for the city. A driving range would be especially lucrative considering the nearby PGGCC won't have a full-sized range anymore. An auto dealership will sit on that spot, which is adjacent to the Prince George Playhouse.
Pine Valley should be spared, but with the current thinking at City Hall, that's a long shot at best. Even though Skakun contends there are hundreds of other city properties that could be sold, "The Best Little Course in the North" is sitting there like a treasure chest waiting to be raided.
And the glitter of gold is far too tempting, especially with golf supposedly teetering at the edge of the plank.
