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The long-term future of the crown jewel of Austin municipal golf -- Lions Municipal Golf Course -- is in question after UT's Brackenridge Tract Task Force recommended hiring an outside master planner and redeveloping the land occupied by the course.
Lions was built in 1928 and has hosted some of history's most notable golfers. Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite have won the annual Fourth of July Firecracker Open there, and Ben Hogan's comment on the quality of the par-4 16th earned it the title, "Hogan's Hole".
The course also remains one of the most popular in the city, with 85,000 to 100,000 rounds played there each year.
But the panel's report doesn't contain the same nostalgia that area golfers hold for "Old Muny":
"The Lions Municipal Golf Course lease should be allowed to terminate at the end of its current term in 2019 and the Board should include the tract in the master planning process.The Task Force's recommendation is based on its conclusion that the lease of the land for a public golf course at a rental rate that is substantially below what the property could generate were it used for other purposes does not meet the intent of Colonel Brackenridge's gift."
Photo of Lions Municipal from City of Austin.
It's possible that UT would sell that land to the city for its market value. Austin City Manager Toby Futrell told The Daily Texan that the city has "a very strong interest in preserving those 141 acres of [Lions Municipal Golf Course] in our urban core,"
Lions has been through tough times before. In 1973, golfers, political activists and city leaders led a "Save MUNY" campaign to prevent UT regents from selling the property to commercial developers.
The Brackenridge Tract also contains another piece of land that is leased for recreation activities. The West Austin Youth Association leases 14.5 acres on the northeast corner of the property rent-free for baseball fields, gyms, and classrooms.
The Austin American-Statesman reported that the report took a softer tone with regard to that land, perhaps because "the parcel is a recreational mainstay for the children of many affluent and well-connected families in West Austin. What's more, some members of the task force live in the neighborhood and have close ties to the association, including (task force head Larry) Temple, whose son is the group's past president."
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Yet another piece of Austin on the chopping block. Getting rid of Lions would be a shame.
I agree. I love Lions...
The working man doesn't need to play golf anyway. Tear that place down and put up an upscale shopping center with a spa and good restaurants. Not a Wal-Mart, of course. God forbid we allow a place for the working man to shop. We'll need to provide subsidies and tax breaks to the developers. Just think of the jobs created for the working man. We'll even run buses to the site for him so he can get to work. Or her. Women need to work, too.
I hope Lions Municipal gets to stay, too.
Though I am a bit surprised at all of support for it. Golf is a "rich man's sport", and if I have learned anything on this site it is that wealth and being successful is bad...
I'm not sure how familiar you are with the game, but there are two (or three) breeds of golfers. There are those who play at Lions because it only costs $18 to play during the week and only $20 on the weekends. Usually these are people who paid $150-200 for a full set of clubs on Craigslist and they buy 36 balls for $10. This is who were are talking about and they are the majority of golfers imo. While I will agree that golf is an expensive sport in comparison to say soccer, it is still within the grasp of a lot of people. Golf isn't the $5000 annual membership and $120 greens fees and the world of $600 drivers in all cases, there is a low grade and a high grade of golfer, not to say that one is a better player or even person for that matter, but it exists. Taking away Lion's means taking away access to a sport that a lot of people love to hate and they love to do it at Lion's. It's a great location (why else would they want to develop it?) and its accessible to bus routes and other means of transportation that don't require you jump in an SUV and drive 40 miles into the hill country. On top of all of that, there are some very well known golfers that plaed this course and called it home and if there is a sport that is truly historic, it is golf.
I am sure Col Brackenridge will be stoked in heaven when his off spring can get cranberry throw pillows from the fucking
Pottery Barn at Enfield and Exposition....
Golf sucks.
Actually, I have played Lions Muni a couple of times. I have also played Circle C, and Riverside and Cedar Creek in San Antonio.
Lions is challenging because it is so darn narrow. And with the way I play, that means lots of drives onto adjoining fairways.
I hope that Lions gets to stay. Austin ought to buy the land from the univeristy and keep it as a golf course.
Still, that does not change the fact that golf has, and always will be, perceived as a "rich man's sport". Not just because some courses charge outrageous fees or because the newest chromotitaniummolypropyplene driver costs a ton.
Golf takes lots of real estate, real estate that must be watered, groomed, and otherwise cared for so a bunch of rich (and not-so-rich) crackers can go out and whack a little ball with a stick.
That is what golf & golf courses are perceived to be.
Me, I enjoy golf - well, enjoy it as much as I can while I rack up snowmen on every hole...