California Alliance for Golf

The subject of Arnold Schwarzenegger bores me. I wrote ceaseless columns on this site warning Republicans and conservatives that he would govern as a liberal and operate as a Trojan Horse for the Dems. During an appearance on the now-defunct CNN show Inside Politics, I said that he could become "the Jim Jeffords of the West Coast." For my troubles, I was dismissed as an out-of-touch, maniacal, abortion-obsessed pinhead.

Time to yell fore!

May 13 was National Golf Day, according to a release from an organization called the California Alliance for Golf.

Reporting from Washington -- In today's economy, golf is in the rough. And with a bad lie. Once-haughty country clubs are offering specials. Courses have closed or cut back on maintenance. The world's top golf ball manufacturer has seen demand for souvenir balls stamped with company logos drop off.

Golfers once yearned to enter the doors of country clubs, eager to pay hefty money to wander pristine fairways and retreat to comfortable clubhouses. Now private clubs throughout the Bay Area face a sobering new reality: Existing members are contemplating leaving and newcomers are hard to find.

The so-called golf tax is, as the Southern California Professional Golf Association put it on a recent release, "not quite dead yet."
The proposed tax on golf play and services wasn't a part of the budget passed in April, but supporters of the game are gearing up to fight it again now that the California Golf Tax Commission appears to be re-examining the idea.
 

It seemed appropriate that a panel examining ways to overhaul the state's tax structure met Thursday in the academic confines of UC Davis rather than the politically charged Capitol.

In a victory for California’s golf business and consumers, legislators rejected a proposed tax on golf-related activities that was intended to help reduce the state’s massive budget deficit.

California golfers dodged a wayward shot last week when lawmakers opted not to include in the state's budget a sales tax on greens fees, practice balls, cart rentals, lessons and private-club membership fees and monthly dues.

Some of the most exclusive country clubs in the Sacramento region have opened their golf courses to nonmembers as owners struggle for survival in a flagging economy.