Want to speed up play in golf? Perhaps the new plan for Houston’s Memorial Park Golf Course could spur golfers to play faster. Just fill the parking lot with parking meters and press players to get their rounds finished before time expires.
That’s right. At Houston’s crown jewel of municipal golf courses — the 1936 John Bredemus design that played host to the Houston Open for 14 years (last one in 1963) and might someday again — golfers will soon be charged for parking on top of green fees and range balls. Parking meters also will be installed in front of the tennis center and fitness center and pool, but the majority of them will be at the golf course. All total, the plan calls for 572 of the nearly 2,200 spaces at the park to get the new meters, which will charge one dollar per hour. Plans call for the new meters to be in place before fall, according the Memorial Park Conservancy, operator and manager of 1,100 acres of Memorial Park’s 1,500 acres.
The parallel parking alongside the roads that lead in and out to the park’s amenities, as well as some other lots, will still be unmetered. So golfers who don’t want to pay to park can take one of those spots, but they might have to carry their clubs a good ways. That’s not exactly convenient, so most golfers, it would seem, will probably opt to pay the meter to avoid getting ticketed.
An even $2 or six hours would allow for range balls before the round and a beverage after play. Fortunately, these are the kind of meters you can pay with a phone app, so golfers won’t have to carry exact change when they get to the golf course. But for golfers who don’t have a smartphone, this could certainly be an inconvenience as they fumble to find the right change or swipe a credit card.
A gift that comes with a small price
But why is this happening? READ FULL ARTICLE AT GolfAdvisor.com
