It is time to face reality

Dear Editor:

Oakmont needs to face the reality of our current lifestyles.   Golf while a core constituent of Oakmont past is unlikely to be important now and into the future.   We need to downsize this feature before it bankrupts the community.   My suggestion is to design and construct a “premium” golf course close in scale to an executive course, perhaps in the 3,000 yard range, with 18 holes offering a variety of distances.   Oakmont currently has two courses totaling to 9,000 yards.  Most recreational (not tournament players) should find such a course provides enough golfing for those in our demographic.  

The excess property could be designed to provide home sites for housing and selling the land should fund the redesign of the new course.   A side benefit would be more Oakmonters could probably utilize the shorter course and presumably would do so more frequently.  The smaller golf facilities would require less personnel to keep it up and fewer supplies for that purpose.   With the right marketing efforts no doubt others from outside of Oakmont could become interested and spend their golf budgets here, including in the dining facilities.

It is self deception to believe the “good old days” will return.   We must anticipate the realities of our situation and take well planned actions to avoid the potential nightmares we are now confronting.   Yes, it is time to face reality while time is still available to plan.   If bankruptcy became reality no doubt the debtor would take any money offered for our beautiful area and hundreds of acres.  Thus there would be no golf course(s) in Oakmont.  Don’t be surprised to see our status as a “Senior’s Community” similarly disappear along with the higher valuations on residential property.

Dick Green