The rise of the Municipal golf course came from the Progressive Era push for Parks in urban areas.In the Late 1850s New York began planned to build Central Park as part of the Progressive movement to build parks in urban areas. Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and other metropolitan cities followed New York’s lead realizing the benefit of parks in urban populations. Parks acted as the lungs of the city, a center point to bring people of all classes together. Parks also offered moral recreation and were a distraction to the vices of the city by keeping citizens out of saloons and brothels. The end of the nineteenth century brought a change in the Protestant criticism or outdoor recreation to a more supportive view towards athletics. A new positive view of the physical and psychological health through sports supported the growth of golf in the 1890s. No longer did the mentality exist of two types of men workers and loafers, now leisure was viewed in a positive light.
Golf exemplified Progressive Era values of a strong mind and healthy body, was democratic, emphasized leisure, and made use of the new public parks being built. Golf courses provided a way for city dwellers to escape urban life and walk the scenic countryside. It was democratic in that it was available to all people of all ages young and old, and men and women. The sportsmanship of the game of golf offered a good test to a person’s character, and offered a wholesome way to exercise. Golf became a leisurely way for all people to get some outdoor recreation. George B. Kirsch quotes in his essay Municipal Golf Courses in the United States: 1895 to 1930 the American Golfer “now most of the players on the municipal links are ‘regular guys’-men of all occupations, rich and poor alike, male and female, youth and old age, all in a melting pot of genuine sportsmanship.”
Municipal Golf Courses in the United States 1895-1930
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Golf Balls
