Although I’m not a resident of Armstrong, Ellen Wood’s letter regarding the Royal York Golf Course brought back some good memories.
In his mid-1980s, my father gave up his membership at the Vernon golf club since he no longer had the energy for 18 holes.
I suggested we move our weekly lunch venue to the clubhouse at Royal York and play nine holes. We enjoyed five years of golf, long lunches and were able to solve most of the world’s problems to boot.
As many will remember, the original course was to be 18 holes but more houses ruled the day. Now they go from nine holes to a pitch and putt. What’s next, a putting green in the parking lot?
Pitch and putts are useless – just ask the folks who ran Lakers in Okanagan Landing.
Good nine-hole courses will be in great demand as the members of the big courses age out.
Any municipality that has one should count themselves lucky. There are many city-owned courses in the U.S. and they are managed on a “break even” basis to keep them affordable for local residents, who generally get a better rate than out- of-town fee players.
I would urge the mayor and council to realize what a gem they have in their town and step up and buy the course now.
To quote Sheryl Crow, “You don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.”
Will Rogers
Vernon