If the Obama Administration ran a golf course…A parable for modern times

There once was a great public golf course named Liberty Links.

Although this course was not a country club it was an old and well established course that had difficult holes, was well respected among all golfers and even envied by some country clubs. Even thought the course was public the course Superintendent kept the green fees a little higher than other public courses to allow the greens keeper to make sure the grounds were immaculately maintained. The Superintendent also surrounded the course with a fence so that golfers couldn’t sneak on and play for free. Golfers considered it a luxury to play at LL because the course was challenging, it was beautifully maintained and even though it was a little higher price – it was still cheaper than a country club.

Eventually the Superintendent retired and a new Superintendent was appointed. The new Superintendent had never run a golf course before. In fact he had never run any business but he had played a lot of golf, he was a nice guy and had some friends who spoke highly of him so he got the job.

The new Superintendent had always had friends who allowed him to play the best courses for free and he had a different view of things. He made the following changes…..

- He felt that everyone should be able to play such a nice course so he lowered the green fees to make the course more accessible to more people.
- If people couldn't afford to pay the green fees he would even allow them to play for free
- He felt the course discriminated against people who were not good golfers so he made all the holes the same par. He also made them easier and shorter with much larger cups to put into
- He felt the fence around the grounds were too expensive to maintain and could be construed as discriminatory so he had it torn down

Within a couple of months the following happened…..

- Word got out that the green fees were cheaper and the holes were easier so many more people started showing up to play
- The people liked the easy course and it gave them a big ego boost to shot a low score even if it was an easy course.
- Soon word also spread that you could even play for free and even more people showed up to play
- The new Superintendent patted himself on the back for making brilliant decisions

Within a couple more months something very curious happened….

- Even though more people were playing at the course, because green fees were greatly reduced, revenue went way down
- Because there were more people playing the course received lots more wear and tear and there was little revenue to take care of it
- Soon the golfers who still paid green fees stopped coming because they were the only ones paying when everyone else was playing for free
- The course quickly became unplayable as there was no money to keep the greens and fairways cut, watered and fertilized
- To make matters worse, since he took the fence down, the goats from the neighboring farm had invaded the golf course and set up a herd

Fearing he would lose his job the new Superintendent next came up with another brilliant plan…..

- He quietly “borrowed” money from one of the other local golf course accounts (this was not approved but he figured he would pay it back after all his brilliant plans). This had been done before but only with approval of the city and never in such large amounts.
- He used some the money to spruce up the course a bit but not much.
- He used most of the money to buys gifts for the golfers who would come and play
- He used the goats to keep the course grass under control and he even used some of the money to feed them
- Some of his employees and some of the other golf course Superintendents found out about the illegal “borrowed” funds and threatened to tell on him unless he gave a percentage of all the money he took in to them.

This went on for a few years until the new Superintendent retired. When the new Superintendent took over here’s what he found…..

- The course was destroyed. It might be able to be repaired but it would never return to it’s former grand stature and reputation.
- Golfers and other golf courses who once respected the course now considered it a joke
- The illegal borrowed funds exceeded the value of the course and were so large they could never be repaid. Even worse the city decided to spread the debt out among the cities other departments putting a severe strain on all their budgets as well.
- Some of the employees and other course Superintendents had grown rich extorting funds from the course. Those funds would never be recovered and those people would never be brought to justice.
- He tried to get rid of the goat herd. Unbeknownst to the previous superintendent the goats had saved and stashed some of their food in different places all over the course. Now they spread out and started new herds everywhere gobbling up everything in their path. The goats were there to stay.
- The new Superintendent tried to change the holes back to harder holes but the few people who did show up to play said he was discriminating against poor golfers and they got him fired.

The moral of the story…..

This once proud, pristine and immaculate golf course is now a goat path because of the poor decisions of one Superintendent.

You can see where this is headed folks. There's only one way it can end.