Golf for the Homeless?

According to today's Times, less people are playing golf in the United States.

Over the past decade, the leisure activity most closely associated with corporate success in America has been in a kind of recession.

The total number of people who play has declined or remained flat each year since 2000, dropping to about 26 million from 30 million, according to the National Golf Foundation and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

More troubling to golf boosters, the number of people who play 25 times a year or more fell to 4.6 million in 2005 from 6.9 million in 2000, a loss of about a third.

The industry now counts its core players as those who golf eight or more times a year. That number, too, has fallen, but more slowly: to 15 million in 2006 from 17.7 million in 2000, according to the National Golf Foundation.

If George Carlin was right in his famous bit, this is terrific news. According to him, golf is an "arrogant, elitist game that takes up entirely too much room in this country." I, myself, am a huge fan of hitting balls at my local driving range and I also couldn't be more fond of miniature golf. Intuitively, one would think that I would have a natural affinity towards golf. However, I find myself agreeing with Carlin. Even the Times notes that it is a "leisure activity" (notice how they did not say, "game") mostly associated with "corporate success."

Is Carlin's bit about sacrificing all the golf courses in America for the homeless, for prisons, and other projects that benefit the community that farfetched? There are approximately 23,000 golf courses and clubs in the United States! 23,000!

If we could suddenly demolish all of those, what would you do with all the room? Seriously.