Teeing up a compromise

BREC is weighing whether to open City Park Golf Course to people who don't carry a golf bag. The idea could turn the most divisive piece of the City-Brooks master plan into common ground.

Why it matters: For months, the nine-hole course has swallowed the City-Brooks debate. One side wants it untouched. The other wants some or all of the land opened up.

• Sharing time instead of shrinking the footprint gives both camps something. Golfers keep their course. Everyone else gets access to acres of rolling green.
• The timing works. The master plan's early phases focus on the rest of the park, so the course is unlikely to shrink anytime soon, as the plan calls for.

The background: Central Mayor Wade Evans, a BREC commissioner, brought the idea to the golf advisory committee, which wants to explore it. Some commissioners encouraged him to work through the details, including how BREC would divide time between golf and other uses.

The bigger picture: Some golf courses already share their space.

• St. Andrews, Scotland: The Old Course—golf’s most famous ground—closes to golfers on Sundays. Townspeople take over, strolling and picnicking on the links.
• Madison, Wisconsin: A city-owned nine-hole course was reborn as The Glen Golf Park. It hosts movies, concerts and dance classes. On Sunday afternoons and Monday mornings, residents can enjoy the grounds.
• Minneapolis: In winter, Theodore Wirth Golf Course becomes roughly 20 miles of groomed cross-country ski trail. The course hosted a World Cup race in 2024.
• Tahoe: A course there is closed for the winter due to snow events, but also at other times in spring and summer for gatherings.

The local angle: 

• Jenni Peters, owner of Varsity Sports and the unofficial leader of Baton Rouge’s running community, says the course would be a useful place to train.

Grass softens the impact of running and can reduce injuries, she said. High school coaches have even trained barefoot runners on grass to strengthen their feet.

“When City Park was closed for renovations 10 or so years ago, we did hill workouts all the time,” Peters said. “It’s a great one to leave from Dalrymple at the railroad tracks and run over the hills to the other side on Dalrymple. The flat part alongside Lakeshore is a perfect place for sprint drills, and it’s almost one-quarter mile long.”

• Sage Roberts Foley, executive director of Baton Rouge Green, sees room for children’s education and play around a treehouse, a pop-up fruit-tree orchard, lessons on growing fruit at home, and plant and tree sales.

What’s next: The golf advisory committee appears likely to recommend sharing the course. BREC staff would then develop the schedule, rules and programming while balancing access with golf and course care.

The bottom line: The course that divided Baton Rouge could become a place that brings people together. Golfers in the morning. Kids rolling down the hill at the ninth hole on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon.