It’s happening in Scotland and Canada and no doubt multiple jurisdictions in many other parts of the world that we (or at least I) haven’t heard about.

Whether it’s some kind of trend is difficult to say but what is undeniable is that the debate about the value of public golf is not going anywhere any time soon.

Which begs the question (again): what can/should ‘golf’ do about it?

Not for the first time it is noted in this space that the only way public golf can survive and prosper is if golfers make its case.

Governing bodies have a role but in reality, it is at the grass roots that grass roots golf needs to save itself.

So, the first step if you are a golfer is to get involved, and not just those who play the majority or all of their golf at public facilities.

(Submissions are open for plans for Moore Park golf in Sydney at this link https://www.centennialparklands.com.au/mooreparksouth)

Many who are members at private clubs feel public golf is not their concern because their own golf needs are being met.

But I would urge any and all private clubs to undertake the experiment that tireless public golf campaigner Sandy Jamieson devised some years ago.

At the next large gathering of players at your club (presentations are an ideal time) simply ask the crowd to raise their hand if they began their golf journey at a public course.

I confidently predict a majority of the hands in the room will go up.

That’s important not only to stir people’s feelings of personal responsibility to the game but also at a pragmatic level.

If you want your private club to survive and most of your current members come from public golf, what is the ultimate logical conclusion of a shrinking public offering?

But this discussion needs to be about more than self-interest either at personal or club level.

It needs to be about golf’s place in the community and why it is worth not only keeping but investing in.

“At the next large gathering of players at your club (presentations are an ideal time) simply ask the crowd to raise their hand if they began their golf journey at a public course. I confidently predict a majority of the hands in the room will go up.”

The sheer number of courses under threat is an indication that the public golf model is no longer working as it presently exists.

Urban space is at a premium and golf takes up a lot of it so the game needs to be giving back plenty for the equation to work.

And that means the ultimate solution is going to require public golf to learn to share.

(It would be nice also if at least some on the other side of the discussion would occasionally suggest this rather than the binary notion that there is either golf or no golf.)

Monash Council in Melbourne will decide the fate of the Oakleigh course this week and I know one extensive submission that was made to them that would be a fabulous blueprint for all public facilities.

It includes space that can be alternately used for golf and non-golf activities (without negatively impacting the golf) while also encouraging more responsible maintenance of the landscape.

It would invite the community in to enjoy the space, whether playing golf or not.

In short, it makes the course and game a part of the community as opposed to something separate.

If golf can put a positive foot forward with proactive suggestions on sharing space, then those who seek to close it will need to make counter arguments.

And if the question of space has been answered, that will be no easy task.