The Pellucid Perspective - August 2018 - 6

MUNICIPAL GOLF

there are only right questions and relevant applicable data. And
there is no one person or one institution that is in possession of
all of them. I don't claim to be in possession of particularly many,
and even then, the answers to those few relevant questions I can
pose provide nothing more than a complete view of a woefully
incomplete picture. If you want a sure thing give Bernie Madoff
a ring; he has phone privileges.
Okay; so back to the data point that the NGF thought should
assuage us about the health of the municipal golf sector - the
marginally higher number of municipally owned golf courses in
the United States. Technically, that number is a statistic. It's
devoid of meaning in and of itself. It has meaning only in relation to other numbers, and that "meaning" is a complicated one
requiring interpretation, otherwise known as statistical analysis.
The most common form of statistical analysis is one with
which most are probably familiar - the double blind test medical
researchers use to determine the efficacy of a drug or treatment
regimen. Half of the test group is given the drug or treatment
regimen, the other half a placebo or its equivalent. A statistician
would call this the "null hypothesis significance test." Statisticians have formal accrediting organizations and dues like the rest
of us, and professional jargon is a requirement for them too. In
plain English the "test" is nothing more than an objective way
to determine whether the existence of a certain result, such as
the marginal increase in the number of municipal golf courses,

implies the causation for which one is testing.
Unlike the standard double blind test, in which the experimenter can literally take two diametrically opposite roads to determine whether the roads diverge or converge, the golf industry can only know the road already taken in trying to determine
whether the marginally higher number of municipal golf courses
is indicative of anything more than a pattern of dispersal that
reposes more of the game's declining numbers into one species of
golf course at the expense of others that are demonstrably shrinking. The "back-up" effect if you will in which even a declining
number of golfers have to golf somewhere when their favorite
daily fee and non-equity clubs succumb to the creative destructive powers of market capitalism. And that too is a statistic; there
are fewer golfers in America in 2018 than there were in 2008,
unless one includes "Topgolfers." But that's a subject for another
day.
At the risk of violating the Babylonian Talmud's admonition
against confusing evidence with proof, let me suggest that a more
plausible explanation for the seeming disconnect between a verifiable decline in the number of golfers and a marginal increase in
the number of municipal golf courses involves not the health of
the municipal sector so much as its imperviousness to the ravages of market capitalism. Municipal golf courses don't have to
operate in the black; they can stay afloat with public subsidies.
Communities don't like to lose golf courses. Golf courses pro-

Sometimes the best
moments of the job...

...are the ones
you don't get to see.

Your course is more than just a superb collection of fairways, greens and bunkers. To golfers, it's a sacred
place where memories are made. You're passionate about protecting healthy, happy places where we
work and play. We're with you. That's why we back our customers with the full scope of our global
scientific development, technical expertise, business-building tools, education and industry advocacy.

@BayerGolf
Bayer CropScience LP, Environmental Science Division, 2 TW Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. 1-800-331-2867. www.backedbybayer.com. Bayer (reg'd) and the Bayer Cross (reg'd) are registered trademarks of Bayer.
Not all products are registered in all states. Always read and follow label instructions carefully. ©2018 Bayer CropScience LP. ES-118-MULTI-186-A-R1

6 The Pellucid PersPecTive

August 2018

https://www.backedbybayer.com https://www.twitter.com/BayerGolf http://www.backedbybayer.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - August 2018