Affordable Golf? Let's Talk About It

I'll bet you can't remember the last time someone offered you a chance to attend a golf-industry conference for free. Then again, I'll bet you can't remember the last time you were invited anywhere to talk about affordable golf.

It's a long-overdue idea, and you can thank Richard Mandell, an architect based in Pinehurst, North Carolina, for it.

Mandell's Symposium on Affordable Golf will be held on November 8 and 9, 2010 at -- appropriately, I think -- the Elks Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina. (Southern Pines is just a few miles down the road from Pinehurst.) Mandell calls the event "an open forum on how to look at golf in a different light, one that is more sustainable than many business models that have failed over the past few decades."

Among the topics to be addressed: "The Folly of Replicating Tournament Conditions," "Cost-Conscious Lessons to Learn from the Golden Age," and "Environmental Tasks that Can Also Make the Game More Affordable."

The speakers include Ron Forse, the golf course architect; Ran Morrisset, one of the co-founders of Golf Club Atlas; Jaime Diaz, a writer for Golf Digest; and Ron Boyd, the president of Williamsburg Environmental and one of my colleagues at Golf Course Business Consultants.

"Don't expect a silver-bullet answer at the symposium," says Mandell. "Instead, expect to roll up your sleeves and get busy."

For more information, and to register, visit SymposiumOnAffordableGolf.com.

One other thing: The Elks Club Lodge is next to Southern Pines Golf Club, where the symposium's participants have been invited to gather for 18 holes on Tuesday.

The price: $35. Very affordable.