10 Cities That Devote Prime Urban Land To the Lowest, Worst Use: The World Capitals of Too Much Golf 

"I'm absolutely going to butcher these indigenous names", he says, hilariously, after, with no disclaimer, butchering the pronounciations of Brisbane and Melbourne. 😭

I love these worldwide videos that show the US and Canada aren't always alone in bad urban planning. Could you do a video about which North American cities are moving in the right direction in building transit-oriented development and improving their transit systems?

Delhi is home to some of the world's most corrupt politicians who were responsible for taking away land, often from lower income people, to build massive golf courses in a city stressed for freshwater. I'm not surprised it ranked so high. With that said, Greenspace is desperately needed in most Indian cities. I would gladly welcome more. Hyderabad has a big park and lake at the center of the city, and that's the kind of land use I would like to see more frequently used.

Brisbane has only recently (within the last year) started re-working the Victoria Park golf course a stones throw from the CBD into a massive public park. It's already seeing a lot of use as a community space.

9:05 As a very rare Vietnamese studying North American urban planning for a masters degree, I can add that golf courses in the middle of the city, specifically in airports, within China and elsewhere in SEA or East Asia, serve as "land banks" for future expansions and development. That's also why they have prebuilt public transit infrastructure.

First found your channel looking for info and analysis, but keep coming back for the world class snark. Keep up the good work.

The best part of COVID lockdown was that they opened all of my city's golf courses to use as general use parks / walking trails. My place at the time was right next to one of these courses and it was the first time I got to actually use the space. There were so many more people in the (now) park than there ever were golfers.

Can you do a video explaining why orbital bus routes are so few and far between, even in dense cities when they are potentially so useful? Perhaps combine this question with some more info on why bus and transit routes tend to have the characteristics they have and what goes into choosing them.

Binge watching your videos the past week, I’ve realized how much land in my hometown has been utterly wasted on parking. Hometown is a peninsula, so land is limited, and so much of it is used as parking for a damn Hobby Lobby.

Kraków (Poland) has quite big area of former industrial sediment basins, so called "White Seas" ("Białe Morza"), close to densely populated areas. Since 1990 this area become a semi-wild meadows and forests. Half of the terrain was devoted to a catholic sanctuary, for the other part the city wanted to lent it for a private investor to create a golf course. Btw, there is a rail line going right by with regional trains stopping. After few years, this private investor did not make any progress. Now the local citizens strongly say that they prefer to dismiss the idea of a golf course and preserve most of its semi-wild character, by creating an open-to-public semi-wild park with few sport facilities, like e.g. football, volleyball or tennis fields.

To be fair, Royal Park in Melbourne also contains Melbourne Zoo and a large amount of public open space that is well-used and suitable for its location. But the amount of golf courses throughout the city is gross, especially in the southeastern suburbs

CityNerd should do a video on the effect of property taxes. For the most part property tax is subdivided by "improvements" and "land". Most of the tax based is skewed toward "improvements" but should be skewed toward "land". Taxing the latter encourages efficient land uses and discourages golf courses. Japan tried this to great success (taxing land over improvements). The other issue is that property taxes are created mostly by local governments and "chamber of commerce" types that give their preferred businesses discounts and even no property taxes which is completely corrupt. Moving property tax to more of a state-wide jurisdiction might be a solution. I suspect most golf courses you showed on this video have substantial property tax discounts that were setup by insider local politicians.

The 2 metro lines under the long golf course for Shenzhen is 4 now (Lines 1, 2, 9, 11) Google Maps no longer update its transit layer for Chinese metros). Line 11 is an express line. The good note is that partly due to the wide station spacing of Chinese metros, the stations of those metro lines don't directly serve the golf course, but the high-density development surrounding them.

I would love to see a video with most/least downtown surface parking

The best use of golf courses that I've seen is here in Alaska. In the winter, when all of that space is also unusable for golfers, many courses groom out some cross country ski trails on the greens and let anyone come and ski there. It basically turns the whole space into a public trail system.

Always love your irrepressible, relentless irony!🌟 I’m totally for converting golf courses to parks and housing. The problem is that so many pesticides and herbicides have been used for years to get those lawns a supernatural green that they can be considered brownfield lands. See the debate in Rosemère, north of Montreal. Golf used to be accessible to the lower middle class… in the days when a lower middle class was upwardly mobile.

Depending on how you count it Lansing/East Lansing has more bridges over the Red Cedar and Grand Rivers. A big part of this is the fact that the Red Cedar splits the campus of Michigan State in half, so there are 3 ped only bridges to connect the sides. The remaining ped only bridges are all part of river trail linear parks and most of them are pretty short.

Wee observation from Scotland - while golf courses obviously take up a lot of space, in this country it's not an elitist or exclusive sport at all. The course closest to the centre of Edinburgh is Prestonfield, in a very wealthy area of a wealthy city. A group of four non-members can play a round there, teeing off after 3pm on a Saturday, for the equivalent of $24 each. I grew up on the lowest of incomes in Glasgow, a very poor city, and lots of my friends played golf. They would take their clubs on the bus to one of the many courses owned by the council, and play for the price of a cinema ticket or swimming pool entry. Of course there are snooty, exclusive clubs but it's a sport enjoyed by men and women of every class. One of the starkest examples of Scotland's approach to golf is this; the Old Course at St Andrew's is the most famous course in the world. Next week it's hosting the 150th anniversary of the The Open. But the following Sunday the course has no play on it and becomes a public park, same as every Sunday when it's not hosting a major tournament. You can walk anywhere apart from the tees and greens, though if you do there's nobody to stop you. And on top of that, Scotland's access laws mean that you can walk across *every* golf course at any time, provided you don't walk on the tees and greens and you don't interrupt play.

I just thought you might find it amusing I have four golf courses in my city, one is identically sized to city park and across the street from it, which itself features a zoo, carousel, pool, dog park, and disc golf course. There is a pedestrian only traffic signal that doesn't connect the city park to the surrounding neighborhoods, but instead allows people from the golf course to stumble across to the park with no sidewalks along the street [there is only a strip big enough for the traffic signal on either side]. My 'city' has a population near 150,000. It's honestly kind of insane how much prime real estate here is used for golf, when it could be used to expand the 1930s Public Works Admin Zoo for example.

I got very bored and decided to figure out how many people you could fit in LA area golf courses. Using the same density as the Tempe Culdesac Car free development project you could fit a good 90,000+ people. Just food for thought

Hell yeah! I love it when an urbanist video drops that isn't just dunking on North American suburban hellscapes. To be fair, they suck, but it's nice to know that certain parts of other places suck, too.

the example in melbourne services the zoo and royal park. they’re often really busy and accessible to the public, so I’d say it’s not bad.

Delhi is an interesting case. The first two golf courses you highlighted are Colonial courses that have been maintained for Delhi's elite. The Army golf course is part of Delhi's Cantonment board which up until recently wasn't under any civilian control. Cantonment boards are another colonial oddity - it's similar to US bases. Noida (Noy-da) is a planned city and that area around Golf Course is part of a huge parcel that was sold to developers (There was corruption in the allocation). It used to be farm land about 10-15 years ago which is now surrounded by residential and commercial property. The name is appropriate though, golf courses are a rarity in India and come at a premium. The city doesn't maintain or own them (thank God), so private developers make a killing with service fees. Watch that space, that course might no longer exist in a couple of years. Fun fact: The Prime Minister's residence used to be on 7 Race Course St, Delhi.

Speaking of Eugene, as you mentioned there are 5 pedestrian/bike bridges, but only 4 motor vehicle bridges across the river, 3 of which are freeways and the other has a wide and protected sidewalk for bikes and pedestrians. And to tie it in to the golf course theme, Eugene is in the process of decomissioning a golf course to build a public park and housing (though it's on the edge of town).

By showing KL as number one, I already realized all the cities in the list has a common symptom: segregated wealth class by land. RSGC, which is right next to CDB such as TRX, which is clearly meant the club are for billionaire and high executives. Glenmarie and its multiple golf courses is a far flung wealthy suburb, with including a golf course as amenities in the masterplan (same phenomenon as Shenzhen now) was a trend of their time (that also fulfill the green space requirement quota), their mansion they try to sell are for those with serious money (most medium class don't even set foot to those place before, only those who drive BMW do) Skypark line is an airport transit that comes very recently. (So the reason it got into the list might be invalid with no understood the local context.) The current property trend is mixed development with transit adapted projects (no major scale TOD is started yet), which is a positive trend, but still way priced out beyond most people.

Oh man, Sydney is so so so incredibly infested with golf courses. They interrupt so many foreshore walks and disconnect parks and suburbs from each other. Thank you for nailing cities for this.

Seeing Al Khail be mentioned is a bit of a coincidence for me, because I was playing a UAE map of GeoGuessr Explorer Mode this morning and one of the locations was inside that golf course...a Top Golf inside a golf course is Goldception. The people designing Dubai really don’t know what they want to do with their money. Dubai isn’t a living city, it’s just a place where they dump random projects to waste their money away. And realizing how they build them and the fact they try to hide it makes you sick.

Golf courses are one of the reasons why the Colorado River is drying up. I mean have you seen how many Vegas and Utah have built?! Wow, who knew building a golf course in the middle of the desert would be such a bad idea... Dishonorable mention: Metro Manila, Philippines. That place has too many for its own good. But not surprising they have them too. I mean they were colonized by the US after all, and that American influence is still there. So they see whatever the US does, they must do too

It would be interesting to know what the surrounding area looked like when the golf course was built. Was it the middle of nowhere 100 years ago and now it’s in the middle of a metropolis?

A _bright spot:_ Louisville, Ky. USA used available land (a closed landfill) in the 1990s to build a soccer complex, instead of another golf course, to which all the powers that be here fully expected the land would go. It was a long and involved struggle to make it clear to the set-in-their-ways leaders here that building a collection of soccer fields would create all sorts of new opportunities. The complex brought youth soccer tournaments into the city and greatly boosted neighborhood-based soccer clubs all over town. All this instead of another 19 little holes in the ground separated by acres of manicured grass that almost nobody would use, except those upper middle income dimpled ball whackers.

Thanks for the Eugene, Oregon shout out! Love your channel and appreciate the kind words about our little city. It's not perfect but it's always trying. I'm eager to see if anyone can come up with more Bike/Ped only bridges.

You got Melbourne's Royal Park completely wrong due to a lack of local knowledge. The parkland, sports fields, and golf course separate the conservation-oriented zoo from traffic and heavy construction noise, which would otherwise make it uninhabitable for some species. This area has also been protected from development by multiple community and industrial union pickets, so that historically poor inner city areas can continue to have access to public space. The tram services a range of community and sporting facilities within this site, and the train is the primary access to the zoo, massively reducing both traffic and parking. The golf course is a pretty big conceit, but it's within walking distance of a hospital and a university, so it's in constant use anyway (something like an average of 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, and yes they play under lights for just an ordinary game, and no I don't like golfers either). Although it's nicely manicured, a lot of central Melbourne is basically built on a swamp, and the park is right on a terrain boundary where a nasty volcanic intrusion meets silt and gravel over sedimentary bedrock. Developing the site would actually reduce the value of the land both financially and practically. Our housing market has a large absent investor problem so anything cost-effective to build (at least by existing private developers) will be basically unfit for family use, and there's not much point for most other uses. Also, and again I say this with literally zero sympathy for golfers, but literally all of these look like drainage/absorption basins.

It was a nice surprise to stroll through Fairlop Waters park in East London to see a golf course that has been left to grown into a meadow again with public access. Probably just because became uneconomic but maybe they saw sense and made the space available to more normal people.

I know I’ve asked for it before but please do the equivalent of this video for parking. I think it will be even more eye opening.

In Prague, we have stadium for 250k people and its fully served by public transport. I hope you will reach that number soon!

Your sarcasm and dry wit are always excellent and well appreciated!!!

I know these lists are hard to make but I have a small point to make about Wimbledon London. The parkland that the golf course is sited within predates the underground station. They didn't build a golf course on prime land. They built the golf course, cricket ground and tennis facilities on parkland outside the city. It was a former Mannor belonging to the Earls of Spencer on the outskirts of the city. Over the later 19th and early 20th centuries, the city expanded and much of the parkland was built over. The few remaining bits, such as the golf course, likely survived the urban expansion expressly because they were financially viable. I don't think you would suggest that a 124-year-old golf course (Grade II* Registered Park and Garden, Metropolitan Open Land and a Conservation Area should be removed and covered with posh housing? In fact, something of the sort is happening. The golf course has recently reduced in size from 18 holes to 9 holes because it is going to be built over. The All England Lawn Tennis Club that is next door has plans to build a new 8,000-seater stadium, 38 outdoor courts and 10 ancillary buildings on the former Wimbledon Park Golf Course. The idea that golf is an elitist sport might apply in some countries but less so in the UK. A five-day annual membership at Wimbledon Park would cost you the equivalent of under £11 per week - quite affordable. A visitor can play for £30 a day, which is still quite affordable. Indeed, the proximity of the underground station is mentioned in the promotional blurb for membership, suggesting that the people who are members actually do use the underground.

Nice shout out to Eugene! Autzen is actually right next to Alton Baker Park, with about 15 miles of bike paths along the river. You can connect entirely by bike to both Springfield and north Eugene, as well as the Valley River Center, from Autzen. As an added bonus, we have the Cuthbert Amphitheater right in the park, where lots of great bands come to perform. Right next to the Cuthbert is the Eugene science center and planetarium, a great place to take the kids! Greetings from Eugene, Oregon -- Track Town, USA!

The deadpan comedy and sarcasm is off the charts in this one and I LOVE it. I despise golf courses in general, so this was an awesome video.

Saw a golf ad while watching your video, for a second I thought the singularity had begun! Bravo!

For once, I am going to differ with your analysis to a significant degree. Some of the golf courses you mention predate the transit system and are in outer suburbs which were not built up when constructed. Is it your premise that all non-free-access green spaces found on transit routes be used for housing or high-density commercial use? There are many private inner city large gardens in cities such as London, Paris, Madrid, and Brussel. Should they be compulsorally purchased and built upon if a transit line is constructed nearby?

One of my favorite things is that in South Florida (home of way too many rich old people with way too much money) they are decomissioning golf courses and turning them into cemeteries. It's just too on the nose.

I enjoyed this as your other videos. I share your views, and you crack me up.

Your videos get me through my work week. Thank you!

Pronunciation of Australian cities gave me some good chuckles. Great video as always, thanks!

I dont know if this is within the scope of your channel, but I would like to see a video on the top 10 US cities for water conservation per capita

Melbourne actually used to have a station literally called Golf Links. It's now Willison station on the Alamein line, one of the least-used stations on the entire suburban network. It also has one of the shortest distances between stations in the city, being only about 400m from Riversdale - the story is the station was built for the convenience of influential members of the Riversdale Golf Club who didn't want to walk the extra distance, but given this happened in 1908 it's hard to verify.

Literally did a fist in the air when you got to Wimbledon. Used to work right next to it. The giant obstacle of the golf club really hit home on one day when all the tube lines kept breaking down and I ended up on a bus running down the west side (my office was right near Wimbledon Park Station). Absolutely divides and defines the neighbourhoods around it. It also takes far longer to cross the grassy wasteland (figuring out where you're allowed to walk) than you'd ever dream. Oh and here's another bit of trivia: because it's so hard to get to the park from Wimbledon Park Station, the official station for Wimbledon is actually Southfields.

Reminds me of the Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City. Seeing a golf course right next to Liberty State Park leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. While yes it’s cool to see the MetLife blimp when it hosts a tournament, it’s not worth it. Because Liberty State Park is supposed to be just that, a State Park meant to protect the NJ side of the harbor’s environment. The golf course was supposed to expand into the park’s Caven Point (an important fragile ecosystem) for more holes but thankfully, the owner pulled the plug on doing that

Has this been uploaded long enough for me to have watched the whole thing? No. Am I very happy to be here this early? Hell yes!

I live in Cambridge, England, and I believe there is at least 15-16 ped/cycle bridges across the River Cam in the city, though a few of them are only accessible through different collages. It did make me think though how universities can greatly alter and influence how transit is planned within cities and immediate surrounding areas, and I think a topic about universities with best transit access might be a good topic :)

Golf lover here! I played the course your viewer slammed in Santiago, also one you show in New Delhi and in Kuala Lumpur, and other close-in courses in Cape Town, Edinburgh etc. Small world--blessed with some lovely golf courses!

Hi City Nerd, could you please use metric measures next to the imperial measures you use for your international audience?

Loved seeing my city (Adelaide) get a shoutout on this channel. I used to catch the Grange Train through the Royal Adelaide golf course and always thought it was odd. There's 9 golf clubs in the western suburbs of Adelaide... Always thought it was a lot. A year or two ago I heard through the grapevine that one of them was not doing well financially so maybe that was the free market saying that 9 golf courses is too many?!?!?!?

Thanks for another excellent video!

I live (and was born in Amsterdam) and we have 3 golf courses, all located way outside the city centre, its beautiful to see! Thanks for the video!

Without doing my own research, how many of these were encapsulated by urban sprawl long after they were conceived?

For your pedestrian bridge challenge; check out Edmonton, Alberta. 8 Pedestrian/Cyclist bridges over the North Saskatchewan River, if you include transit-only bridges with walkways. A 9th pedestrian bridge is currently approved to build.

I live in Adelaide and I'm so glad you put in the Royal Adelaide Golf Course. It's so weird going through there. Another great Video

Combining my passion for transit and urban planning with my passionate hatred of golf. This channel is my new home.

Some day in the future city planners and politicians are going to be like “alright we’ve done the research let’s make sure we don’t end up on a list of city nerds”

ClubLink owns a golf course in the City of Ottawa, suburb of Kanata. They want to redevelop the land to use for housing but the people who own houses in the neighbourhood are fighting to keep it a golf course. Even golf course owners know its more economical to use the land for housing than a golf course.

Edmonton might beat Eugene for pedestrian bridges: There are 6 pedestrian/bicycle bridges and 2 LRT/pedestrian/bicycle bridges for a total of 8 bridges without single occupant motor vehicles. A ninth was recently approved.

Great work. Thanks.

I think the strangest part of urban golf courses is that one would assume they could turn a profit by simply selling the land surrounded by towers (NYC land value maxes out around 2,000/sqft), and then buying new land on the outskirts. (And maybe pay for an extension of a train line to maintain city acess). It just seems like pure economics would result in low density used like Golf perpetually migrating away from the city center. (Or upcharging patrons until only the rich pay enough to counter the property taxes they should be paying on a few hundred acres of downtown realestate, which is probably exactly who frequents Dubai's mega golf course.)

Could you do a video about transit projects with the brightest future (maybe by number of stations added/potential daily ridership increase) in the next 5-10 years?

7:41 The deadpan delivery SENDS me

whuah! you surprised me with the bit about Kent! This year I started working in Kent (commuting 30+ min, by car, truly miserable) and my work is right off the trail and I have biked down along that golf course several times and gotten food in that development several times. It's always exciting to see someone talk about a place that is familiar to me! And I had been curious about the development in Kent in that area, so this was awesome to see! Thank you!

Always love to see my home, Eugene, get some appreciation. This place is surprisingly good when it comes to biking around though I sure wouldn't mind some protected bike lanes

Victoria, BC has a couple of ped only bridges, maybe not as many as Eugine, but it makes up for it by having at least 4 centrally located urban golf courses.

Another shoutout for Eugene! The 5 ped/bike bridges are also linked to a beautiful 12-mile multi-use path system along both sides of the river.

I'm right now binging all of your content as I just discovered your channel, and I am just enthralled. I have an idea for a video topic that might be interesting, a comparison of inter-city public transport from rural to urban areas, and vice-versa, within the United States. Seeing what options (or lack thereof) is present from getting from very sparsely populated areas to dense urban centers, without the need for a car. An option that springs to mind from my homestate of washington, with stations going down to the small city of Sumner, and trekking back up to Seattle.

It be interesting to see a video on the most pointless interstates that should be removed from city centers.

Enjoyed the video, well done ("golf malpractice" - I'm totally going to plagiarize that). I'm a little curious about how many of these were cases where the club was originally well outside the built-up area and the city grew around them, rather than being purpose-built in developed locations. I'd imagine the Dubai clubs would fall in the latter category, but many of the others maybe not. Not that I'm supporting golf or leaving these clubs once it's clear that, like London, dense building is critical for sustainability, but I'm not certain how that can be handled, given so many are legacies of earlier times and privately owned. Brisbane Golf Club, for example, was built in 1896 and given it isn't huge even now, I'd imagine the club wasn't so enclosed by the city until maybe in the mid-20th century.

7:26 I'm half-listening while getting ready for a trip when I hear, "...all of the grass and water features you'd expect from the Arabian Peninsula." I love this channel.

I know you can't do international videos all the time - it's not your area of expertise, and as you said, they're hard to research - but I really like them and I hope you can continue doing them from time to time. Sometimes it feels like the internet is just for complaining about America's problems and the rest of us don't get a mention. The low-hanging fruit with a lot of these golf courses would be to just turn them into public parks. That opens them up to SO much more use and enjoyment, and takes relatively little redevelopment. Still not the ideal thing to have smack next to a transit station where housing pressure is the highest, but at least it would be a valuable thing to have in the city more generally.

I don't mind golf courses as long as they're not in the desert. If there are high rise apartments across the street from a golf course, then maybe people chose to live in that apartment because it's close to the golf course. If they decommission a golf course, I would rather have it stay as open space, such as a forest with walking trails. If they have to develop it, a large piece of land in the middle of a city suddenly available for development is an opportunity you shouldn't waste. They should consider big contiguous things like a university instead of breaking it up into small lots.

Golf courses are absolutely beautiful, and it's a shame that these places aren't just parks, or that more parks aren't beautiful just like them. I guess that raises a question, are parks a waste of urban space? The answer is no, but it's not that much different than a golf course. Just in terms of exclusivity. I don't think that having a golf course inside of a city is a great idea, but I also don't think that the cities look very appealing with even less green space. Here's another question, would the space be wasted if it was evenly distributed around the city? I really think suburbs are actually exactly what most people want, it's just that the intense infrastructure required to accommodate them is really awful. I don't think anyone loves parking lots, but would the world be less gray without them? It seems like there would still be dense buildings, except they would be built around pedestrian spaces instead of roads. I guess the whole point is to balance out the way overdeveloped car infrastructure. I just hope that I can live in a place that is more, not less, convenient.

One thing to note at least in victoria australia (melbourne) is that public golf courses, which are at least half of them are completely open to the public, you just won't be able to play.

Would love to see a video on cities/regions with the best public transit access to outdoor recreation (hiking, camping, fishing, etc.) Keep up the great work 😊

Thinking about Seattle's redevelopment, I would love to see a video discussing TOD. Also, Ottawa has a *few* courses. Listed below: - Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club north of the airport, between post-industrial zones - Hyland Course south of the airport, in middle of nowhere -Falcon Ridge across from a casino in middle of nowhere -Pine View in the Greenbelt, in a sensitive watershed, across the road from a rail station -The Meadows east of a new suburb -Emerald Links in another new suburb (Why does a city of 1.5 million need all these courses?) -Stonebridge in another new suburb -Cedarhill in an older suburb -Amberwood in a new suburb -Richmond Centennial in an exurb -The Marshes, built by destroying its namesake -Canadian Golf and Country Club, in an exurb (seriously why are there so many?) -Ottawa Golf Club in a suburb -Loch March in a nature reserve (throws up) -White Sands, which is nowhere near a beach and in the Greenbelt -Mer Bleue in a sensitive wetland -Camelot Club in an exurb -Rivermead separating Hull and Aylmer -Cartier Golf next to Rivermead -Champlain Club next to Cartier -Royal Ottawa next to Champlain (seriously WTF?) The above four straddle a planned tram line. -Les Vieux Moulins in a suburb Other semi-rural clubs I didn't bother to list.

Love these videos! I work in land development and see these types of proposals and plans all day. A list idea I thought would be good is the worst examples of neighborhoods destroyed by highway construction. Downtown Durham NC, where I work, demolished the thriving black neighborhood of Hayti to build HWY 147.

Riverwalk in San Diego is currently working on a project to redevelop the golf course into a mixed use area with 4300 housing units (10% “income based affordable”) and open space parks. Really close to our trolley line. The project has been postponed a bunch of times because of covid, however, they are set to break ground this month (July 2022).

I'm in love with the sarcasm [paraphrased] "This course has just the type of water features and grass you'd expect of the Arabian Peninsula." It's like Arizona, eh?

Could you do a most bikeable cities video? Speaking of Eugene, the biking is pretty decent compared to a lot of cities in the US (I imagine) and it would be cool to see where it ranks.

I can only imagine the good public transit to Golf Courses is so their Caddies and cabana staff can get to work. I highly doubt any one who uses a golf course would ever take public transit.

I’m a non driver so i really appreciate your RU-vid work. Thank you.

When the Maryland purple line opens it will cut through the Columbia country club in chevy chase. In fact they mounted a good bit of opposition to the project despite the fact that it is a former freight railroad that predates the golf course. Nearby in Virginia the hidden creek country club and reston national golf course are less than half a mile from Wiehle metro station.

I do wonder what’s stopping developers buying up this land for development, given its prime land. Surely golf courses aren’t *that* lucrative. Seriously, the land of those golf courses in London is worth 10s of millions.

Great video, what I would find very interesting is the timeline on how it was buit. Because if it is a 200 year old club, build in the middle of nowhere and years later the city grew around it I find it more tolerable then if it was built when there was allegedly city around it. I really hope no other buildings were torn down for any of these.

Quick note about SF at 5:43, every single street around Lake Merced park is filled with RVs 24/7, I think there’s probably 1-2k people living right on the streets literally a fence away from those golf courses. The visual dichotomy is really quite a sight.

I just found this channel and this is the second video I've watched, but I've already subscribed because I love sarcasm

Honestly, the most impressive thing about this video is how many of these places outside the US have real passenger rail infrastructure. It's unreal to me as an American that you actually run passenger trains in your cities. Crazy!

A suburban golf course near me has just been removed to make way to a massive storm water detention pond. It's Houston. I'll take whatever flood prevention we get at this point. Also, I smile every time a golf course is removed. Another great video, as usual!

Watching the footage, I'm pondering is the phrase Urban Oases or Urban Oasis? Thank goodness for the foresight of golfers in city planning!

I am so glad the Grange golf club in Adelaide appeared on your list. When I started watching this video this was the gold course that immediately sprung to mind. BTW, there aetually used to be a station in the middle of the golf course, but it was removed years before I was born.

Willingdon golf court in Mumbai is a serious offender too. its right next to one of the city's major inter city train station and is located in the prime real estate area of the city where average house costs are between 3-4 million USD. the monstrosity doesn't end here though. the city also houses Mahalaxmi race course which is just north of the golf court mentioned above and is right in the middle of the downtown, western side of mahalaxmi station on the Mumbai Suburban railway is just the race course wall .Bad use of space in a city chronically congested

I've always been curious how Dubai and other "modern" Arab developments compare to the USA's. Would love more content singing the praises of their magnificent zoning, monumental highways, and incredible walkability.

Thank you for taking a punch at one of my favorite punching bags. Not only is a golf course a huge waste of urban space but is also a resource hog which is ridiculous in many places where water is in short supply. While yes golf course may be an open space but it is a private open space that cannot be enjoyed by a majority of the population. Hopefully as golfing continues to decline in popularity (hopefully a long-term trend and not just short-term) that it will be easier to get rid of some of the worse golf course waste.

Sacramento area has 6 walk/bike bridges over the American River between the fork with the Sacramento River and the dam at lake Natoma. The river also has a gulf course along part of it.