Today’s episode is another in my series of discussions about Public Golf in America. This version is a special treat, as I have a wide-ranging discussion with one of the smartest, most intriguingly credentialed people working in golf, Mike McCartin, co-founder of the National Links Trust. With a bachelor’s degree in economics from that esteemed school in Durham, North Carolina, and a masters of landscape architecture from Georgia, experience as a working golf course designer and builder with Renaissance golf, and most importantly, being a lifelong golf tragic, Mike possesses the ability to think about golf in romantic, technical, financial and political terms, a rare combination even among the golf architecture crowd.

Co-founder of the National Links Trust, Mike McCartin. (Photo: http://www.nationallinkstrust.com)
We discuss the National Links Trust, and what that organization is doing and plans to do with the public golf courses in Washington D.C., and what role nostalgia and the ability to tell a story play in making a case to decision makers that may lack an emotional investment in what Mike would describe as community assets, not just golf courses. Some of the ground we cover is exclusive to our nation’s capital and its unique political structures, but there are also plenty of thoughts that may scale up and extrapolate out to municipalities across the nation.
Pertinent Links
- National Links Trust Homepage
- National Links Trust Team
- Merchandise Shop at National Links Trust
- McCartin Golf Design
- Schoolhouse Nine
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