This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Over the years, as a retired state lobbyist, I have been known to say something like this:  You never know what stupid ideas will emerge at the State Capitol in Salem when 90 citizens gather in one place for a legislative session.

Another bad idea emerged over the weekend.  The Oregonian reported the idea under this headline:  Oregon lawmakers suggest replacing golf courses Pumpkin Ridge and The Reserve with semiconductor factories.

The newspaper added:

“It’s a symbolic proposal — neither golf course appears to be a candidate for redevelopment.”

Still?  Why?

Apparently, what happened was that 20 lawmakers, unhappy with new legislation that gave Governor Tina Kotek temporary authority to designate farmland for industrial development, suggested that she look to high-profile golf courses instead.

Their suggestion probably isn’t realistic – the golf courses are in private hands and the owners have given no indication they would consider selling, regardless of whether or not the land is available to industry.

And both courses, Pumpkin Ridge near North Plains and the Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club in Aloha, are outside the dense cluster of semiconductor manufacturers and suppliers in Hillsboro.

If there was a reason for the proposal, it might have revolved around farmland, where supporters view various risks.

“Farmland has inadequate protections in the bill,” they wrote. “Large, open fields in the Willamette Valley are not purposeless.  These fields are feeding our families, Oregonians, and the world.  A member-only golf course does not.”

Kotek signed Senate Bill 4 on Thursday after it passed the House and Senate by wide, bi-partisan margins. The legislation provides $190 million in grants and loans for chipmakers and their suppliers, $10 million for academic research, and $10 million for industrial site development.

More controversially, the bill gives Kotek the authority to designate hundreds of acres of rural land for industrial development through the end of 2024.

The nationally known Pumpkin Ridge course is 350 acres, according to the lawmakers, and The Reserve is 319 acres.  Each would be big enough for a modest-sized chip factory or a large industry supplier, but there’s no evidence that any developer has ever considered building on them.

Pumpkin Ridge is outside the North Plains urban growth boundary.  It’s among the most prestigious golf courses on the West Coast and doesn’t appear to be a candidate for redevelopment.  Neither does the 36-hole Reserve.

But, again, what this illustrates is that there is no end of silly ideas emerging from the Capitol in Salem.

Do I label this idea from standpoint of my bias?  Yes.  Absolutely.

I support golf and golf courses as a solid way for the public to engage in a game in the great outdoors.  Golf proved to be a salvation of sorts for many people during the pandemic.

So, I say, save golf courses today for the masses, even as land is found for semiconductors (if any more can be attracted to Oregon) and land is preserved for farming.  There is enough land to go around.