It has been suggested that I post an article I wrote that ran back in the spring in Tee It Up (http://www.teeitupmagazine.com/), a magazine that comes out of Southern California and is associated with the weekly radio show of the same name (http://www.teeitupshow.com/). So here it is. My apologies for the length but it won’t take too long, promise. And please remember that it was written back in the late winter when the economy, and the golf industry, were worse off and things were cold and looking grim on the East Coast. Perhaps things have taken a turn for the better, but regardless, I hope there still is some food for thought in here. Please let me know what you think…

Here in the Northeast, the snow has barely melted, we’re still measuring wind chill, and flags—if they’re flying over local courses at all—are marking temporary greens. Yet to hear the experts talk, the 2009 golf season is already done. Done as in dead, dormant, disastrous.

2009, I keep hearing, will be the year that golf double bogeys. Or worse, rolls up its fairways and goes home. Before listing your clubs on eBay, though, take a breath. Yes, the economy is shakier than one of John Daly’s marriages. But maybe there’s a bright side to all this.

The news of the past eight or so months has been pretty lousy. Not just to your 401k, but to your favorite game. We’ve all heard the stories: PGA Tour sponsors facing bankruptcy, Senatorial tongue-lashings, and public opprobrium (even if you like Sheryl Crow). Courses are going out of business and private clubs are losing members—especially the guys who used to pay their initiation and dues, to say nothing of Junior’s private-school tuition, with the big bonus that (uh-oh) isn’t coming this year.

Golf communities are going belly up or halting construction with houses half-built. Resorts have had to lay off staff or face the risk of having more waiters than diners in the restaurant, even in high season. Fairways are being mown in only one direction to save gas. And when families are tightening their belts, breaking into their piggy banks, and buying Cheez Whiz instead of Roquefort, the weekly round—or the club membership—is an easy cut.

The problems didn’t start when Lehman Brothers fell. Despite claiming the most recognizable athlete on the planet, golf hasn’t exactly been roaring like a Tiger the last few years. Rounds and participation have been flat or down for some time. We’ve been hearing for years how for every woman who comes into the game, one leaves. And despite feel-good programs like The First Tee, child-sized clubs and reams of consultant-prepared white papers, I’m not convinced that a whole bunch of kids are taking up the game. (If we can’t get them to ride a bike, toss a ball around, or go for a walk—hell, if their only “sports” are indoors on Nintendo—then the next generation is not going to save the game.)

Don’t bother pulling the reports off the shelves, trotting out the experts, or bombarding me with MBA-speak from a cacophony of consultants. From where I’m sitting and where I’ve been playing, golf’s numbers have been slipping for some time. For the past few years, the unpretentious little club I belong to has been asking members to bring in new blood while offering financial incentives to prospectives. We’re not alone.

And please don’t throw TV ratings at me. Although that’s one area where golf is healthy, we all know it’s a one-man show: When Tiger’s not rattling the cage, the rest of the zoo doesn’t attract as many watchers.

But didn’t I say something about a bright side?

In the short term, those of us who love golf should find it a lot easier, and less expensive, to play. Just about every other day there’s a story in a newspaper (remember those?) or online about courses offering unprecedented deals. The Sacramento Bee ran a story a few weeks ago about local private clubs cutting fees, including one Catte Vadera that slashed its initiation from $47,000 to $20,000 (and most of that could be deferred). A website in Naples, Florida, reported that the ultra-luxe Tuscany Reserve golf community is offering a three-year trial membership for $35,000—refundable at the end of the test period. And the New York Times wrote that Glenwood Country Club in Old Bridge, New Jersey, about 40 miles from midtown Manhattan, is advertising initiation-free memberships on the radio and raffling off a membership online.

Resorts are putting together very affordable packages, and we can expect more if others want to avoid the fate of the famed Greenbrier, which recently declared bankruptcy and was sold to Marriott. Last year’s woods, irons and putters are already on sale—as are some of this year’s. Country clubs that depend on catering revenue are cutting costs for hospitality, so this might be a good year to throw that wedding or bar mitzvah: at least take some friends out to dinner—on you!

Perhaps best of all, courses should be wide open. No crowds. No playing behind foursomes thinking they’re putting for the U.S. Open trophy on every green. No blaming the eight-hour round for keeping you from mowing the lawn.

When the madness ends (and it will, eventually), golf could be affected almost as momentously as industries like mortgage-lending and automobile manufacturing.

Admit it, we’re all taking perverse glee in the comeuppance of the Wall Street types who brought their masters-of-the-universe attitude to golf. Even if we’d never pay it, there’s something obscene about a $750,000 initiation fee, no matter how good or private the club is. I know it’s unfair to judge the whole country by what happens in my backyard, but the recent crop of rich-boys clubs around New York City enforced the notion that golf is only for a privileged few.

Although golf equipment has never been better, it seems that there’s something new to lust after every few months, even weeks. I’m certainly not hoping that the economic tsunami tosses manufacturers against the rocks, but maybe a business climate that’s less obsessed with short-term profit would result in more regard for the average golfer who can’t pony up $500 for a new driver or $900 for a set of irons every fiscal year.

Nothing would be better for the game, and for the earth, than if we all took a good look at course maintenance. Owners could save a bundle if they changed their habits. Augusta National should not be the model, either economically or environmentally. Superintendents and architects have already taken the lead, making courses safer with saner uses of land. Now we golfers have to learn to enjoy a little hardpan and a lighter shade of green (or brown). It seems to work pretty well in Britain.

A good smack upside our collective heads wouldn’t be a bad thing for the game and those of us who play it. But will we still be playing when the Dow Jones stops being the Down Jones? Will golf survive?

As others have noted, it survived the Great Depression, even grew in those years of high unemployment and low consumer confidence thanks to the federal dollars and government-funded labor that built courses like Bethpage Black, site of this year’s U.S. Open. And lest we forget, the stressful and troubled ‘30s and ‘40s were followed by the placid 1950s, which was a very good time for golf. That decade featured Hogan, Snead and Zaharias, and introduced us to two young men named Palmer and Nicklaus.

The game was also helped immeasurably by a president who openly loved it. While no one expects there will ever be an Obama Cabin at Augusta, our young, vibrant president enjoys his rounds: As a man of color and youth, he could have a tremendous effect on golf’s appeal.

I’m not saying it’s all going to happen. But golf could come out of this mess with high hopes. Those are hopes we’d all like to believe in.