Now, after reconstruction, the low areas of the western half of the course serve as collection basins that can temporarily hold more than 200 acre-feet of water before draining out at a rate the below-ground infrastructure can manage (tees and greens are elevated above the waterline). The century-old neighborhoods around the course, where golfers have played since 1913, regularly took in water during major storms. The entire course was renovated beginning in 2017 as part of a $46-million stormwater project to mitigate flooding (funded by normal water utility fees). In the case of City Park Golf Course, it also protects surrounding property values. That fight for Sharp Park stayed execution but also led to severe restrictions on how the grounds could be maintained. The San Francisco Public Golf Alliance, a group co-founded by Harris and attorney Bo Links in 2007 that advocates for the well being of the city’s municipal courses, led efforts to successfully defend the course against four lawsuits and preserve its existence. Legislation was introduced in 2011 to shutter the course after outside groups sued because of the presence of two endangered frog and snake species, freshwater animals that migrated to a former saltwater lagoon after Sharp Park had been built. Averaging close to 35,000 rounds a year, the course has been chronically underfunded by the city of San Francisco, leading to deteriorated playing conditions and a broad sense of golf anomie. White clover grows in most of the fairways, sprinklers sometimes fire at odd intervals and trash bins overflow with debris, waiting to be emptied by volunteer golfers. Rows of twisted cypress, frozen in wind-whipped postures, clog the golf holes.
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