Simon Wilson: The rewilded golf course of San Geronimo

San Geronimo, where a golf bunker became a sandpit for playing in. Photo / supplied

The golfers fought for years, through the courts and with their pet politicians. But the plain fact was, the San Geronimo golf course in Marin Country, California couldn't rustle up the income to stay in business, so in 2017 they had to sell. The land wasn't covered over with houses or a new Walmart, though. Instead, a non-profit outfit called Trust for Public Land (TPL) bought the site and set about converting it back into a wilderness.

The fairways have been dug up to expose long-buried creeks and endangered breeds of salmon and trout will be reintroduced. The manicured lawns are fast being converted to fields of native grasses, with new tree plantings and meadows of wildflowers; trails are being pushed through the forest for cycling and hiking. The aim is partly recreational – the area is open to all kinds of users – and partly environmental. There's an historic floodplain and wetlands, and the rewilding will make the whole valley more climate resilient while strengthening biodiversity.

The golf course sprinkled 30 million litres of water on the greens every year: that water now helps the salmon get to the sea.

Hippies used to live near here, in the hollowed-out trunks of redwood trees, but they aren't expected to return. Black bears and bobcats, however, have been sighted.

It's not just wilderness. They have a community garden near the old clubhouse and the car park is now home to a food market. One of the bunkers is now a sandpit for kids to play in.

"Projects like these do more than just create habitat and connect people to nature," says the TPL's Christy Fischer, "They create a sense of hope where people can see things getting better."

Streams are being restored and their banks relined with trees. Photo / supplied

California has 921 golf courses, which possibly means it could stand to lose a few without destroying the sport. But Auckland has more courses per capita than California. According to GolfPass, we have 45. We'd have to drop back to 39 to have the same ratio of courses to population as California.

No one's proposing that. But how about this? If all the golf clubs got together, could they nominate, say, three where the land could be put to better public use? If you don't want apartment blocks in your street, are there any golf courses that might be converted to multipurpose parklands for the benefit of all, with wilderness areas, playing fields, playgrounds, a nine-hole golf course and a big chunk of dense and beautifully designed housing as well?

Even if there's no hope of seeing a bear?

The last tee. Golfers in 2017 get in a final round before the course closes. Photo / supplied