The California Alliance for Golf

10/08/2026

Congratulations to the GCSAA and its members and staff as they 100 years!

10/05/2026

10/04/2026

The 6:56 a.m. tee time. Dew still on the grass. Nobody ahead of you, and the whole day behind you hasn't happened yet.

Some golfers swear by first off the sheet. Others want the sun high and the green speeds true. There is no wrong answer — there is only your answer.

First off or last out: when do you play your best golf?

10/03/2026

Hickory shafts. Plus fours. A canvas bag resting on the grass, exactly the way it did a hundred years ago.

Spotted on a California public course: proof that some golfers don't just play the game — they keep its history alive.

Caption this photo. Best one in the comments gets featured in our next post.

10/02/2026

Golf courses are more than a place to play 18.

They’re where junior golfers learn the game, friends meet for a round, families spend time together and communities come together around a game they love.

What does having a golf course in your community mean to you?

10/02/2026

A great round can mean a lot of different things.

Maybe you shot a personal best. Maybe you finally made that birdie you've been chasing. Maybe you played with people you haven't seen in months.

Or maybe you just got four uninterrupted hours on a golf course.

What makes a round a great one for you?

10/01/2026

Worth being clear about what AB 1954 is not: a bill against technology.

From the NGCOA's Golf Business Weekly, in a recent member guide on online tee-time agents:

""The technology itself isn't the problem. The problem is when it happens without your knowledge or consent... A formal relationship — even an informal but documented one — turns the same technology from a liability into a legitimate sales channel.""

That is precisely the tool AB 1954 offers California's publicly owned courses: not a ban, but the leverage to require the relationship — so reservation technology serves the course and its golfers, rather than a reseller.

The NGCOA's full story is linked at CAGolf.org.

09/30/2026

"Wh**ky is for drinking; water is for fighting" — the quip long attributed to Mark Twain has rarely been more apt.

On July 31 the federal government issued its plan for the Colorado Basin after the current agreement expires: a 10-year framework, adjustable every two years, with potential cuts for the Lower Basin states of up to 40 percent. For the first two years, California cedes 10 percent of its allocation, Arizona 27 percent, Nevada 17 percent; the four Upper Basin states cede nothing.

Nevada has already filed suit in federal court. Arizona's leaders are divided between calling the plan ""a pretty good outcome"" and vowing to fight it ""by every legal means necessary."" California — holder of the river's most senior rights — continues to do what it has done for three decades: cede water voluntarily, cede rights never, and stay out of court.

How this resolves will shape water in the Southwest for a decade. CAG is watching closely. Full analysis at CAGolf.org.

09/28/2026

Signed into law.

Yesterday morning Governor Newsom signed AB 1954, the Protecting Access to Reservations Act — authored by Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego) and sponsored by the California Alliance for Golf.

What it means: no third-party platform may list, advertise, promote, sell, or transfer tee-time reservations at California's publicly owned golf courses without the written authorization of the course operator — and operators now have legal recourse against violators. The reselling that priced everyday golfers out of their own municipal tee sheets in 2024 is now, in California, an unfair business practice under the law.

This journey began in a Sacramento meeting room in October 2025. It ends with every legislative vote unanimous and the Governor's signature.

Our thanks to Assemblymember Ward for championing the bill, to Governor Newsom for signing it, and to the municipalities and organizations that stood behind it — the City and County of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Clemente, Thousand Oaks, the League of California Cities, the California State Association of Counties, and many more.

Public tee times belong to the public. That is now the law of California.

Read the chaptered bill at CAGolf.org.

09/27/2026

The tee sheet is wide open and you get first pick.

Are you taking the first tee time of the morning? Waiting for the day to warm up? Or heading out later to catch the last few holes before sunset?

What’s your perfect tee time?