I live within 10 minutes of Audubon Park and I have played at least 125 of rounds of golf on the old course @ Audubon. This was a very dangerous golf course! I generally play golf only one to two times a week, yet even with this limited amount of play I can regularly hit a golf ball 300+ yards. The problem is I do not always hit these balls straight. I will never forget the time I hit an older gentleman in the face with an errant golf ball; I was hitting my "drive" on hole #1, as he walked out from behind a tree from the 18th fairway. At first I thought I had killed him, but he was lucky enough to have been hit on the soft part of his cheek and not directly on a bone. The fact that your organization believes that the "old lay out" of Audubon Golf Course was safe shows a complete lack of consideration for the safety golfers and the general public.

This was a 100-year-old golf course that was in desperate need of a total renovation, and a vast majority of Audubon golfers are very glad to see it finally being done. The old course layout had no drainage or water delivery for any of the fairways. They were always either "dry as a bone" or "as wet as a sponge". In terms of your arguments about the displacement of the birds and wildlife in Audubon Park, I would like to point out that, "Ducks don't live in puddles". The lagoons that are presently being added to the course will easily make up for the standing puddles of water, mud, and mosquitoes they are replacing. $500,000 in new trees, along with theses new Lagoons will attract even more natural wildlife into Audubon Park.

The greens had no drainage: even with normal amounts of summer rainfall they would always rot out, and turn brown in the sun. If it were not for the large amounts of green dye used in the water that was applied to these greens (except for hole #15), they would have been nothing but brown grass and sand. Even when the Audubon Golf Club attempted to rebuild an older green, the complete lack of drainage made it impossible for grass to grown and the for the green to be maintained. The 12th green was totally rebuilt during the early 1990's, but because of this lack of underlying drainage this green never was able to grow, and was a sad embarrassment for any golfer to play upon. Your organization also claims that the public was not adequately notified about the impending course improvements. Well then how did myself, and many others in the community know all about it, including the week the construction was planed to begin? The Times Picayune ran two very large stories that the "non -golfing " public would never have noticed. I believe one of these stories was in the Living section while the other was located in the Sports Section. The fact that your organization failed to see these two large stories, shows that your organization had it head in a "sand bunker" is very good at "selective listening".

I ask your organization to look at the history of Audubon Zoo. There was a time in the 1960's and 70's when it was considered to be "A Prison for Animals", and a "disgrace" to the people of New Orleans. Take the same arguments that you are using against the Audubon Golf Course renovation and apply them to the restorations and new building that have been done at the Audubon Zoo. Using your organization's same arguments, you should have been opposed the renovations that have been done to make Audubon Zoo one of the "top 10 in the country". So why are you starting to protest now? Is it that Saveaudubonpark.org is "Anti-golf"? In my opinion, the only loss to the public by these badly needed improvements is the loss of the Hurst Walkway. This walkway should have been removed many years ago. The main problem with putting any public walkway through any part of Audubon Golf Course is that some of the "non-golfing" public will not remain on the walkway, they like to "wander". I have seen thousands of tourist and locals alike, walking through the marked fairways of the old golf course after gaining access from this walkway. They did this without paying a required Greens Fee, and were completely oblivious to the danger they were putting themselves into from flying golf balls.

These constant intrusions from these walkers were very disruptive to the people who were trying to play a round of golf. It was this access to the golf course from the Hurst Walkway, along with some of the "non-golfing" public's lack of respect or understanding for the game of golf, which caused these disruptive intrusions. The irony to this is that most of these same people would never think of walking though a field to disrupt a game of baseball, football, or soccer. I am also quiet certain they would never be rude enough walk though the middle of someone else's family picnic, but this is what they routinely did on Audubon Golf Course.

In conclusion, I find most of if not all of your arguments against the renovations of Audubon Golf Course are based on a lack of respect, and knowledge for the game of golf. I respectfully ask your organization to stop using emotionally charged and one-sided arguments to try to halt the renovations at the Audubon Park Golf Course. These renovations were badly needed, long overdue, and the faster they are completed the quicker we can all go back to enjoying the Park.

Sincerely,

Andrew Brott

p.s. Don't worry I am making sure to send this same letter to everyone on you list, including Ron Forman.