Shoreline to end affordable golf memberships

Mountain View is ending two of Shoreline Golf Links’ lower-cost membership options on July 1, according to the city and the course’s published membership schedule. The change will eliminate the Twilight plan, which now gives members afternoon access seven days a week, and the Gold plan, which allows play anytime the course is open. Existing Senior and Silver memberships will also be limited to weekdays, removing their current weekend-after-super-twilight access. (shorelinelinks.com) Golfers who use the plans say the move will make it harder to book affordable rounds and will break up a regular playing community at the city-owned course. (sanjosespotlight.com) ### Which memberships are being cut on July 1? Shoreline Golf Links’ current membership page lists Gold, Silver, Senior, Twilight, Junior and Quarterly options, with Gold offering seven-day access and Twilight offering play up to one hour before posted twilight times seven days a week. The same page says Silver and Senior members can now play weekdays anytime and on weekends and holidays after super twilight. San José Spotlight reported on May 22 that Mountain View plans to remove both Twilight and Gold on July 1 and to limit Senior and Silver memberships so they no longer include weekends. (shorelinelinks.com) Shoreline Regional Park Manager Brady Ruebusch told the publication the new fees would be publicized June 1. ### How inexpensive was the Twilight plan? The posted Shoreline Golf Links membership schedule lists the resident Twilight membership at $124 a month for a single player and $197 for a family, with a $59 initiation fee. (shorelinelinks.com) The non-resident Twilight plan is listed at $135 a month for a single player and $216 for a family, also with a $59 initiation fee. John Schacter, a Twilight member and Stanford resident, told San José Spotlight the plan functioned as “the poor man’s course.” Schacter said the membership drew a mix of players, adding that it was “not just professors and doctors” but also “plumbers, salesmen and actuaries.” (sanjosespotlight.com) ### What are golfers saying about the change? Hormazd Romer, a Sunnyvale resident, told San José Spotlight he learned the Twilight program was ending when he tried to renew his annual membership and was told renewal was no longer possible. (shorelinelinks.com) Romer said the decision felt “very sudden and out of the blue.” A group of Shoreline golfers told the publication the decision was made without community input and would affect the informal network of players who regularly met on weekend afternoons and played until dusk. (sanjosespotlight.com) The article said the Twilight membership had been offered for nearly 15 years. ### What alternatives still exist at Shoreline? Shoreline Golf Links still advertises a separate Player’s Club for $46 a year. The course says that program offers reduced greens fees every day, one hour of early twilight seven days a week and eight-day advance reservations. (sanjosespotlight.com) The posted rate table lists resident Player’s Club twilight rates at $25 on weekdays and $28 on weekends, below regular posted twilight prices. The city’s broader Shoreline at Mountain View site describes the park as a 750-acre wildlife refuge and recreation area along San Francisco Bay. (sanjosespotlight.com) The golf course sits within that larger Shoreline complex, which the city says is operated as part of its Community Services responsibilities. ### Who controls Shoreline and what happens next? The City of Mountain View says the Shoreline Park District is a separate legal entity that stewards Shoreline Park and that the Mountain View City Council serves as the district’s board of directors. (shorelinelinks.com) The city also says Shoreline Golf Links is part of the public facilities operated within Shoreline at Mountain View. June 1 is the next date golfers are watching. Ruebusch said new membership fees would be made public then, and the current Twilight and Gold plans are scheduled to end one month later, on July 1. (mountainview.gov) (sanjosespotlight.com) (mountainview.gov)