Going for golf

In 1966 I came to Malta, bought some land and built a house. From then on, I have watched buildings of all kinds being constructed everywhere else and have known of areas being overbuilt to the extent that none of the promised social amenities have been provided.

For example, friends of ours who built a house in Misrah Kola, Attard, about that time, were assured that their neighbourhood would be supplied with a playing field, a children's playground, a hall and, I think, a church.

We all watched as possible ground sites for all the social amenities disappeared under rows and rows of houses. Most of the promises came to nothing.

Some years ago, someone in authority said there were over 8,000 workers in the construction industry and that these workers' jobs had always to be considered.

Someone else in authority said that if these and other workers did not have jobs, he was prepared to pull down the bastions and have them rebuilt to ensure enough tasks for such workers.

These statements show the position of the country as it is now. These facts should answer those asking why this, that or the other, has or has not been done.

What has happened, and what is happening, is that this constant essential building is meant to keep thousands of people at work, just as the dockyard jobs have been kept going over the years. With so much building, we are rapidly losing precious ground. This brings me to today's controversy. Should there be golf courses taking up a lot of land or should there not?

Personally, I am sick of land being gobbled up to be replaced by appallingly hideous buildings with thousands of eyes for windows reminiscent of films like Star Wars.

There is nothing beautiful in these squashed together monstrosities and there can be little pleasure in anticipating similar monstrosities in the future. It makes one yearn for wide open land where it is possible to see the blue sky at its best and wide open land, of course, is what golfers enjoy.

We are not all golfers. I, for one, was persuaded to play the game a few times but could never concentrate enough to be able to forget what I thought I should be doing back at home. A round of golf can take up about three hours of a morning or an afternoon and is really perfect for those on holiday but not for many housewives at home. Nevertheless, golf is a real fresh air sport and ideal for people with the necessary hours to spare.

What really puts me on the side of golf courses, however, is the fact that they need so much land! On the stern condition that they are built to stand for at least 50 years, without any question of them being built upon for housing or other purposes, I shall be for them wholeheartedly. I think that under very strict conditions of permanence there should be six golf courses in Malta and at least two in Gozo. Builders will still have enough land for their needs.

Some years back we were in Los Angeles. At the time we were told that the city was 70 miles across and, as we travelled across it, we felt it could go on forever: buildings, roads, houses, concrete. We took a bus to visit a friend living in a small new estate.

Suddenly I realised there was a green field on our left, then we turned left again and the field seemed to stretch for ever, it was encircled by a wire fence. It was the first sign of natural land we had seen for miles. We asked our friends what the field was doing there. "Oh, it's a golf course!" they said. I shall never forget; it looked so beautiful after seeing miles and miles of concrete.