Mountain View public golf course to end affordable memberships - San Jose Spotlight

Golfers play at Mountain View’s Shoreline Golf Links, an 18-hole course within a 750-acre wildlife refuge and recreation area. Players describe memorable rounds that include wildlife on the fairway, such as geese and a duck, and occasional lost balls in animal holes. Many golfers also value the community formed through regular weekend play, typically starting early afternoon and ending at dusk. The city supports this with “Twilight membership,” offering low-cost monthly rates and flexible afternoon tee times seven days a week. Mountain View residents pay $124 per month and non-residents $135. After nearly 15 years, the city plans to end Twilight on July 1 and also remove the higher-priced Gold membership that allows play anytime the course is open.

"On a recent Sunday afternoon, golfers hit balls that sailed past a gaggle of geese and a lone duck resting on the yellowing fairway of Mountain View's Shoreline Golf Links. The 18-hole course is part of a 750-acre wildlife refuge and recreation area, a feature that many players say is what makes the course memorable and fun."

"None of this is by accident. This close-knit group pays for the same membership program at Shoreline. Dubbed the "Twilight membership," it offers one of the most affordable rates and flexible playing times for golfers. For $124 a month, Mountain View residents can reserve afternoon tee times and play until closing seven days a week. Non-residents can sign up for $135 a month, according to the city's website."

""This is the poor man's course," joked John Schacter, a Twilight member and Stanford resident whose wife teaches at the university. "It's not just professors and doctors. It's also plumbers, salesmen and actuaries." After offering Twilight memberships for nearly 15 years, the city is planning to end the program on July 1. That decision has sparked opposition from a group of Shoreline golfers who say that it was made behind closed doors and without community input."

""It was very sudden and out of the blue," Hormazd Romer, a Sunnyvale resident who was a Twilight golfer until the city recently didn't allow him to renew his membership, said. In addition to ending the Twilight program, the city plans to remove the more expensive Gold membership, which allows golfers to play anytime the course is open."

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