A 145-acre California golf course was turned into a public park as local officials seek to open more outdoor spaces

• A closed public golf course in San Francisco has become a park for residents looking for fresh air and a break from isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• The 145-acre Presidio Golf Course is one of the city's courses that was ordered to close during the regionwide shelter-in-place order.
• As people around the world seek outdoor spaces during stay-at-home orders in place, some are calling for golf courses to be turned into public parks.
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Before the coronavirus disease spiraled into a pandemic and a shelter-in-place order went into effect in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Francisco's Presidio Golf Course was open to members of the public to play the game on its hilly, 18-hole terrain.

This past weekend, however, the now-closed golf venue served as a public park as city residents took to open spaces for fresh air after another week in isolation.

—Heather Knight (@hknightsf) April 27, 2020

Using a golf course as an open space during the pandemic isn't unique to the city. Courses elsewhere are also included in the conversation to create more room for social distancing as cooped-up residents venture outdoors for a break from isolating in their homes.

The Presidio Golf Course is one of a few in the city required to close during the shelter-in-place order. It's administered by The Presidio Trust, a federal agency that also oversees much of the Presidio National Park in which the course sits. The park is a 1,500-acre span of land that overlooks the Golden Gate Bridge and is home to tech offices, some residents, and the Lucasfilm headquarters.

—Zach Klein (@zachklein) April 26, 2020

The Presidio Golf Course is not a private club — it's a course "open to public play every day from dawn to dusk." It's welcomed a fair share of high-profile figures in its more than 100 years — Bing Crosby, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, and Bob Hope all golfed at the course.

The Presidio Golf Course is also not one of the six city-owned golf courses in San Francisco, one of which is Harding Park, where the 2020 PGA Championship was slated to be held in mid-May. It's since been postponed until August.

San Francisco, as well as other cities, have attempted to create more space for pedestrians to social distance while in public, such as with its Slow Streets initiative limiting through traffic on some roads.

As it is, many have been taking to the city's parks and existing open spaces on the weekends, pushing the social distancing boundaries in place.

—San Francisco Police (@SFPD) April 26, 2020

Some advocates have been calling for golf courses to serve as housing sites and public parks long before the COVID-19 pandemic set in.

—Nathanael Aff (@nateaff) April 22, 2020

In a land-strapped city like San Francisco experiencing a longstanding housing crunch, that conversation is even more relevant.

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