While thousands of families struggle to survive in Grand Rapids, the Capitalist Class builds a members only indoor golf bunker

“I’ve got just the place for low-cost housing. I have solved this problem. I know where we can build housing for the homeless: golf courses! It’s perfect! Just what we need. Plenty of good land, in nice neighborhoods, land that is currently being wasted on a meaningless, mindless activity engaged in primarily by white, well-to-do male businessmen who use the game to get together to make deals to carve this country up a little finer amongst themselves.”          George Carlin

A few years ago Grand Rapids City officials approved a multi-million dollar driving range that would also include a restaurant/bar to “attract people to visit this city. There was a serious lack of truly affordable housing then, just as there is now.

About three weeks ago Crain’s Grand Rapids Business posted an article about a similar project in Walker, Michigan, one that also caters to golfers, but in a much more elitist way. According to the article:

Bunker Social GR and planned future locations will lean into corporate use and larger event bookings, said David Roden, one of Bunker Social’s four founders who is also the director of growth and operations at Concierge Medicine of West Michigan.

“The general golf simulator business model leans towards hourly rentals and it limits corporate use, and larger event utilization,” Roden said. “Our whole model is based around events, corporate accounts and we’ll have corporate office space for when members want to come in and have a small meeting and then hit golf balls.”

Bunker Social GR is a business run by several men and is a 30,000 square foot indoor golf and social club designed for:

• Host Corporate events
• Provide Championship-level simulator play
• Premium hospitality with a bar setting
• Real sand bunkers & short-game training

If you want to be a members there are three different options for membership fees. The ACE membership only costs $4,491 a year, but comes with the most perks, followed by the Eagle membership at a mere $3,141 per year with less perks and lastly the Birdie membership at $1,791 per year with the least perks.

Then there are corporate memberships at three different levels. The Executive membership is just $22,500 per year that provides full access to 10 employees, followed by the Director membership at $11,250 per year for 5 employees, and lastly the Associate membership at $5,625 per year for 3 employees.

Businessmen get to enjoy this elitist game in an air conditioned setting, drink bourbon and discuss ways to screw working class people even more. Just one more indication of how Grand Rapids continues to be designed to benefit the wealthier, more privileged class of people while so many people can’t even afford the basics. It’s a dystopian future for the greater Grand Rapids area unless we organize a real resistance.