Green Zones: A Map of the US Military’s Golf Courses

From California to the Korean DMZ, the Pentagon runs nearly 200 golf courses.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/expertinfantry/5439698684/sizes/z/">Expert Infantry</a>/Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

The United States military is undeniably massive. In 2012, the Pentagon spent 4.4 percent of our GDP on defense, with hundreds of billions going to contractors for assorted weapons, equipment, and essentials. What is not known is exactly how much money funds the military’s international golf habit. Mother Jones has found that the Pentagon currently operates at least 194 golf courses and 2,874 holes of golf worldwide. Hover over any flag to tee up more information about the location, name, and size of these courses.

Source: See all data

Nearly all of the military golf courses are on US bases. Unsurprisingly, most are in the United States. However, greens can also be found throughout the Middle East, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. They somewhat coincide with strategic military locations, leaving states like Florida, Hawaii, and Virginia and countries like Germany and Japan covered with flags. The military’s Morale, Warfare, and Recreation and Marine Corps Community Services programs, which run the courses (as well as library programs, youth programs, fitness centers, and bowling alleys), say they are designed to maintain troop morale and combat readiness during stressful situations or down time.

According to MWR officials, military golf courses must “generally” be self-supporting; however, they are quite expensive to run. As journalist Nick Turse pointed out in 2008, fairways and greens regularly need refurbishing. The US Golf Association estimates a standard 18-hole course can cost around $384,000 to $636,000 a year in maintenance fees. (Building a golf course can cost $1.6 to $4.5 million.) Just last year, the Pelican Bay Golf Course at Florida’s Tyndall Air Force Base shut down after running a $270,000 average annual deficit since 2006.

The quality of military golf courses can differ dramatically, ranging from the sprawling 54-hole championship complex outside Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, DC, to a couple of holes plopped in the highlands of Mosul, Iraq. The terrain is further varied. The military operates its golf courses in volcanoes, surrounded by landmines, and just outside the notorious detention center in Guantanamo Bay. It also boasts the “World’s Most Dangerous Golf Course“—a single par 3 just below the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea.

Estimates of the total number of courses vary. In 1975, Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire called out the Pentagon for spending $14 million a year to maintain 300 courses. Today, the most commonly reported number of courses is 234, but a thorough search turned up 194.

For more information, check out our list of military golf courses below. If you know of a course that’s not here, leave a comment.

 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate