By Anne DeVries
On September 10, ACL Live at the Moody Theater filled up with boots and bolo ties for a shared cause close to West Austin's heart: saving Lions Municipal Golf Course, known to generations of Austinites simply as Muny.
The Muny Conservancy's fifth annual Imagine Muny gala drew golfers, musicians, and neighbors for an evening of cocktails, a live auction, and a concert headlined by Tanya Tucker, Wade Bowen, Jack Ingram, and Ray Benson's Asleep at the Wheel. All in service of a 102-year-old course Conservancy leaders call one of Austin's most treasured green spaces.
Emceed by Ed Clements, the gala drew a crowd as broad as Muny's appeal. State Rep. Donna Howard, Austin City Council Member Marc Duchen, longtime UT supporter Kenny Jastrow, Mack and Sally Brown, and Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbott were among those on hand.
The stakes are more than sentimental. Muny's 141 acres sit atop a water recharge zone and shelter wildlife, along with hundreds of heritage oak and pecan trees. The course also holds a singular place in civil rights history as the first public golf course in the South to desegregate, a legacy central to the Conservancy's mission.
No one embodies that mission more than Ben Crenshaw, the two-time Masters champion, Austin native, and Muny Conservancy co-chair who first played at the course as a boy of eight or nine. "It's a safe place," Crenshaw said of those early days, recalling mothers dropping off kids for the day. "You got to play with whomever. You got to make friends, and you got to learn to play. Muny provides a respite from the bustle of life," he said, "and I think it's entirely worth everyone introducing a child to the game. It'll stay with you the rest of your life."
Crenshaw credited co-chair Scotty Sayers with carrying much of the fight. "Scotty really works so hard," Crenshaw said. "He deserves special recognition." Sayers insists it's a team effort by the community, for the community. The funds raised from the gala will go directly into youth golf and course upkeep, from a new Scotland-inspired "putting green" and driving-range expansion to fencing, tree work, and an 18th-hole regrade.
Sayers offered a hopeful update on talks with the University of Texas, which owns the land Muny sits on. "We feel good and very optimistic," Sayers said, adding that the conservancy very much wants "to be a part of the conversation" as UT weighs the property's future.
The night drew in newer supporters of Muny, including Texas troubadour Wade Bowen, a headliner for the event, who grew up in Waco, said he came to the cause through a friend. "My two favorite things in the world are golf and music," Bowen said, before joking that he'd better not "mess it up tonight" if he wanted to be invited back. Judging by the crowd's reaction to his set, he needn't have worried.
That mix of star power and heartfelt allegiance paid off: the gala met its $1 million fundraising goal. A long-term lease or purchase would unlock even bigger plans. Crenshaw's own design firm, Coore & Crenshaw, has already drawn up a full restoration of the course and clubhouse.
Organizers say that monetary donations are not the only avenue for contribution: residents who want to help save Muny are urged to contact the mayor's office, the governor's office, the UT System Board of Regents, and the UT administration, and let them know the time is now to save the fairways so many Austinites and individuals beyond call their own.
