After years of uncertainty, the boyhood course of Ben Crenshaw finally appears to have the secure future its supporters have been fighting for.
The city of Austin is nearing an agreement with the University of Texas that will transfer ownership of the historic Lions Municipal Golf Course, commonly known as Muny, from the university to the city and preserve it as an 18-hole golf course in perpetuity. The breakthrough would end years of short-term leases, negotiations and concern over the fate of one of Austin’s most cherished pieces of golf history.
The agreement represents the culmination of a 6-year effort by the Muny Conservancy, co-chaired by former Masters champion Crenshaw and his longtime friend and business partner Scotty Sayers, to secure
the course’s future.
"For those of us who have loved Muny our entire lives, it is difficult to put into words what this moment means," said Crenshaw, who grew up playing the course. "Muny is so much more than a golf course. It is a piece of Austin's heart and soul, a place where people from every walk of life have come together for more than a century. To see a path forward that could preserve all 18 holes for future generations is deeply moving. But this is not the time to let up.
"We need our entire community to stand together, speak up, and help carry this effort to the very end."
Muny sits on roughly 140 acres of the historic 500-acre Brackenridge Tract, a prized piece of Austin real estate owned by the University of Texas. The city has leased the course from the university since 1936, paying roughly $500,000 annually.
For years, Crenshaw, Sayers and the Save Muny effort hoped the city could purchase the property outright at a fair market price. But as Austin’s real estate market exploded and land values soared, buying the course became an increasingly difficult proposition. And the clock kept ticking.
An agreement between the city and UT Board of Regents protected Muny from private development through 2019. After that, a series of five-month leases kept the course operating, with the latest extension scheduled to expire in May 2027.
Sayers said the Muny Conservancy has worked since 2019 to broker a lasting agreement between the city and university. The breakthrough came in recent months with help from multiple anonymous donors.
“There's donors that are going to donate money to enhance education at the University of Texas, in exchange for Muny and its land being donated to the City of Austin to remain an 18-hole golf course in perpetuity,” Sayers said in a release. “The University will then develop a plan to do what they want with the other, nearly 200 open acres on the Brackenridge Tract with the City's help.”
As part of the expected agreement, the West Austin Youth Association would receive the deed to its 13-acre property on the eastern edge of Muny, according to Sayers. A Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone is also expected to be created within the Brackenridge Tract.
The development arrives as the Muny Conservancy has built significant momentum around the preservation effort. Imagine Muny 5 recently surpassed its $1 million fundraising goal, bringing together supporters for an evening of philanthropy, Texas music and renewed attention on the effort to protect the course. The event included a live auction led by Brittany Franklin and a concert featuring a collection of prominent Texas musicians.
Opened in 1924 just 3 miles west of the University of Texas campus, Lions Municipal became the first municipal golf course in the South to voluntarily desegregate in 1950, making the property an important part of both golf and civil rights history.
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor of Golfweek and the golf coordinator of the USA Today Network. He moved to Austin in 2015.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Deal to save historic boyhood golf course of Ben Crenshaw appears near
