"No water in the lines": Even golf courses are getting crafted.

This is encouraging news. I've been watching for years as golfers stopped by the pub for a "good beer," absent choice at their chosen course. In some locales, the combination is taken for granted; witness the Putts & Pints blog. NABC has been having success with draft beer at Hidden Creek Golf Club in nearby Sellersburg.

The next step for those facilities getting on board is to actively promote the fact that good beer is available. Sadly, it seems that in sporting venues hereabout (not only at golf courses), it's too often the case that operators seem reluctant to let consumers know about available choice. Why? probably out of an unjustified fear of annoying Da Big Boyz.

The best local example is Louisville Slugger Field, where historically, we've seen the ballclub acquiesce in Centerplate's complicity with the AB-InBev monopoly, restricting signage to table tents and doing little to let baseball fans know good beer actually is available. But let's focus on big positives, albeit 3,000 miles away, and hope that the trend grows here in Business As Usual Land.

GOLF COURSE BEVERAGE SALES GET BOOST FROM CRAFT BREWS: Premium beers enhance the experience for customers, say staff, by Marc Figueroa (U-T San Diego)

Whether it’s special Internet rates, free range balls or a free sandwich at the turn, many golf courses are trying everything these days to keep the tee sheet filled and stave off eroding participation.

And some North County tracks are looking to one industry that is booming in business to help boost its own.

Unlike golf, which has seen participation drop by more than 4 million from 2005 to 2011, according to the National Golf Foundation, the local beer industry is blowing up with nearly 60 brew houses in the county and more than 20 in the planning stages. And courses such as Castle Creek Country Club, Twin Oaks Golf Course, Pala Mesa Resort and Maderas Golf Club are capitalizing on it, serving up quality suds like never before.

“Our motto is ‘No water in the lines,’ ” said Scott Butler, tournament sales director at Twin Oaks, which dedicates its four tap lines to locally produced beer. “That means you can’t get a Coors Light on draft here. If you want one, we have them in cans in the back, but that’s not what we’re about. We’re pushing good beer.”