"The thing that makes Sharp Park unique is it's a (public course) and it has a low green fee, so Joe Six-Pack can play."

Marisa Lagos reports on the escalating feud over the San Francisco city courses and in particular Alister MacKenzie's Sharp Park on the eve of a city golf meeting to determine the fate of the city courses. There just has to be a way to make this work...

An environmental group is accusing the city of San Francisco of illegally killing two federally protected animals that live at a publicly owned golf course, and is threatening to sue if city officials refuse to close the golf course and restore the coastal wetlands.

The potential legal challenge over Sharp Park Golf Course - a city-owned, beachside course built around a lagoon in Pacifica - is the latest salvo in a continuing battle over the future of the city's five public courses. The announcement was made just days before a public meeting on the issue.

The Center for Biological Diversity plans to file a claim today in an attempt to protect the endangered San Francisco garter snake and the threatened red-legged frog, which are native to the area. The claim accuses the Recreation and Park Department, which owns the 77-year-old golf course, of killing both animals through regular maintenance activities, including lawn mowing, the use of chemicals, the draining of water from the area and alteration of the habitat in other ways.