As the golf courses reopen, new players take the long walk

Around 5:00 p.m. April 17, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota announced that the state's 450 golf courses, which were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, were could open next day. At 3 p.m., the Hazeltine National Golf Club, about 25 miles southwest of Minneapolis, activated its automated online start time booking system.

It took two seconds for 172 golfers to fill the entire tee sheet for the next day.

“We entered the system at two seconds past three o'clock and saw that every start time until 6:30 pm was approached by someone,” said Chandler Withington, Hazeltine's chief golf professional. "All over the state, every job was full."

Minnesota is a microcosm of the wave tree that envelops the United States as jobs reopened last month, a time when the percentage of golf courses opened across the country has risen from 44 percent to about 88 percent, according to the National Golf Foundation. There are more than 16,000 golf courses in America and only a quarter are private clubs. With schools closed, fitness centers closed, and many parks and playgrounds off limits, golf – with social distance restrictions – has become a rare outdoor retreat that combines exercise, camaraderie, competition, and space.

"With so many things you can't do right now and so few things you can do," said Withington, " golf has never felt anything like freedom. & # 39;

In addition, golf course administrators across the country said they saw something new in their customer behavior and demographics: Whole families, locked up at home, arrive at the first tee to play together; the sale of cheap golf passes for young people is exploding; and more golfers walk the course because usually only family members can share a cart.

"I also see a lot of people who haven't played in a while," said Scott Krieger, the head of pro and general manager at Broadmoor Golf Course in Portland, Oregon. "And even more fathers and sons, fathers and daughters and husbands and wives."

Krieger said that his course is so in demand that he could host 300 golfers a day, but he has limited the total to 150 to avoid overcrowding.

"People get it," he said. "Everyone just keeps saying," Man, it just feels good to get out. "

It is not common for recreational golfers to be universally satisfied, especially after a challenging round full of bad bounces and bogeys. However, the coronavirus pandemic has apparently blunted the grumpiness.

"People should be more concerned than a three-putt on the last green," said Mike David, the executive director of the Indiana Golf Office, which oversees five golf entities in the state. "Golf is a relief."

Or, like Tim Christ, the director of golf activities at the Essex County Parks Department in New Jersey, said, "People who come to the course wear face masks, but I could see them smiling."

Golf-related joy has recently been pronounced in New Jersey, where until last weekend the courses were closed for six weeks, even though nearby states such as New York and Connecticut golfers were welcome.

" was frustrating, "said Kory Rosenberg, who regularly drove 75 minutes from his home in Roseland, NJ to New York State to play golf, he said Tuesday after doing a round at the Crystal Springs Resort in Hamburg, NJ." First of all, I had to driving past all these closed courses near home and after that it was very difficult to get a start time in New York because they were so busy. "

Rosenberg insisted that practicing the recommended social distance guidelines were simple.

"There is never a reason to get away from another player within two meters," he said. New Jersey was also stricter than most other states, allowing only two golfers to tee off instead of the typical groupings of four golfers, other than immediate family.

Other safeguards have become routine, as every state has opened their golf courses, with Massachusetts, Maryland and Vermont becoming the last three on Thursday. In general, tee times are now made and paid digitally and by telephone. The interval between groups of players leaving the first tee has been increased, sometimes up to 16 minutes, to maintain generous distance between golf groups.

On some courts, each player's temperature is checked upon arrival and people with a fever are sent away. Most club houses are closed and food and drinks do not include takeout. Banks, ball washers and bunker rakes have been removed. Flagsticks are not removed, using various devices to prevent balls from falling into the hole, allowing golfers to avoid the unsanitary practice of reaching into a hole to retrieve a ball.

In states where golf carts are allowed – many require players to walk the course – sharing is only allowed if both riders are from the same household. Post-round car cleaning has become so rigorous that Art Walton, a vice president of Crystal Springs, has called some employees "golf car hygienists" starts to call instead of servants.

In some states, there has been a backlash over whether golfers distance themselves appropriately. Indiana golf official David said that people have taken pictures of groups of golfers and sent them to government agencies as evidence in support of allegations of violation of established golf course protections.

"Someone sees four golf carts together and thinks that's a lot of people when it's actually four people in four carts," said David. "Much of it is a wrong perception."

Among the stakeholders of golf, the place of the game as one of the few outdoor activities approved by health and government officials, albeit with restrictions, has given golf a chance to extend its range.

Seth Waugh, the director of the PGA of America, for example, is encouraged that golf is perceived as, "just a walk in the park, right?"

On Tuesday, Waugh spoke to journalists in a conference call with a consortium of US golf leaders announce a three-stage plan with best practices and uniform safety protocols for the return of golf, known nationally as "Back2Golf".

"You see a species of playing in the park that is going on in many of the places in the country we touch, "Waugh said.

He added, "We hope that ironically this can become a growth opportunity."