COVID-19 and local golf (NO POLITICS)

[MountainGoat]

Day 2 of the shutdown, and once again my local course wasn't particularly crowded. It was ridiculously windy, though, so that might have put some people off. High school kids showed up in the afternoon because school's out, but it didn't make much difference.

 

[Big Ben]

I’m playing tomorrow in Ohio that’s for sure. Now I will be wiping down the carts steering wheel, etc etc. I just can’t see a big issue on a 4,000 acre outdoor nature reserve.

[Vespar]

I spoke to my friend in florida, he said several of the big $$$ private clubs are closed till further notice.

[myspinonit]

Don't forget the pin guys. I'm encouraging the groups I'm playing with to encourage players to leave the pin in (so many unwashed hands aren't handling it).

[Noles]

I played there Tuesday! My favorite course!

[Stinger83]

Dude the divorce rate exploded years ago. If it goes any higher lawyers will be in the bridal party

[3_Jack_Par]

My parents spend the winter/early spring down near Austin in a retirement community, and they just announced today that they’re closing the 3 golf courses there and suspending all group activities. Given the cluster of people at greater risk with this virus, I understand it. Closer to home, the two courses run by the township I live in are staying closed (we’re at the very beginning of the golf season, and I don’t know that either had opened yet.

I firmly believe that we should be following the direction of the medical/scientific experts on this thing to slow the spread and keep the hospitals from getting so overwhelmed that they can’t treat people, but I also think that actually being out on the golf course, if you walk and take a few precautions like leaving the flag in, not shaking hands or doing things I often see like drinking from the same bottle of booze as someone else, or sharing vape pens or other herbal supplement delivery systems, golf should be a pretty low-risk activity. However, other parts of the golf business, like running the pro shop or the bar for beers after the round make it more complicated, and it won’t surprise me if a lot of courses aren’t open for however long until we get back to some level of normalcy.

I’m signed up for a few tournaments, and for a team where we play matches against other local courses, and those events start in late April/early May. I’m curious to see if any of those go off as scheduled. These are very strange times.

[ArtMBgolf]

Maybe the salt air in MB will also help keep the virus away. A lot of people traveling to MB by plane is where the virus could come from.

[duffer987]

Sun City in Round Rock? Cowan Creek is a solid track :-) But ya the demographics sure skew 60+ out there. Pretty much everyone is in carts too.

I'm playing here in Norcal in 8hrs (fortunately we have a bunch of walkable publics to choose from) but I do wonder whether courses will need to close their restaurants (if they have them) when/if crowd size restrictions drop to a level that matches their capacity + staff. NCGA has postponed/canceled all their sanctioned events for the next month - not sure whether that means our local club qualifiers for them are included.

It's nice to play, but I share your POV, and similarly will go with the flow... or lack of, as the case may be :-)

[BiggErn]

I’m not with all the paranoia but most everything you said is completely false. SC is in a state of emergency like many states. Lancaster and Kershaw counties have cancelled all school. My son goes to Clemson and Friday was their last day at least until the end of the month when they’ll reevaluate the situation. The St Patrick’s day parade in Greenville has been cancelled as well as all events at BonSecours and the peace center for the foreseeable future. That said I don’t think any local courses have closed nor should they imo. If everyone uses common sense and takes a few extra measures to clean up things they’re gonna have the hands on and keep their hands to themselves I think we’ll be alright.

[BIG STU]

All the cancellations happened after I posted along with the Gov declaring the state of emergency. Trust me SC government wise is the last state to do anything. More than likely the wise folks at Clemson helped lead the way. I do know CCU went on a similar plan as far as extending spring break. I think as of now Kershaw county has a confirmed case. I was looking at a re run of the 11:00 news and the Tourism Comission is already crying. The only things cancelled here as of last night was some kind of St Patty's day run in NMB and The Monday after the Masters event which makes sense since the Masters was postponed.

[Sean2]

Yeah, I don't quite get that either. Yesterday I received an email from one of our local courses that it is closing until further notice. It's once thing if a bunch of people are packed in a gym...but being outdoors and not really standing/sitting right next to someone?

[avguy]

Remember smoking and the 2nd-hand smoke exposure campaign of years back? It(smoking) is unallowed now at all US indoor public spaces but ok outside. It is called natural dissipation.

I never smoked but grew up in the household of a smoker (father). Now on a golf course, it doesn't really seem to affect me due to the atmospheric elements helping out if I get paired with smokers.

This same basic premise should rue the day of our golf courses with the new virus. But I suppose the liability for shared equipment (driving carts) could be the main factor. I think if they took away the carts temporarily and forced all players to walk it could still exist harmoniously with the current saga and we could take our own precautions and play the game.

I've enjoyed walking rounds better than cart ones for along time as you can either mingle or isolate depending on your mood and game that day.

[caniac6]

It's probably to protect people that work in the shop and restaurant. Outside is probably ok, but those inside folks have to take cash or credit cards from everyone that walks through the door. And, everyone that walks in touches the door right after the person before them.

[LeoLeo99]

Just received an email from my local course that one of the golfers on Sunday has tested + for Covid-19. They closed the bar and said they wiped down stuff.

 

Slowing this virus down until the warmer weather does it on its own is about the best we can do. Even some casinos are starting to close. You know it is serious when that happens.

[3_Jack_Par]

Yeah, Sun City in Georgetown. Cowan Creek is definitely my favorite of the 3 courses in the development. We were supposed to go down to visit around Easter, but I’ll be surprised if we end up doing that at this point.

[disco111]

All the local area clubs are not closed, but they may as well be, as it's raining for the second day and the forecast is for well over a weeks more rain. We finally got our own confirmed case(s) of the virus, but I'm really thinking that we are not really being told all there is to know. If their holding info back due to possible panic, well in certain parts of the country their a little late on that front. Here in the south middle of the country, store shelves are already depleted and if deliveries get slowed or cancelled, we're in a world of hurt for the coming future. The one thing I hope is that their working on a cure non stop and if and when they find it, the gov't gives it the fast track and not have the FDA do their normal year to 2 years of feet dragging. I fully realize that they do that as a safeguard, but when folks are dying. Right now the older folks with health problems are the high risk, but if this thing starts to affect the young the same way, all bets should be off.

On a somewhat different note, I found out why people are going crazy with the toilet paper............It seems that when someone around folks sneezes or coughs, the others sheet their pants.................Stay safe and healthy WRX'ers

[Mitch Jordan]

I was scheduled to play in Carolina Golf Association events at the Reserve on March 16 and Caledonia on the 17. Those along with other scheduled CGA events have been cancelled.

[Zen_Golfer]

The munis here closed yesterday and will be closed until April 3. If you believe the Golfnow app, some others are open but I have my doubts that any of them will be open. Whether that is dumb or wise really depends upon how you look at it. I mean, all its going to take is 1 infected person to touch the door handle to the clubhouse and then we're all infected.

Even still, if the courses are open this weekend, I will be playing.

[easyyy]

So true Ben. Also if you can't play we can sit around and retool in the classifieds or research in threads. WRX and golf are a great option for all of us. I added this link to an announcement on every page.

[BiggErn]

If someone is that concerned stay home. Otherwise let people pay online or take extra precautions. Maybe no cash. Put some Lysol and purell wipes in the carts. Tell people to leave the flag in at all times. I haven’t looked today but as far as I know every course is still open.

[BiggErn]

From what I hear there’s at least 6 confirmed cases in SC.

[KevinKegman]

They only things closed in Vegas are our Buffets.

[I_HATE_SNOW]

I'm going to play, once yesterday's snow melts, might spend very little time in the clubhouse.

[PedronNiall]

No joke, there are studies showing time in forested areas is not only good for mental health, lower levels of depression, blood pressure, and so on, but that the air is also heavily anti-microbial because of the oils that many trees release. Great place to be at the moment.

[vernon]

By the time all this isolation and cancelation crap is over ever communicable disease on the planet oughtta be wiped out.

It's all about power and control and manipulation.

[PedronNiall]

One, the Spanish Flu was "just a new strain of the flu" once. Two, it's not the flu, it acts very differently, has a longer incubation period, has a much longer period during which people can remain asymptomatic yet be fully capable of transmitting it to others. It also has a longer life on surfaces. The death rate in Italy is 6%; it's 4% in France. That's 40 to 60x the death rate of the flu at 0.1%. Is that hype?

[BiggErn]

I think the mortality rate isn’t entirely accurate yet. I believe there’s been people who have had it and recovered without being aware it’s what they had.

[Pepperturbo]

Good for you, your state leadership has some self-control and perspective. Play well. We're going to try and get out for 18 tomorrow if it's not raining.

The lunatic running our state is all but thrown in the towel to radically over-react and scaring the poop out of people with emergency this and that and shutting down everything for fear. Given events, its a wonder golf courses aren't putting security gates on restrooms to keep CA lunatic hoarders from sneaking in to steal toilet paper. LOL Next up, toilet paper will be the new trending wall paper in living rooms of hoarders, applied by smearing hand-sanitizer gel on the wall.

As of yesterday, 6 middle aged people are confirmed to have the early stages of the virus in our county (3.1M+ pop) , yet schools are closing as well as a slew of other facilities, services even some businesses are closing. All new movies are being held back from opening till the end of the year, studios don't want poor showings.

[Noles]

The same is true for the flu. Most people get the flu, stay home and recover without going to the doctor and getting tested for it. So they don't get factored into the numbers.