Social distancing and golf carts.

[playerbb1]

Is your home club allowing players to take there own cart. Started having the discussion yesterday at my club about players being able to ride individually to avoid contact. Personally I prefer to walk. Curious what other clubs are doing.

[Fuscinator]

Damn, that's a good point. Never occurred to me. Been walking the local par 3 course lately.

[b.helts]

Most places don’t have a big enough fleet for everyone to take their own cart. That being said, if it’s slow or they do have enough carts and staff to manage the carts, they might allow it. Cart fee might double, maybe.

 

lots of moving parts.

[mantan]

I agree with the comment above. It's often more of a supply/demand type thing. The other thing to consider is it will literally double the wear and tear on their carts. At a time when courses are already a skittish about a potential drop in revenue, they are going to keep a tighter reign on expenses.

 

 

[MtlJeff]

Considering that on some surfaces the virus can live for many hours, i'd be strongly discouraging any use of carts.

 

[Mtn_Mikey]

My Del Webb community in Arizona just shut down all indoor recreational and dining facilities as well as swimming pool. Only the golf course will remain open. Since I use my personal cart and have the same cart partner not overly concerned there. I wipe down the steering wheel and other touched surfaces after each round.My only concern would be the cc signature machine everybody uses in the pro shop but if uncomfortable I can just sign left handed wearing my golf glove. Use of other outdoor facilities, softball fields, tennis and pickleball courts even the dog park is discouraged and at your own risk. Sad but better safe than sorry, especially with our demographics. Makes me wonder of some snowbirds will head home early?

[lefty1978]

I played Thursday, Friday and today. My club knows I like my own cart.

[Singapore Joe]

Handy to be a lefty! Plenty of distance when looking for balls after I slice to the left hand side rough and the playing partners to the right hand side rough. Just have to avoid the feared hook.

One of my regular courses just sent a notification that it will be golf as usual but the players should keep their distance, and no hand shaking after the rounds. The catering functions may be reduced. Carts are fairly uncommon on that course so I doubt that will be a huge issue.

My gym is the cleanest it has ever been - everybody disinfecting the equipment and their hands before and after use. I do weights and yoga but no boxing and currently I'm undecided on spinning. However, recreational stuff may need to be put on the lower priority for a while. The economy will get very hard and now is the time to impress the existing customers so that they remember who to call for any follow-up work. Good thing I have worked from home for years and have a good routine for it.

[976-Evil]

I walk a lot and mostly play by myself anyway so this has almost no effect on me anyway.

[MountainGoat]

Ditto. But a guy tried to shake my hand after a round today. I had him arrested for assault. ;)

[596]

I'll be walking alone or with my wife only, for a few weeks. Told my walking playing partners there would be no Monday or Wednesday game from me.

I'll probably suggest to the our Muni course that they wipe down the steering wheel and dash board on the carts after each use. There is no decision to close the course but it should be a precaution they take when staying open.

[lchang]

My club closed the clubhouse, but left the pro shop and courses open with no carts. Walking only. Members only--no guests.

[bellken]

It is still cart path only here, but, if it was one person per cart, that could make for a heck of a long round. fwiw, my group walks w/pushcarts.

[golfandfishing]

are you suggesting that because you believe they haven’t considered that already?

[596]

Maybe, maybe not. I work on the greens twice a week from the maintenance shop. I know all the guys in the pro shop, too, so I'll just find out if they are or aren't. Better safe then sorry.

[golfandfishing]

It would be a remarkable act of intentional ignorance at this point to not wipe down areas like that. When you suggest this, if their answer is anything other than “thanks, already on it” you should set them on fire.

[Stinger83]

They should institute walking only at all courses. This will lessen the distance between players, eliminate the contamination of the golf carts, and eliminate the number of elderly people (highest risk) from playing at all.

[nsxguy]

It's funny but i played my first round since coming back from SE Asia yesterday with my local scramble group and mentioned the exact same thing to my playing partner - would the course considering sending out a 4-some in 4 different carts. LOL

I guess during a slow day they might consider it but as mentioned earlier, probably not on a busy day - not enough carts.

 

That aside, since we're playing a team game (scramble), everybody "high fives" the guy who made the birdie putt.

In keeping with the current social distancing" I suggested elbows.

I wasn't quite sure so I suggested a couple of different terms - "high 'bow", or "'bow bump". We went with "high 'bow". LOL

[Guest]

Things we are doing at our course

We will allow single carts

We are washing down the entire cart and sanitizing the steering wheel, all keys, the forward back switch, the grip on the roof and all seating.

in addition we are putting free range balls out, to avoid cash handling and individual use of the range machine buttons. Also encouraging everyone to pay online if possible and not requiring signature on credit card transactions inside.

have closed the inside seating to our grill, patio is still open and we installed some more temp outside seatng.

[MtlJeff]

Our season here typically starts May 1, i am interested to see how we are doing around then. With any luck this will have passed and we won't need to take many measures

Right now our restaurant is open but only allowed at half capacity per guidelines from our Premier (basically the guy who runs Quebec)

[billh17]

You probably wouldn't like the result. A lot of courses would close with the older folks being gone.

And even more when you take away the cart money.

[NORFOLK757]

I know that most are living in a climate of fear, but it is making for some quick rounds lately. Find that 1/2 fill side of the glass

[DivinDave]

Yup,

Sanitizing all carts after use

Sanitizing all door knobs and pull handles every 20 minutes.

Sanitizing the rest rooms each 20 mins. Providing sanitizing products in the bathroom for patrons to use also.

Sanitizing all tables and chairs in the bar/ grill after customers leave

Sanitizing the menus and receipt holders after each use

All employees required to wash their hands every 20 minutes

The Snack Shack is sanitizing the counter after each customer

And upcoming tournaments for the next month have been postponed to a later date TBD.

 

 

 

 

[mesquite2]

I work weekends as a starter at a 36 hole facility in NJ & sorry to say not many precautions are being taken. This past Saturday & Sunday we had a total of 600 rounds played. We have gloves & plenty of sanitizer for the workers but for the public it was golf as usual. I estimate that 90% of our players ride & steering wheels & other cart surfaces are not wiped down upon return, just put back to be put out again. We have 115 carts & on a busy day we will go thru all carts more than once. The golfers seem unconcerned about Covid-19, because they have to get their golf in no matter what. Our bar/restaurant is open as usual & is most times full of people eating & drinking before & after their round. I see no special cleaning going on, just normal cleaning of bar & table surfaces. Our area has had zero cases of Covid-19 so far, but with what goes on around here it probably won't be long before it happens. Sorry for the long post, but it seemed warranted, Thanks

[bullie76]

I played yesterday with a buddy. We both have private carts....stored in our garages. There were lots of people playing but I felt safe as we were not near anyone else. Our grill has been closed during the Winter anyway so that eliminates one problem. Hopefully our semi-private course won't close. I live on the course so it will keep me from going stir crazy during these crazy times.

[C6 Snowboarder]

Played in a tournament yesterday - a good friend was my cart partner - the cart hauled his bag and he walked 90% of the time.. we never touched each others clubs. 4 some did not touch after the game -- and as much as possible stayed our distance on the tee box and the green.

during the week this week we will probably take separate carts since the course is not busy,.

 

[Kuhndogg8]

The snowbirds is a very interesting topic in AZ. I work for a large dairy producer and manage the Albertson's/Safeway division for the Southwest. They think their volume may not have the normal after Easter drop off because many snow birds could decide to stay here, rather than heading home. When you think about cities like New York, Toronto, Chicago, etc. that many come to, AZ may feel like a safer place. Could result in coursers being busier than normal in the summer.

[llewol007]

You don’t know who does and those who do. Ask the thousands who feel the same and end up spreading the darn virus around. But with that being said, only if people really followed the recommendations of what is being said out there. Washing hands has to be explained to some as if using soap to wash your hands is a new thing. I was at a men’s room after the round and can count how many guys use the restroom and wet their hands thinking that’s enough to kill germs. God forbid they were servers at the clubhouse but I did see a couple who sat next to our table and thought to myself, if corona isnt gonna get em, maybe the stomach flu will. I ride with my buddy in our foursome and have no hesitation. But i’m still young pushing early forties working in a hospital for 17 years, I’ve seen it all. My immune system is strong so I’m not worried. Single riding does not guard you from the virus. Only our own hygiene and our interaction will. If you are sick stay home and stop spreading whatever sickness you may have. I will continue to ride with or without a partner depending on our grouping size is all.

[Mtn_Mikey]

Don't disagree with that in any way. Two thoughts run through my mind. 1) Many snowbirds have their regular medical providers back home and might be more comfortable with them 2) Our Canadian snowbirds are time limited in their US visit time (6 months I think) so they have no choice at a certain point

[mesquite2]

Well, the 2 courses where I work weekends just closed for at least 2 weeks. We have 4 courses owned by the County & all 4 are now closed.