Is Golf Available Where You Live? (COVID-19 Edition)

[The Flush]

The course at work is opening on Saturday. Now I can implement my plan to walk 9 after work 2-3 days a week.

[Sandy Divot]

On 5/3/2020 at 9:33 AM, Sandy Divot said:

Got an email this morning, and was told that a member at my club was showing symptoms. He went for a test, and will know in a few days. I've had a few serious health issues the last several years, so I'm going to stay home until the test results are known. If the test is positive, I'll be done for a bit.

The guy tested negative! In the words of George Costanza, "I'm back, baby!"

[gbogey]

20 hours ago, bkuehn1952 said:

Personally, I don't like the patch work approach the Mitten's counties take with enforcement or non-enforcement of the Governor's orders.  Someone driving through Monroe might see carts on the course and then return home to Genesee County and have -0- access to carts.  Residents are confused and angry already.  Inconsistencies from one county to another just make things worse.

I can travel 15 minutes from my home and be subject to five different municipal governments in three states.  Any of those eight governments have different guidelines, to say nothing of enforcement.  And yet are all part of the same metropolitan area.

As a side note, I went to the driving range yesterday.  This one just reopened.  There's another further out that's been open a while, but that's a different municipal government.  I am amazed by the ingenuity that people are coming up to enforce social distancing and be open.  I had to order my balls from a young lady behind plexiglas and pay with credit, another young lady got the bucket and assigned me to a stall that was safely away from others.  Afterwards they wipe the basket with disinfectant.  Really smart operation.  Sadly the range was very empty compared to similar days in March when it was totally packed.

Edited May 5, 2020 by gbogey
just learned it is plexiglas and not plexiglass

[dennyjones]

58 minutes ago, gbogey said:

just learned it is plexiglas and not plexiglass

Sometimes these are referred to as generic trademarks. ... Plexiglass with two s's is the generic term synonymous with acrylic sheet. Plexiglas® with one s is the brand name. Other trade names that have become comparable to Plexiglas® include Acrylite®, Lucite®, and Perspex®.

[phan52]

we allow carts, one to a cart unless you are with a spouse or someone you live with. I wanted to walk today but everyone else was taking a cart so I did as well.

You need a scorecard?

 

[iSank]

Played Sunday at Koolina and they had a sponge ring in the cup so the ball fell and it felt normal, it was just easy to fetch the ball. Today I played a muni and they had the cup raised so all you had to do was smack the ball against the cup. Koolina also ran out of carts, two groups behind us was walking. It’s just been great to get out. Thursday I walk a different muni. Not a fan of the raised cup. 
Aloha,

iSank

[Double Mocha Man]

20 minutes ago, iSank said:

Played Sunday at Koolina and they had a sponge ring in the cup so the ball fell and it felt normal, it was just easy to fetch the ball. Today I played a muni and they had the cup raised so all you had to do was smack the ball against the cup. Koolina also ran out of carts, two groups behind us was walking. It’s just been great to get out. Thursday I walk a different muni. Not a fan of the raised cup. 
Aloha,

iSank

My favorite local course, where I played today for the first time in 42 days, had a white plastic disc about an inch below ground level.  Worked fine.

[Osnola]

Open and playin in the morning. 

[Braivo]

14 hours ago, iSank said:

 Not a fan of the raised cup. 

Same. My brother and I played and we were sure that some putts that grazed the raised cup would not have gone in, but there's really no way to know for sure. Feel like our scores have a * for the time being. 

[phillyk]

1 hour ago, Braivo said:

Feel like our scores have a * for the time being. 

Maybe the question that needs to be asked and what hopefully the USGA has already thought of, is should courses be required to change the cup height, temporarily, so that everyone is playing with the same safety precautions. I guess this assumes there is a measurable and significant stroke difference. 

[Vinsk]

3 hours ago, Braivo said:

but there's really no way to know for sure. Feel like our scores have a * for the time being. 

I just don’t see this. I honestly have had one questionable putt that I took and one I considered missed. Now I’m using the pool noodle style and not the raised lip. But I just don’t think it’s that difficult to determine if a ball would’ve dropped or not. Hole outs maybe...chips, pitches....but putts? Pretty simple as I see it.

[billchao]

9 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

I just don’t see this. I honestly have had one questionable putt that I took and one I considered missed. Now I’m using the pool noodle style and not the raised lip. But I just don’t think it’s that difficult to determine if a ball would’ve dropped or not. Hole outs maybe...chips, pitches....but putts? Pretty simple as I see it.

I think for the pool noodles and the PVC pipes like at the courses I've played, it's easier to read if a grazed putt would have been holed, because part of the ball would have to be inside the diameter of the hole in order to graze that surface. I imagine for a raised cup liner it's harder to judge whether a putt that grazed the surface would have holed or lipped out.

[chilepepper]

Got out this am on a 9 hole executive course in Goleta, Ca. Nice to be out again. The range is open. Pool noodles in cups but it seemed pretty easy to judge what was good and what was not. 
  Down San Diego where we live ranges were still closed yet courses were open. I think the powers that be that set the guidelines are couch potato’s that do nothing outside. Some of the rules make no sense

[Double Mocha Man]

24 minutes ago, billchao said:

I think for the pool noodles and the PVC pipes like at the courses I've played, it's easier to read if a grazed putt would have been holed, because part of the ball would have to be inside the diameter of the hole in order to graze that surface. I imagine for a raised cup liner it's harder to judge whether a putt that grazed the surface would have holed or lipped out.

I have yet to see a raised cup in WA state.  Must be outlawed here...

[Darkfrog]

Played my first round Monday after the shelter in place order in California was eased for certain activities.

All reservation and payment was online/phone based, and just a quick check in behind a table and through a window before teeing off. No pro shop/restaurant/bar. Good thing I brought an extra sleeve of balls.

Course was in nice shape, compared to normal.

Tee time reservations were for singles only, but they were in bunches of 4,separated by 2-minutes - not really clear how much that accomplishes, as everyone in that bunch eventually will end up on the green/ next tee at the same time and end up playing together anyways.

Everyone I saw was walking, so it wasn't clear if carts were in use or not.

Masks are required in public in my area, so everyone was supposed to play in masks. Some people alone in wide open areas had taken theirs off, which doesn't seem like a big deal, other than violating the order to wear one. I used my N95 respirator to check in, and then switched to cloth mask for the remainder of the round.

I played solo, with nobody behind me or in front of me for several holes. I eventually caught up to a threesome, but they were moving quickly enough to not be annoying, and I was fatigued anyways from a sunny day and first walking round in 2 months, so the short breaks on the tee boxes were nice.

Cups had pool noodles attached to the pin. I played this conservatively, and if a putt was questionable make/miss, I called it a miss. Only happened twice. I would have hated to shoot a personal best only to have my golf buddies tell me it doesn't count because of the pool noodle backstop in the cup. O.B. was a bigger issue for me.

[CarlSpackler]

58 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

I have yet to see a raised cup in WA state.  Must be outlawed here...

Same in Ohio, but we know the right way to raise our cups.

[JGus]

Think I heard golf courses will open tomorrow in MD, I hope the governor isn't lying to us...

[boogielicious]

The news is reporting Mass will open, but did not give a date.