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

[mcanadiens]

The pool noodles do suck.

City of Dayton did a crappy job with them on the Hills Course. Some of them are too large and even a reasonably paced putt won't stay in the hole.

I like what my course does by inverting the cups. It leaves enough room that a good putt will settle into the hole nicely but still prevent you from having to stick your hand down the hole.

 

[sjduffers]

I have played a muni course around here twice now since it re-opened. The first time they had the pool noodles cut so that about half of the ball could drop below the ground level. With a speed dialed to die the ball into the hole, putting felt like normal (I typically leave the flagstick in, even from close range, unless it's leaning or flapping in the wind).

The second time, they had the pool noodles cut much longer, with about 3-4 inches of foam above the hole, sort of like with the inverted cups, but made of foam. I am not sure what prompted the change, but I know I didn't like it. There, it had to be said, lol.

[gbogey]

Funny story but I heard today that the reason some of the courses are using 15 minute tee intervals instead of the normal 10 minutes is so that the course has ample time to sanitize carts before turning them around.  Of course, when the courses first reopened they had 20 minute intervals and walking only!

[Ccred1992]

Sounds like we are going back to two per cart in Texas.  It does not impact my club because our men’s games have been one per cart for years. 

[bkuehn1952]

On 6/2/2020 at 11:27 AM, iacas said:

Just play it.

Or lift clean and place in the bunker.

Almost nobody will endorse just taking it out of the bunker(s). The maintenance crew is still maintaining them.

Our State golf association has been using abnormal ground condition for lie only.  If a player thinks their ball lies in a churned up area, they can take relief from the lie, one club length, no nearer the hole, drop in the bunker.  In some ways, the use of dropping versus placing makes sense.  Most players will only take relief if the lie is truly churned up, to avoid dropping.  Prevents people from using the Local Rule to get preferred lies in the bunker.

[DaveP043]

I've updated my responses to the poll.  My club still has pool noodles in the holes, reasonably well done so VERY few putts have been rejected.  We have no ball washers, no water coolers, and no rakes.  Carts are still single user unless you live in the same household.  Our back deck is open for dining, with tables further apart than previously, and reservations required.  We'll be resuming some tournament operations, starting with events that lend themselves to tee times, nothing where a shotgun would be appropriate.  So far, the impact on my golf has been minimal, lets hope things continue to improve.

 

[gbogey]

Funny instance playing 9 last night - I noticed on one of the early holes that the pool noodle was not very far down in the cup.  I thought it was strange because the previous time I had played there the noodles were well below the ground.  Well after making my putt I realized that due to an afternoon rain storm there was water in the bottom of the cup. And of course pool noodles are made to float.

[Double Mocha Man]

20 minutes ago, bkuehn1952 said:

Our State golf association has been using abnormal ground condition for lie only.  If a player thinks their ball lies in a churned up area, they can take relief from the lie, one club length, no nearer the hole, drop in the bunker.  In some ways, the use of dropping versus placing makes sense.  Most players will only take relief if the lie is truly churned up, to avoid dropping.  Prevents people from using the Local Rule to get preferred lies in the bunker.

Is the rule dropping it from knee height?  Or from knee height or less.  I can see less being used in this case... like 1/4 inch.

[Rkrider99]

In a lot of the responses, I have notice a no shotgun policy. I'm wondering why. Our club has stayed open throughout the pandemic, and we've been packed. I think we only have 2 days that are actual tee times, everything else is morning and afternoon shotguns. I understand on a tee with 2 groups, A and B, you are going to have 8 carts congregating, but still, unless everyone is out milling about together, they can all social distance. I also understand the before the shotgun starts, you may have 60 players congregating, but we've tried to eliminate that with telling them to head to their respective holes, but not tee off until 8:00 AM or 1:00 PM.

On another note: we had the opportunity to play Disney Palms course last week. When we got there, we had our choice of sharing a cart or individual carts. The reason given was that the four of us rode in the same car together to the course, so why shouldn't we share a cart?

[Nail]

We have these attachments on the flags so you can hook the ball back out with your putter. Obviously you have to putt with the flag in. Very handy

[Double Mocha Man]

6 minutes ago, Rkrider99 said:

On another note: we had the opportunity to play Disney Palms course last week. When we got there, we had our choice of sharing a cart or individual carts. The reason given was that the four of us rode in the same car together to the course, so why shouldn't we share a cart?

If the four of you shared a car (hopefully the windows were down and you were wearing masks) it would be safer sharing a cart in the fresh air.

[QuadrupleBogey]

Live on a state boundary with a friend in the next state.. Neither of our states allow non residents in, so we simply can't play together. Nice, eh? lol

[bkuehn1952]

6 hours ago, Rkrider99 said:

... I have notice a no shotgun policy. I'm wondering why.

Our senior club traditionally has held 13-14 tournaments in SE Mitten with shotgun starts.  We switched over to tee times this year.  Even with the Governor's relaxation of social distancing to allow shotguns and 2 to a cart, we are sticking to tee times this year.

1. No course had enough carts for 112 single riders.  We are not going to force/coerce our members to ride with people outside their household.

2. None of our Board, of which I am a member, wanted to deal with 112 people (or even 60) showing up for a 9:00am shotgun.  Social distancing would have been near impossible during the registration.

3. Staging the carts could have been a nightmare.

4. Sometimes one needs to protect some of our fellow golfers from themselves.  We have a friendly, cohesive group who enjoy starting and finishing together.  I don't think anyone doubts that masks and social distancing has succeeded in slowing the rate of infection.  If 112 golfers start and finish together, there is a greater risk of infection among a vulnerable group.  Inevitably, some of our group would not wear a mask or social distance from each other.

5. Yes, we are making decisions for adults who should be able to decide for themselves what level of risk they will assume.  If they do not like our approach, no one is stopping them from receiving a refund.  We want our members to be around next year when, hopefully, things have returned to "normal".

[Mr Puddle]

After the courses were open again in the UK we had to play two balls only and social distance. We can now go out in three and four balls. I haven't played with a single player with the concentration to do this, and it's driving me mad. Have you the same rules where you play, and how are you coping ?

[boogielicious]

22 hours ago, Mr Puddle said:

After the courses were open again in the UK we had to play two balls only and social distance. We can now go out in three and four balls. I haven't played with a single player with the concentration to do this, and it's driving me mad. Have you the same rules where you play, and how are you coping ?

We play mostly stroke play here. Each player plays their own ball. I’m not fully sure what you are referring to with two balls.

[Vinsk]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

We play mostly stroke play here. Each player plays their own ball. I’m not fully sure what you are referring to with two balls.

He’s calling twosome...threesome..foursome...as ‘two-ball, three ball, four ball....

[boogielicious]

16 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

He’s calling twosome...threesome..foursome...as ‘two-ball, three ball, four ball....

Dawn breaks over Marblehead. 🤪

[Mr Puddle]

20 hours ago, boogielicious said:

We play mostly stroke play here. Each player plays their own ball. I’m not fully sure what you are referring to with two balls.

Possibly a difference in geographical terminology. A two ball is two people playing together, and a four ball ball four people playing, etc