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

[Cartboy]

3 hours ago, Yukari said:

Most golfers who are friends do NOT seem to practice any social distancing.

Not just golfers.

[Ccred1992]

We do a better job of distancing at the course than most places I go on a daily basis.

[dennyjones]

I played a practice round today.   OMG, all of the local courses were full.   I passed by two local courses and hit a city course.   They were able to squeeze me in w/o a tee time but I skipped the first hole after watching the newbies tee off.  They had pool noodles in the hole but with the heavy rains we had the previous few days, several holes were roped off.   Social distancing was very good except within the individual groups.   They were cleaning the carts but allowed two people to ride in a cart (against the current executive order) w/o a divider.   

[Darkfrog]

The place where I take lessons just sent an email that they expected to reopen the first week of June, so I have my first lesson in three months booked for June 8th.

They are reopening with some new policies due to COVID-19:

• There are three indoor bays with GC4 launch monitors and cameras, and fourth with a Gears Golf setup. When they reopen only one bay will be used for teaching.
• Only one instructor per day will be teaching in the facility, instead of the usual two.
• Only one hitting bay will be available for practice sessions, the one furthest away from where the instruction is happening I assume.
• Masks, etc.

I'm pretty excited about this.

[nevets88]

These are the range rules at range nearby. I actually like the distancing, one stall between each person, makes face on video easier as now every stall that's possible as opposed to just the one on the far end.

[dennyjones]

The course I played today was the very first that had a curtain between the passengers in the cart.   They used a heavy plastic which was secured by bungee cords They were the first I've played that left a signed note that the cart had been sanitized.   They used foam noodles in the holes.   Everything felt natural until a young guy approached the cart and starting wiping down our golf clubs.    

Of course we tipped the young guy generously but I thought it strange they went to all of the trouble to be safe except....

 

Regardless...a great day to be on the golf course.

[iacas]

1 minute ago, dennyjones said:

The course I played today was the very first that had a curtain between the passengers in the cart.   They used a heavy plastic which was secured by bungee cords They were the first I've played that left a signed note that the cart had been sanitized.   They used foam noodles in the holes.   Everything felt natural until a young guy approached the cart and starting wiping down our golf clubs.    

Of course we tipped the young guy generously but I thought it strange they went to all of the trouble to be safe except....

Regardless...a great day to be on the golf course.

You're not gonna catch COVID-19 from someone wiping down your clubs.

But I can see how weird that would feel. Quite weird.

[HJJ003]

The city owned courses of Houston (most importantly Memorial Park)  open on June 1st. Limited tee times. There were already 1200-1500 people per day trying to get tee times before COVID. It was extremely hard to grab tee time. I figure less tee times will make it even harder, though one could argue less people might be trying to golf....but at the other public tracks in the area that doesn't appear to be true!

[Papa Steve 55]

 The members got together and bought these. We were all sick of was it in or not and the course had no interest and any expenditures out of the norm. We rotate the wire so its behind the direction of the putt. I hit about 25 putts at the wire from 4', you have to hit it pretty hard to to have the putt knocked away, and noway to tell if the flag stick could have caused it. Unscientific I know,  But it feels like it will make very little difference on 99% of the shots. The last guy to hole out moves the wire to face the back of the green, hopefully minimizing any effect on a good approach shot. If you lift it slowly the ball will stay on the base, most of us seem to do what you are seeing here, popping it up and letting the ball fall to the green, then doing a putter scoop.

 

[iacas]

Given the rates of transmission in sunlight and on surfaces, I’m looking forward to getting to take the flagstick out soon.

[Papa Steve 55]

59 minutes ago, iacas said:

Given the rates of transmission in sunlight and on surfaces, I’m looking forward to getting to take the flagstick out soon.

Me too, but here in MA I would bet the sticks are in for the summer. Took a week for them to realize that if two people who live in the same house and drove together to the course in the same car really are not at risk by sharing an open air cart.

[Double Mocha Man]

45 minutes ago, Papa Steve 55 said:

Me too, but here in MA I would bet the sticks are in for the summer. Took a week for them to realize that if two people who live in the same house and drove together to the course in the same car really are not at risk by sharing an open air cart.

Has anyone tried pulling out the flagstick?  Are they super-glued in?

[dennyjones]

I saw a guy pull one out Tuesday.   The foam noodle stuck to the flagstick.   He was startled as was his group.   I didn't watch him put it back in the hole.  

[Double Mocha Man]

Every time I play I come very close to pulling a flag... then I catch myself.  And when I meet up with a matching twosome on the first tee I almost shake their hands... but pull back at the last second... ingrained habit.

[dennyjones]

[Double Mocha Man]

Just now, dennyjones said:

Looks like the 6 inch rule...

[Cartboy]

On 5/17/2020 at 4:38 PM, Cartboy said:

During the very-busy Snowbird Season, and when a pandemic was well underway, it was business as usual at Florida golf courses, with no precautions being taken.

 

"Coronavirus started spreading in the U.S. in January, CDC says"

 

[iacas]

12 minutes ago, Cartboy said:

"Coronavirus started spreading in the U.S. in January, CDC says"

We know that. We've known that since… March.

Here are some more bits of info from this study - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.13.20101253v1.full.pdf:

Quote

A comparison of COVID-19 to influenza is often attempted, but this may be an uneven comparison. At a very broad, bird’s eye view level, worldwide the IFR of COVID-19 this season may be in the same ballpark as the IFR of influenza (0.1%, 0.2% in a bad year).

AND

Quote

Interestingly, despite their differences in design, execution, and analysis, most studies provide IFR point estimates that are within a relatively narrow range. Seven of the 12 inferred IFRs are in the range 0.07 to 0.20 (corrected IFR of 0.06 to 0.16) which are similar to IFR values of seasonal influenza.

 

P.S. Or even February: 

New Unexplained Cases Reported in Oregon and California - The New York Times

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Officials in both states raced to contact people who might have been exposed to the coronavirus, and experts warned that the cases could indicate signs of spread within the United States.