For golfers around the United States, playing is no longer a problem.
According to the National Golf Foundation (NGF), 97 percent of the courses in America are now open, but in addition to playing, getting new gear has been a challenge during the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s one thing to order a book or a power tool from an online retailer, but golfers like to hold clubs and hit them before buying them. They want to try on golf shoes and inspect new golf bags. After COVID-19 precautions forced nearly all nonessential businesses to close in March, local golf shops and large chain outlets shut their doors to customers.
Thankfully, according to the NGF, buying new gear should be getting easier for the majority of Americans because approximately 81 percent of the off-course golf retails stores have re-opened. That is a sharp increase from two weeks ago when the NGF estimated that 61 percent of the stores were open.
According to an NGF study, 83 percent of the local retailers and independent stores are open, while 78 percent of chain stores like PGA Tour Superstore, Golf Galaxy and Worldwide Golf Shops are now open.
While those stores may be open, the experience of going into any retail store right now is far from what it would have been a year ago.
Dick Sullivan, the president and CEO of PGA Tour Superstores, told the NGF that his company studied what large retailers like Home Depot were doing. He and his team also examined how grocery stores managed customers. Then PGA Tour Superstores tried to apply what it learned (and more) to its locations.
“People are wanting to touch clubs and demo clubs, whether on the putting greens or in the practice bays,” Sullivan said. “We’re not a sporting goods store where people come in, pick up a product and walk out. We’re going to be fitting people and people get to experiment with products, so we had to do a little bit more.”
Local golf shops, like Chris Cote’s Golf Shop in Portland, Connecticut, have adapted, too. Like PGA Tour Superstores, Cote’s local shop encourages everyone to maintain social distancing practices, the number of customers allowed in the store has been limited and hand sanitizing stations have been created. The clubs and balls are being sanitized after customers touch them, too. At many retail stores, repairs can be dropped off and returned to customers outside the store to help maintain social distancing too.
This new retail experience will not feel natural for a long time, but the increase in store openings is another encouraging sign that golf is bouncing back.
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