The National Golf Foundation reported Friday that soon there will be only four states remaining that bar golf during the coronavirus pandemic.
Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont are the foursome where golf courses have been mandated to remain shut indefinitely during the pandemic. Alaska’s courses are closed because of seasonality.
Courses in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Mexico and Maine were allowed to reopen Friday, May 1. New Jersey plans to allow its courses to open May 2 and Washington’s courses can open May 5.
The NGF reported earlier this week that 58 percent of the courses in the U.S. were open as of April 26, many with social distancing restrictions and other precautions such as only online payment and making walking required to prevent the spread of the disease that has killed more than 64,000 Americans and more than 236,000 around the globe.
Some courses are still closed because of city or county mandates. California has seen a rise in course reopening as counties have eased restrictions, and the same is true in Florida, where Palm Beach County, Miami-Dade and Broward allowed golf to resume.
Other courses, especially at many resorts, remain closed to guest play by choice as affiliated hotels and restaurants are shuttered. Some of those resorts are allowing members to play, such as at Reynolds Lake Oconee and Sea Island in Georgia.
The NGF estimates that 80 percent of courses in the U.S. will be open my mid-May or sooner.
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