Are golf courses considered “essential” businesses as a growing number of states and counties place restrictions on citizens’ activities during the coronavirus epidemic?
The answer, like most things in the news these days, is a moving target depending on where you live. In New York’s Westchester County, for example, six county-owned golf courses remained open Thursday while public health officials urged residents to stay home. Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order that shuttered private clubs and most daily fee courses Monday, but several municipals across the state operated with limitations in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Golfers are being asked to practice social distancing.
Reservations have to be made in advance. Payment is via credit or debit card. Two courses in neighboring Rockland County were open to walkers only and others limited riders to one per cart.
Only a few courses have increased the interval between tee times.
“The mental stamina that it takes to get through this does mean that you have to have some outside recreation, so the fact that we have six golf courses that are county parks, we can provide that for people who want to golf,” county executive George Latimer said Tuesday. “We think it’s not a mistake to keep it open, it is the right thing to do.
“It’s rational decision-making, not based on emotion, not based on ideology, but based on what is practical, what is the best way to keep people safe.”
Golf leaders in Ohio agreed there are ways to keep players safe despite limitations during the pandemic. Golf officials wrote a letter lobbying Gov. Mike DeWine to allow courses to stay open despite a statewide stay-at-home order.
The letter made clear golf’s impact in Ohio. It’s a $2 billion industry comprised of more than 700 golf courses (which, as industry officials pointed out in their opening line, are mostly small businesses) that employ roughly 68,000 people.
“Golf is one of the few great American pastimes we can safely enjoy right now,” the letter read. “Allowing facilities to remain open will offer Ohioans — including kids — a place to be outdoors, enjoying nature, exercising and working through a little of the anxiety we’re all feeling right now.”
Early in the week, Ohio golf leaders were told courses could continue maintenance operations and remain open for play. But by Friday afternoon, the Ohio Superintendent Network said on Twitter that county health departments in the state were closing courses. In Columbus, the Dispatch reported Friday that several clubs in Delaware County were told to close. But in nearby Franklin County, some courses such as Scioto remained open. Muirfield Village Golf Club has been closed.
In California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide shelter-in-place order on March 19, officials in Coachella Valley cities and Riverside County clamped down this week on courses that had remained open.
Katie Myers, general manager at Cimarron Golf Resort in Cathedral City, decided to stay open last week, but shut down her course Wednesday morning.
“We stayed open to (Tuesday) because it was unclear if golf courses could stay open,” Myers said. “Nevada did a shelter in place and most of the golf courses stayed open. So it wasn’t clear.”
The lack of clarity forced Michigan’s Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to provide further guidance. Thursday she said golf courses and tobacco shops should close for three weeks to abide by her stay-at-home order.
Governors in Florida and Arizona have allowed courses to stay open for the time being, in states where golf is a bustling business this time of year.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order on March 17 to reduce the density of crowds in restaurants, bars, nightclubs and beaches, but golf courses were not explicitly mentioned.
Some cities have shut down municipal courses, but there are places throughout the state where you can still play.
“Golf checks all of the boxes for dealing with the coronavirus,” DeSantis said during a news conference this week at The Villages, a golf retirement community in Sumter County.
Contributing: Julie Williams of Golfweek, Larry Bohannan of the (Palm Springs) Desert Sun, Jacob Myers of the Columbus Dispatch, Craig Dolch, special contributor at TCPalm.com, and the Associated Press.