Golf Customs

[Tim Martin]

Whether it’s a casual game or any kind of sanctioned event at the club level or beyond the custom is to remove your hat and shake hands with your playing partner/opponents at it’s conclusion. It’s going to take some time to adjust but the handshake is going the way of the DoDo bird. What other changes are coming to golf in a post Covid-19 world?

[John Kavanaugh]

This custom will not be missed by the group waiting in the fairway. Earlier this year I had also refused to take a picture of a couple using their phone. Of course one of my playing partners quickly volunteered. To take it a step further, picking up your playing partners wedge as they putt out is off limits today but back in play soon.


Truth is there will be rules for strangers and rules for good friends. I'm going to do my part and refrain from farting in public, I hope others can follow suit and stop wearing cologne. If I can smell you we have gotten too close.

[Jay Mickle]

Goodby to raking bunkers for everyday play. Likely an unnecessary expense and use of time that could be put into other maintenance. Just smooth out the footprint you land in and hit from there. No more bitching about bad lies and no more slow down in play so entire foursome can commiserate. The average golfer is sufficiently tested just by being in a bunker. Prep for tournaments and play it as it lies.

[Kyle Harris]

The average golfer is sufficiently tested just by being in a bunker.

I don't understand this statement.

[Tim Martin]

It will have an effect on the service industry at least at many private clubs. How do bag drop workers, locker room personnel and caddies fare? These people have traditionally handled your bag, shoes, etc.

[John Kavanaugh]

Do you think Wayne will be comping 1000 golfers next year?. The unaccompanied comp is toast.

[John Kavanaugh]

The average golfer is sufficiently tested just by being in a bunker.

I don't understand this statement.

For well over a year Victoria National has not had rakes at the bunkers. They are on carts which does nothing for people who walk. We started playing lift clean and place when in a footprint. It is disgusting.




I believe playing with two gloves will become the norm. Who hasn't gone to the restroom and turned to the sink realizing you were wearing a glove.

[Jason Thurman]

I don't see handshakes and bunker rakes going the way of the dodo. I would say they're going the way of the peregrine falcon - few and far between for some time to come, but with an eventual cautious resurgence. My guess is that we're all back to shaking hands after the round by summer 2021. Hell, I suspect I'll rake a bunker before July, but I could definitely be wrong.


Caddies have been dwindling in number for decades. I don't think the virus will send them to total extinction, but you know how in Tiger King we learn that there are fewer tigers in the wild than in captivity? Caddies "in the wild" may be headed for extinction. I suspect most private clubs will eventually resume Evans Scholar programs, but it may be harder for resort and public courses with caddies to maintain theirs. Or maybe the format just changes - caddies stop hands-on bag carrying and instead drive a cart with bags that are loaded onto it by the players. Either way, there's probably not going to be anybody who polishes my clubs to a shine after a round anytime soon.

[John Kavanaugh]

Until we are allowed to drive carts into the parking lot there will be people cleaning my clubs and putting them in storage.

[Tim Martin]

I don't see handshakes and bunker rakes going the way of the dodo. I would say they're going the way of the peregrine falcon - few and far between for some time to come, but with an eventual cautious resurgence. My guess is that we're all back to shaking hands after the round by summer 2021. Hell, I suspect I'll rake a bunker before July, but I could definitely be wrong.


Caddies have been dwindling in number for decades. I don't think the virus will send them to total extinction, but you know how in Tiger King we learn that there are fewer tigers in the wild than in captivity? Caddies "in the wild" may be headed for extinction. I suspect most private clubs will eventually resume Evans Scholar programs, but it may be harder for resort and public courses with caddies to maintain theirs. Or maybe the format just changes - caddies stop hands-on bag carrying and instead drive a cart with bags that are loaded onto it by the players. Either way, there's probably not going to be anybody who polishes my clubs to a shine after a round anytime soon.

I don’t think the hand shake is coming back. Time will tell.

[Mike Bodo]

Are ball-washers gone for good as an appliance on golf courses? Having been a caddie in my adolescent and young adult years, I've always cleaned my golf ball using a towel and felt ball washers were for the lazy among us and made no sense, as why clean your ball on the tee if it's dirty or has mud on it when you can mark and clean on the previous green? The logic behind ball washers always confounded me given this context, but with hygiene and safety being what it is and likely will be in a post COVID-19 world, are those gone for good from the game?

[Jason Thurman]

Tim, it's feasible. We'll see. If handshakes are out, surely cash gambling is on its way out too. Venmo or bust.

[Tim Martin]

Tim, it's feasible. We'll see. If handshakes are out, surely cash gambling is on its way out too. Venmo or bust.

 

[Jim Tang]

My brother has been wearing two gloves for years.  Ahead of his time.

[Daryl David]

Tim, it's feasible. We'll see. If handshakes are out, surely cash gambling is on its way out too. Venmo or bust.

The ubiquitous money clip being whipped out at the end of my regular game is gone.  Now it’s Venmo or Zelle. It was amazing to watch some of the “older” guys trying to understand how the system could actually work. After transferring money, they can be heard shouting:  I know you sent the money, but how do I get it out of the phone? 😁

[Erik J. Barzeski]

I don't see handshakes and bunker rakes going the way of the dodo. I would say they're going the way of the peregrine falcon - few and far between for some time to come, but with an eventual cautious resurgence.

This. The handshake isn't going to become extinct. In a 16-24 months when we have a vaccine and/or most people have become immune… very little will be different in July 2022 than was in July 2019.

[Peter Pallotta]

I wonder if, at least in the short and medium term, there won't be a more marked difference between 'golfers' and 'those who play golf' -- between those who focus most on the game as game (scores, architecture etc) and those who enjoy golf a little more as a social occasion (betting, foursomes, drinks with friends). At least for a while, it sure seems that it'll be more of a: change your shoes in the parking lot, sling your bag over your shoulder, meet your playing partner on the first tee, shoot the best score you can, wave goodbye to your pal, and get back in the car. 

[John Kavanaugh]

I wonder if, at least in the short and medium term, there won't be a more marked difference between 'golfers' and 'those who play golf' -- between those who focus most on the game as game (scores, architecture etc) and those who enjoy golf a little more as a social occasion (betting, foursomes, drinks with friends). At least for a while, it sure seems that it'll be more of a: change your shoes in the parking lot, sling your bag over your shoulder, meet your playing partner on the first tee, shoot the best score you can, wave goodbye to your pal, and get back in the car.

Otherwise known as underemployed golf.

[M. Shea Sweeney]

Caddies have been dwindling in number for decades. I don't think the virus will send them to total extinction, but you know how in Tiger King we learn that there are fewer tigers in the wild than in captivity? Caddies "in the wild" may be headed for extinction. I suspect most private clubs will eventually resume Evans Scholar programs, but it may be harder for resort and public courses with caddies to maintain theirs. Or maybe the format just changes - caddies stop hands-on bag carrying and instead drive a cart with bags that are loaded onto it by the players. Either way, there's probably not going to be anybody who polishes my clubs to a shine after a round anytime soon.

This awful virus has taken too many lives, too early- and has devastated so many in so many different ways- and will continue to do so for a very long time. So it's hard to imagine any positive's right now, and it seems inappropriate to even suggest such....however


If there were to be a positive- it would be the return to youth caddies. This crisis will likely force many adult caddies to find other work. Too many professional jocks have unnecessarily turned the profession into something it isn't.

There is a place for adult loopers- pga tour, a few in the yard at the great private clubs, solid community guys who are retired, etc, but there is no reason why the yard shouldn't be full of vibrant, eager, hungry young men and women- and especially create opportunity for underserved youth which birthed the game for many minority players (not to mention great players of lesser means that were afforded the opportunity to learn the game via caddying- Hogan)


Many reasons have contributed to the decline of the youth caddie- and likely most significantly the pressure to compete at their respective sport so steadily while finding time for ACT/SAT prep class and various extracurricular efforts that round out a college application.


However that doesn't excuse the pressure on caddie managers to produce a caddie corps that resembles the B team of the Metropolitan PGA. Alas, if the game were to be walking only for time to come, guys will undoubtedly be forced to find other work (not to say guys won't wait it out, or find a way to stay in the business and revert back to slinging bags). Thus caddie managers will be forced to recruit available local youth which was once not an option because of the level of service requirement.

Caddying may once again regain a respectful way to earn a living as a high school and college aged student subsequently launching into the great beyond that is adulthood.


Just recently my brother, a 4 year golf lettermen in the BIG EAST- 4 years BIG EAST ALL- ACADEMIC- was being interviewed for a Graduate Assistant position with the business school at his alma mater... When discussing his work experience as a caddie since age 14 at one of the best courses in the United States, he was confronted with the surprising ignorant commentary from this director of the entitlement of 'caddies' and how he doesn't hire them. I guess he couldn't visualize my 14 year old brother sweeping dead birds out of the cart barn at 5:00am...


I'll save, for now, championing the reasons for youth caddie- see SANKATY HEAD CADDIE CAMP- but maybe getting young men and women back in the yard will be a positive result of this horrendous crisis.

[John Kavanaugh]

And maybe cute high school girls will work the checkout while 12 year old boys deliver your newspaper. Or, as was my parents case, a young Tom Meeks mows your lawn. Sadly in our new economy those jobs belong to the adults...until the robots replace them.

[M. Shea Sweeney]

And maybe cute high school girls will work the checkout while 12 year old boys deliver your newspaper. Or, as was my parents case, a young Tom Meeks mows your lawn. Sadly in our new economy those jobs belong to the adults...until the robots replace them.

that's a bullshit take.


it just takes a little effort- and in this case it may be the only option, John.

[Joe Zucker]

Put me in the camp with Erik and Jason on handshakes.  They should/will be avoided for the next year or two, but once things are somewhat normal, they will return.  Whenever things change abruptly, humanity has a tendency to assume the change is permanent.  On September 12, 2001, few would have guessed that rents in high rise buildings in NYC would continue to rise for the next two decades, but thats exactly what happened. 


Big events slow down or speed up existing trends.  Some people have been against handshakes before this whole thing.  I'm sure that number will increase, but I have trouble seeing it completely disappear.  But if it does, I wonder what takes its place.  Maybe we start bowing like our asian counterparts.

[BHoover]

I won’t be shaking hands. A post round tip of the cap is more than sufficient going forward.

[Jason Thurman]

Shea, what's the argument for why youth caddies would be ok, but not adult caddies? Is it just the idea that resort and public programs might not survive much longer, while private clubs with Evans Scholar programs may continue to support theirs?


Regardless, I would expect that overall caddie numbers decline. Youth caddies may become a higher percentage, but mostly by attrition of adult caddies - not replacing them.


One last thought on the handshake thing. The handshake on the first tee is one I could really see being dead - I'm usually 4 hours from washing my hands again when I'm standing on the first tee. As a borderline-compulsive hand washer, I generally beeline for the sink after a round of golf. A handshake on the 18th green doesn't scare me much, as I'm heading to wash my hands pretty much immediately after anyways. You know... assuming the clubhouse eventually reopens.


High fives and knuckle bumps after small victories in the course of the round... I don't know what happens to those. I made a lot of pitch-in birdies recently while my club was counting any ball that bounced off the raised cup liner as holed. I missed getting dapped up, but half of those balls probably wouldn't have gone in under normal circumstances so it's a small price to pay for being able to say that I've now birdied our 480 yard opening par 4.


Honestly, I suspect most things will come back in due time, including bunker rakes, ballwashers, seed/sand mix in bottles and bins on tees, water coolers, and two-to-a-cart. Pulling the flagstick may truly be dead in most situations.


I wonder more about what NEW things get added. Are we going to see hand sanitizer/washing stations on the course? Will the single person cart/golfboard really take off? Is walking golf going to have a renaissance in the US, or will the proliferation of the golfboard make walking completely obsolete?

[Tim Martin]

The problem with relying on mostly kids/students is that they have school till sometime in June and from Labor Day forward. You can count on them for weekends and holidays but at places where they are mandated you need people during the week.