Maybe OT: Golf course vs. Supermarket social distancing

[Ian Mackenzie]

I am spending a second week FUMING over the silly, draconian rules that surround the current state of golf in Illinois.
I gather that many states share the same ridiculous "rules". It is really hard to access any course - private or public.


So, I am channeling my moring rage to a comparison of going to the grocery store versus playing golf.


1. Arrival in Parking lot at 9:00 am

Grocery store: indoor lot full of cars (I live in the city) maybe 70-80 cars.
Golf course: 20 cars in an outdoor lot.


2. Waiting to "start"

Grocery Store: 100' line with maybe 25 people in it waiting to get in using SD guidelines 6' apart
Golf course: maybe 4 people milling around for their 15 minute 2-some intervals


3. Getting started

Grocery store: groups of customers grab a cart from an indoor rack of at least 100 carts supposedly sanitized and then they do what they please.
Golf course: The 4 people waiting are told they are not allowed to take a trolley/pull cart outside.


4. And we are off...

Grocery store: I count no fewer than 20 people in the produce section alone all with carts, all with masks, few wearing gloves. Criss-crossing each other as they peruse the vegetables.
Golf course: 2-some on First tee. Next group is at least 500 yards away approaching the second green already before we are allowed to tee off. Oh, and everyone has at least one glove on...;-)


5. 30 minutes later...

Grocery store: approaching check out with a line of 2 customers at every check out after I passed at least 100 people all under a 70,000 square foot roof INSIDE.
Golf course: I think I can see about 24 people outside in a 150 acre site as I clear the 3rd green....waiting on every shot mind you as these idiots now believe that a 3 hour round is "fast" for a 2-some.... ...


Then I drive back from the golf course and pass a playing field near a high school where there are at least 30 people playing on a 100 yard pitch in groups of soccer players, football players, baseball players, etc. Not students, but locals just getting outside for exercise.


QUESTION: Our course is private and I am very fortunate. But, across the street from our course is a muni where green fees are $30 and the same rules apply there so this is hardly picking on classes. They do more rounds than we do.


Why is golf getting such a raw deal?

[Mark Pearce]

Ian,


Simply put.  You need to eat (and therefore buy food) to live.  You don't have to play golf to live.  So different rules apply.

[Kalen Braley]

Mark,

Exactly,

On a related note, one side effect of so many staying home is stores like Home Depot/Lowes are more crowded than ever with people working on home projects combined with spring weather...and I'm guilty as charged.  We've avoided going on weekends and try to go first thing in the morning.

For that matter, I usually go food shopping first thing in the morning too.

[Paul OConnor]

"You don't have to play golf to live."   WHAT???   

[Ian Mackenzie]

Ian,


Simply put.  You need to eat (and therefore buy food) to live.  You don't have to play golf to live.  So different rules apply.

Nah...no chance...as stated by others: look at Home Depot. Same thing there. And all the garden centers that are open...it's the same as grocery stores.


So, are you now going to make the case that gardening is a must-have, too..?..;-)


Liquor stores...same thing.
Weed dispensaries...same thing.


But GOLF...nope, it's being singled out due to politics and thats reality but indeed sad.


It's the inconsitencies in "social distancing" policies that I'm drawing attention to.
If you have a policy, then make it apply across the board.


Otherwise, it's not really a policy.

[Kalen Braley]

Liquor stores...same thing.
Weed dispensaries...same thing.

Whoa,  hold on there just one second.

If anything, Booze and Pot are needed more than ever during a lockdown! 

[Mark Pearce]

Ian,


You gave supermarkets as the comparator.  You can't now plead garden centres.

[Jason Thurman]

My state is a little ahead of yours on golf.


My club used to be no tee times. We have them now. Interval was originally 15 minutes, but we're now down to 10 and setting records for daily play.


At first, we closed our cart barn and push cart/bag storage with it. That's all open again, with precautions now.


We're still encouraging walking, but single carts are available after originally being off-limits.


All buildings are still closed, but we offer food and drink service to-go onto the course now where the kitchen was fully closed for a few weeks.


We played with raised cups for a while, then with a pool noodle in the hole to keep the ball suspended high, and now have the little lever contraption on the flagsticks that lets your ball drop fully.


My advice: Ease up on the rage. It's a real privilege to get to fume about golf right now. The landscape will change continuously as we keep working to figure this new world out.

[Peter Pallotta]

Ian, from your socialist neighbour to the north, there's two reasons, I think:
1. As noted, because food is more important than golf; and
2. Because President Trump plays golf.

For politicians it's a no-brainer: 100% of their electorate needs food, while (at most) only 40-45% want President Trump to play golf.

If you still had President Obama, he would have noted that golf is great outdoor exercise -- and everyone would've chuckled at the charmingly obvious self-interest involved and opened up courses so as to not seem churlish.

[JC Jones]

I cant imagine standing in the front yard yelling at the firefighters while ignoring my wife who'd drunkenly left her cigarette burning on the nightstand.

[JLahrman]

Ian, from your socialist neighbour to the north, there's two reasons, I think:
1. As noted, because food is more important than golf; and
2. Because President Trump plays golf.

For politicians it's a no-brainer: 100% of their electorate needs food, while (at most) only 40-45% want President Trump to play golf.

If you still had President Obama, he would have noted that golf is great outdoor exercise -- and everyone would've chuckled at the charmingly obvious self-interest involved and opened up courses so as to not seem churlish.

I'd gladly pay more in taxes to keep Trump on the golf course 7 days a week. I'm not sure there is a political aspect to the golf limitations, though what can't be politicized these days. I think the folks on this site are just more sensitive to golf limitations. I play far more tennis than golf these days and the courts have been closed where I live, despite it being easier to maintain distance while playing tennis than golf. Playgrounds have been closed, including disc golf courses.

[Bernie Bell]

I'm not fuming, I'm delighted to be out there.  In any event, the decisions by state governors to close and then when to reopen were clearly driven by fear or politics, not by any data.  Now that all states are open, in one form or another, I believe the operating protocols are being drawn up by the state organizations and the "Back2Golf" Alliance national organizations, not the governments.

[Stewart Abramson]

Ian, You make the right points about why golf is safer than most other activities. However,  I'm not sure what "draconian rules" are making you fume or enraged. Is it being limited to twosomes and 15 minute intervals? The courses in New Jersey are doing that. I like it. Average times of rounds have gone from 4 hrs 10 min to 2 hrs 50 minutes. No waits on any par threes. It's been great and I'm the opposite of fuming about it.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Ian,


You gave supermarkets as the comparator.  You can't now plead garden centres.

Yes, I can...it's my thread...;-)


Plus, someone else mentioned it first....;-)

[Ian Mackenzie]

Ian, You make the right points about why golf is safer than most other activities. However,  I'm not sure what "draconian rules" are making you fume or enraged. Is it being limited to twosomes and 15 minute intervals? The courses in New Jersey are doing that. I like it. Average times of rounds have gone from 4 hrs 10 min to 2 hrs 50 minutes. No waits on any par threes. It's been great and I'm the opposite of fuming about it.

I think that's it...I cant F**king get on my own GD golf course!!!


It's 68 degrees and sunny and I cant play as sending 8 players out every hour just screws things up.

[Jon Wiggett]

I can't believe they didn't take on board my suggestion of black and yellow sticky tape every two meters across the entire course to help social distancing!!!

[Anthony Butler]

Ian, from your socialist neighbour to the north, there's two reasons, I think:
1. As noted, because food is more important than golf; and
2. Because President Trump plays golf.

For politicians it's a no-brainer: 100% of their electorate needs food, while (at most) only 40-45% want President Trump to play golf.

If you still had President Obama, he would have noted that golf is great outdoor exercise -- and everyone would've chuckled at the charmingly obvious self-interest involved and opened up courses so as to not seem churlish.

You missed the part about Obama NOT traveling to his own properties in January/February to play golf and instead staying in DC to work with public health experts on preparing the country to deal with the C-19 Pandemic.

[Tim Martin]

Online payment only and no carts or snack bar have definitely sped up pace of play at some local public courses. I’ve walked three rounds in less than 3:45 minutes at a course that I’ve never finished in less than 4:15 in a cart.

[jeffwarne]

If you still had President Obama, he would have noted that golf is great outdoor exercise -- and everyone would've chuckled at the charmingly obvious self-interest involved and opened up courses so as to not seem churlish.

Ummm...or golf wouldn't have been disrupted at all....

[jeffwarne]

Ian, You make the right points about why golf is safer than most other activities. However,  I'm not sure what "draconian rules" are making you fume or enraged. Is it being limited to twosomes and 15 minute intervals? The courses in New Jersey are doing that. I like it. Average times of rounds have gone from 4 hrs 10 min to 2 hrs 50 minutes. No waits on any par threes. It's been great and I'm the opposite of fuming about it.

I was thinking the same thing
We're doing record #s of rounds with no staff, no amenities, no access to any indoor facilities, and pace has been the fastest it's ever been-by far.(We do have tee times but no enforcement of such).
So fast that when I walk out to see where people are, they are nearly always ahead of my estimate.
Turns out when you eliminate all the trappings and drill down to just golf, things work out pretty good.
Have yet to hear a complaint(in fact the opposite) though to be fair some types just won't play under such "draconian" conditions, you know like those you might find at any one of hundreds of honor box courses.

[Mark Pritchett]

Take your instinct by the reins[/size]You're better best to rearrange[/color][/size]What we want and what we needHas been confused, been confused


-REM[/color]

[mike_malone]

Ian,


Simply put.  You need to eat (and therefore buy food) to live.  You don't have to play golf to live.  So different rules apply.

Stole my exact words.

[John Kavanaugh]

You are talking Chicago. A town where any group over three people usually results in one getting shot. If we have learned anything in this crises it is that we do not live in a one size fits all society. Learn to take responsibility for the people in your community. It's a big boat up in Lake county and you are all in the same one. What a novel idea...Stop the killing, make a tee time.

[J_ Crisham]

You are talking Chicago. A town where any group over three people usually results in one getting shot. If we have learned anything in this crises it is that we do not live in a one size fits all society. Learn to take responsibility for the people in your community. It's a big boat up in Lake county and you are all in the same one. What a novel idea...Stop the killing, make a tee time.

John,
 My club is slated to open on May 30th In Chicago after being completely closed for a 10 month restoration. The question is will we be able to open or does the Mayor have the right to keep us closed down? You can at least play up at Ian's club which is outside the city limits.

[Mark Smolens]

You are talking Chicago. A town where any group over three people usually results in one getting shot. If we have learned anything in this crises it is that we do not live in a one size fits all society. Learn to take responsibility for the people in your community. It's a big boat up in Lake county and you are all in the same one. What a novel idea...Stop the killing, make a tee time.

John,
 My club is slated to open on May 30th In Chicago after being completely closed for a 10 month restoration. The question is will we be able to open or does the Mayor have the right to keep us closed down? You can at least play up at Ian's club which is outside the city limits.

Jack, maybe you Bev-ites should annex into Evergreen Park? I'm sure that Mayor Sexton would be happy to have you, and would let you open. Plus, you'd have one friendly vote on the First District Appellate Court!