SALT LAKE CITY — Earlier this week, just as it seemed the whole world was shutting down, golf courses around the Salt Lake Valley were jam-packed with golfers.
You couldn’t get a tee time at Bonneville Golf Course on the east side of Salt Lake City all day Tuesday. You had to hang around the putting green for hours hoping to get squeezed into an opening. The same was true at Murray Parkway in the middle of the valley, out at Stonebridge in West Valley, along with several other courses in the area.
Most golf courses in Utah are remaining open for the time being with a few exceptions, including the six courses run by Salt Lake County, which were shut down last Thursday along with a bunch of other county services.
Major sporting events all over the world came to a screeching halt last week, including the NBA, March Madness, Major League Baseball and the PGA Tour. While bowling alleys, gyms and recreation centers are also being closed, the one sport that seems to be immune from the shutdowns, so to speak, is golf (although Wednesday’s earthquake did shut down Salt Lake City courses for a day).
Golf is a sport where players roam large acres of open space with no interaction with large groups of people. Golfers use their own equipment, tee up their own golf balls, and don’t have to touch much else. They can easily stay 6 feet away from their fellow golfers unless they share a cart. In fact, under new worldwide golf rules that went into effect last year, golfers don’t even have to handle flagsticks to take them out of the cups any more.
Some famous courses such as Augusta National, where the Masters is played and Harding Park in San Francisco, site of this year’s PGA Championship, announced this week that they are shutting down, as are numerous courses throughout the country, including northern California, where many of the world’s top courses are located.
However, most courses in Utah remain open, aside from the six Salt Lake County courses along with East Bay in Provo and Hubbard Golf Course at Hill Air Force Base and perhaps a few others.
“We’re staying open until further notice,” said Salt Lake City director of golf Matt Kammeyer, who oversees the city’s six courses. “We’re constantly in communication with the city administration trying to stay on top of things as best we can.”
Kammeyer has instructed professionals and workers at each of the city’s six courses to disinfect equipment, including electric carts and pull carts after each use, as well as the inside of pro shops, where transactions take place and for employees to keep a safe distance from customers. There is also signage at each course reminding golfers to use safe practices.
The city is also installing a new software system that allows golfers to prepay online so the courses can take payments without having to handle money or cards.
Kammeyer insists financial considerations are not part of the the decision to keep courses open.
“We weigh what the health benefits are. If I were cooped up, I’d want to go for a hike and maintain healthy habits. Golf is a great way for people to be healthy and be outside. But we need to keep customer contact minimal,” he said.
That seems to be what’s happening, as a recent visit to a city course revealed.
At Bonneville, assistant pro Chris Richards was wearing black gloves even though it was over 60 degrees outside Tuesday. The credit card reader had been moved in front of the counter, allowing customers to swipe their own credit cards. Cash is still accepted, but may not be for long.
Head professional Lynn Landgren talked about all the precautions that were being taken at his course, including “spraying all the carts when they come in with disinfectant and cleaning the door handles once an hour.”
He said he hasn’t seen too many people acting nervous about the virus.
“They’re just happy we’re open,” he said.
Over at Murray Parkway, head pro John Pearson said they were “extremely busy” with a lot of golfers anxious to play. He said the course, which is owned by the city of Murray, is doing its “due diligence” to make things safe for the customer.
“We wipe the counters every 15 minutes,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can to keep it safe for everybody.”
Jacob Miller, executive director of the Utah Golf Association, agrees that golf is one activity that would seem to be on the safer side during this crisis, but his organization is taking precautions.
Last week, the UGA canceled all events through April 5 and earlier this week extended it to April 30. Miller acknowledges that some tournaments could be played quite safely with fees paid in advance, but says events with shotgun starts are more of a problem with larger groups of people congregating than events with tee times.
Devin Dehlin, executive director of the Utah Section PGA, said his organization is keeping a close eye on everything and still has a couple of events scheduled for later in April, although they have been modified. He said they will reevaluate at the end of the month.
A day after Salt Lake County closed its golf courses along with recreation centers, arts and cultural facilities, senior centers and other facilities, the Salt Lake City Golf Division sent out an e-mail expressing why it plans to stay open.
“The health and safety of our valued guests and employees is of great importance to us. We also believe that stressful times like these are precisely when people need to undertake wellness practices the most, and we are committed to doing our part to help. Golf provides a chance to be outside and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine while engaging the mind to provide a needed respite from the uncertainty of changing events around us,” the email stated.
It went on to say that courses were taking steps to “to minimize the potential for exposure while still providing this beneficial activity to the community.”
The email also gave a list of things for golfers to do to limit the possible spread of the virus, including washing hands, sharing food and allowing space when facing employees at check-in.
Golfers who have been packing the local courses when the weather’s been good, don’t seem worried about catching the coronavirus.
Paul Stahura of Cottonwood Heights was with a group of six friends, who were teeing off in back-to-back groups at Bonneville on Tuesday. He believes playing golf is positive from an emotional as well as a physical standpoint.
“It’s good because we’re going to be hunkered down for a month or longer,” he said. “It’s important because it’s an emotionally healthy thing to do. We’re being safe, too. We have sanitizer with us. The risk we have of getting infected here we mitigate with as many smart choices on our part. It’s fun together with the boys.”
Jeff Helotes had just finished his round at Bonneville with a group of friends who play regularly on Tuesdays.
“I don’t think anybody worried about it too much,” he said. “We didn’t touch the pins, we did what people said to do. Some guys shared carts ... we brought some sanitizer.”
Down at Forest Dale, Franklin and Elizabeth Hughes were just getting ready to play, but weren’t concerned about the health risks.
“Social distancing — hopefully we don’t get too close to people,” said Franklin Hughes. “We paid online, so we don’t have to do any transactions.”
“Staying active is good for you, walking around and getting your limbs moving,” said Elizabeth Hughes, who brought some wipes as a precaution.
The way things have been changing lately, golf courses may not stay open indefinitely.
“Hopefully we can keep courses available, but things change day by day,” said Kammeyer.