It wasinthefirstweekofMaywhenI, deep
inthegripofself-isolation,finallystoleaway
lateinthe day for an emergency nine at the
golfclubnear my home in Granville, Ohio.
Thecourse fits right in with the Victorian
quaintness of our little village: Its front nine,
a Donald Ross design commissioned to
accompany the construction of the Granville
Innin1924, is a compact, enjoyable walk
overmild hills with Ross’s signature back-to-
frontsloped greens. I ventured out that eve-
ningbecause I needed the air, and I needed
thesatisfaction of a good drive off the tee
ora well-struck iron to feel some semblance
ofnormal.
GovernorMikeDeWineissueda stay-at-
homeorderonMarch16, but Ohio was one of
the few states to keep courses open through
much of its lockdown. Now that most courses
are on track to reopen—Massachusetts was
the last state to lift its ban on May 7—I got a
look at our new reality.
Golf is one of the rare sports that by nature
allows us to compete at a remove. You don’t
have to share clubs or balls; if you’re alone, a
round of golf just about qualifies as the very
definition of social distancing. And yet, over
the past two months, new rules to keep guests
safe have become standardized quickly.
Most clubs are implementing a one-rider-
per-cart policy unless both live in the same
household. On the course, there’s no touch-
ing of the flagstick, and barriers prevent
putts from even falling into the cup—hitting
the bumper counts as a hole. (Few are keep-
ing serious score these days, anyway.) “In
35 years, I’ve never seen this much industry-
wide collaboration,” says David Pillsbury, chief
executive officer of ClubCorp, which manages
more than two hundred 18-hole courses.
Enforcing those rules last week would60
SPORTS Bloomberg Pursuits May 18, 2020havebeeneasierif everyonehadn’thadthesameexactidea
asI did.Asthesunwentdownandpeachlightfilledthe
clouds,theplacewasjumping.Onthe11thhole,I sawfour
cartsparkedendtoend,threeoftheirdriversstandingside
bysideasthefourthteedoff.Nooneworea mask.When
I gottothehole,thebumper—herejusta sawed-offpool
noodle stuck in the cup—felt like very thin armor.
AtReynoldsLakeOconee,a privatecommunity 90 min-
uteseastofAtlantawithsixgolfcoursesanda Ritz-Carlton,
membershavealreadylogged14,000roundsthisyear—
two-thirdsofitsexpectedcapacityduringa normalsea-
son,accordingtoWesForester,directorofgolf.Andthat’s
despitehavingtwocoursesclosedformaintenance,cutting
allplayforguestsattheon-sitehotel,andlosingthealmostSocial distancing has always
been part of golf, but the
pandemic is pushing clubsto
extremes. By Michael CroleyFore’s a Crowd
Carts social distancing
at the Stoney Creek
course in Nellysford, Va.DAVE MERRILL/BLOOMBERG