Athletes adjusting to circumstances
BURRILLVILLE – On the adjourning fairway, golfers took swings sans masks.
Then there were the fairways on the front side of Country View Golf Course that were populated by high school participants from Mount St. Charles, North Smithfield, and Ponaganset. The players were masked up. So too were the coaches.
Was it a weird sight? You bet. Even the ultimate of outdoor sports cannot escape the mandate for RIIL springtime competitors to wear a mask. Apparently, the belief still exists that sharing the same fairway poses some sort of risk.
One would have hoped that a little common sense would have been applied to the situation. Alas, golf was lumped in with the rest of the spring sports. Thou shall wear a mask while on the links.
Most golf clubs are three feet long. If you hit someone while taking a back swing, it’s a major red flag and means you’re standing too close in the first place.
Along those lines, when is the last time you’ve seen two golfers simultaneously occupying the same air space? If you have, please educate them on proper golf etiquette. You hit, then it’s my turn to hit.
“Your shadow doesn’t cross their putting line. You’re already keeping your distance,” said Northmen head coach John Galoski.
At the height of the pandemic, golf was touted as the sport that, per Galoski, “you could play and get away from all that.”
“With normalcy,” added Rick LaBreche, the first-year head coach at Mount St. Charles.
In 2020, in an effort to keep the golf train moving, there were some quirky protocols put in place. Flagsticks weren’t to be touched. Bunker rakes were removed. Washing your golf balls with the aid of an on-course scrubber? That particular option was removed in the name of keeping everyone safe.
“What we’ve heard over the last year from every doctor is that being outside is the safest play to be,” said LaBreche. “Where are our players? They’re outside.”
The scene Tuesday at Country View was perfectly safe. There was no threat of danger. The tee box was occupied by one player at a time. On the green, everyone was spread out. The chance of transmission was next to nil.
Yet the powers-that-be have deemed that the mask game must be part of the 2021 interscholastic golf equation.
“They’ve been adhering to it and done really well,” said Galoski, adding that mask protocol has been part of the practice regimen in an effort to get everyone familiar with the concept. “Maybe it’s because we’ve gone through the fall and the winter seasons, but no one has thought to question it.”
“All the players and coaches understand that in order to be out here and enjoy their season, this is what needs to be done,” said LaBreche. “They knew on the first day of practice that they needed to bring their clubs and a mask.”
LaBreche works as a starter at Triggs Golf Course – one of the more popular public courses in the state. Imagine if LaBreche had to inform a foursome at Triggs that they had to wear a mask while on the course. It’s news that wouldn’t go over too well.
“There would be pushback if they had to wear it for all 18 holes,” said LaBreche.
As for Tuesday’s season-opening match, Mount St. Charles scored 199 as a team compared to 211 for the Northmen. Ponaganset only entered two players, thus it did not factor in the team competition. MSC senior Matt Badeau achieved medalist status with a round of 46 while Nick Mareglia was NS’s low scorer (48).