Area golf courses see increase during pandemic
While many sports were hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Garland County has seen an increase in amateur golfers.
Lakeside Country Golf Club experienced an increase in attendance that doubled their revenue relative to this time last year, said supervisor Amy Humphreys.
“There’s a lot of contributing factors, but one of them has to be the virus,” she said. “It’s an outside sport. It’s an outside activity that people can honor the six feet distancing, so it’s perfect. … It’s just been slammed, and that’s good, right? It’s really been a blessing.
It’s the epitome of this sport. It can be individual — you don’t have to breathe down anybody’s neck.”
At Essex Golf Course, Guy Collins said they have been enforcing a limit to the amount of people on the courses due to not having enough golf carts available.
“Several people have been on the courses, looking for some way to get out of the house. … (We have) just been sanitizing the carts and one person to a cart — sanitizing when they get through.”
Lakeside Country Golf Club has not been
serving food in the clubhouse, and no more than 10 people are allowed inside at a time. Collins said that at Essex Golf Club, “They just come in here to pay — pay off their dues, pay for a round — in and out.”
Hot Springs Country Club general manager Barry Howard said they have implemented numerous precautions to keep the grounds as safe as they can. Some of those include sanitizing carts before and after each use, leaving the flag sticks in the holes and using pool noodles in cups. In addition, only one person is allowed in a golf cart at a time unless it is immediate family living in the same household.
Lakeside Country Golf Club have also instituted more safety measures as well, including a plastic shield that would separate the driver and passenger in a golf cart.
“When people wanted their own cart, of course that was completely allowed. … That was at their discretion,” Humphreys said. “It comes down to an individual commitment. I mean, everybody’s got to keep their hands clean. People have got to wear their masks. It’s not just a company thing as it is an individual thing. We’ve impressed upon our employees that you’ve got to keep your hands clean.
“We’ve also put a shield up at our register. We’ve got hand sanitizer and other than the normal, like the signs and we’ve also, on the flags, on our greens, on our pins, have incorporated a styrofoam ring, if you will, in the bottom of the pin so that the ball will go in, but it’s not necessary to touch the flag. It’s not necessary to touch it. You just get your ball out and go from there. I think that’s been a big help as well. We just tried to honor what the government was doing and what we could do as individuals to do our part.”
While business has slowed somewhat since Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced reopenings around the state, Humphreys said that she has been concerned about whether enough is being done at the golf course.
“I worry, ‘Are we not as strict as some other golf courses?’ Not that we don’t have beautiful greens and our golf course isn’t awesome, but I question myself,” she said. “Am I doing the best I can to keep everybody safe? Not just our visitors and members, but our employees.
“Am I doing something wrong? Why are we so busy? Am I the lax golf course in town? And we’re not. … It’s really an ideal situation for COVID, if you will — to get outside and get away from cabin fever.”