When Illinois first went into “Shelter in Place,” Illinois golf courses were allowed to stay open with some basic restrictions. After all, as many have made clear, golf is a game that naturally lends itself to social distancing. Many golf courses quickly put practices in place such as sanitizing carts and limiting them to single riders, elevating or pool noodling the holes, and leaving the flags in. There was one major problem. Many players blatantly ignored the social distance rules and it didn’t go unnoticed. Sure, many people followed directions, but a few bad apples managed to ruin the bunch. Therefore, the government closed the golf courses less than two days later. (For the record, I feel it was the right decision given what I saw…)
MOST Illinois Golf Courses Are Back in Business
Well, about a month later after some big efforts from golf coalitions and government officials, it was announced that Illinois golf courses would be allowed to reopen under strict guidelines. No clubhouse access, no motorized carts unless you have proper medical documentation (in which case, one person per cart), no rakes, flag sticks stay in, and twosomes only with 15 minute windows. Oh, and all practice areas are closed. While this was good news, it was also wildly polarizing. Some argued it’s a slow start to prove it can work safely, others argued it was a death sentence to the golf industry and unreasonable. I’ll let you decide where I stand on the matter.
The fact is, most golf courses in the state are open again just in time for the good weather to start rolling in. It was officially time. After the long winter months, one round of 18 holes with sheets of ice and snow, and countless hours hitting wedges off of a mat into a net, I finally got to play real golf in 2020. My course of choice was my hometown track, The Village Links of Glen Ellyn.
Being Back Out There
I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of my round, but it was a weird experience. From a general golf perspective, it was great to be playing outside in reasonable conditions. Tell you what, I forgot what it felt like to putt on grass! What caught me more was that it was kind of eerie out there. First, it was SO quiet. Of course, teeing off under legit moonlight contributed to that a bit. Between minimal people at the course and then significantly less traffic and noise outside the property, it was just quiet.
Second, these rules really work. I was supposed to tee off with another person in the first slot of the day, but he beat me to the tee by two minutes and took off. Hats off to this kid, he opened a five hole gap on me and I wasn’t playing slow at all. From that point on, I never crossed another person aside from the greens crew the rest of the round. Admittedly there is one rule I don’t love, but 100% understand it. More than once, the no rakes rule got me. I just moved my ball and did my best to clean the bunker a bit on the way out. Not sure what else to really do here, and I’m happy to continue this way for the foreseeable future.
The Best Part of the Round
There were so many little things I appreciated about the round that I wouldn’t have experienced without a global pandemic. It was such an escape. Being able to sneak into this protective bubble in the “outside world” and take the mask off was such a privilege. Just to do something that felt/seemed like the reality of the pandemic wasn’t happening. Of course, when you can’t touch anything or go in any buildings, you’re quickly reminded, but it’s an otherwise fulfilling escape for a few hours.
Note, I said a few hours. My round clocked in at just under three hours. If I really busted it, I easily could have finished the round in two and a half hours. There was something sort of sad about that, however. Not because this escape was over, but it was a stark reminder of what golf used to be like for most of my life. Over the past decade, the tee sheets are so jam packed to generate more revenue (whether necessary or not) that pretty much any round you play is long and the course traffic is suffocating. And I’m not just talking public courses…
Like everyone, I look forward to being able to play in a foursome again and getting more money in our courses’ pockets, but the ability to develop a playing pace and not feel constantly unnecessarily pressured or threatened by a surly ranger was so refreshing. If there’s something we can take away from this pandemic, I hope it’s the ability to breathe on the course. Not only was it more enjoyable to play, but it was so much easier to absorb the experience and realize how great this game is. That’s how golf should be every time you step on the course, no matter who you are.
