Covid might have been an impetus to remove some accessories from golf courses, but economics and other factors provided an excuse to keep some off forever, or at least for the foreseeable future.
Nearly two decades later, the tragic story of Nils Beeman has not been forgotten. Beeman was the 15-year-old Phoenix high school golfer whose death in 2003 was linked to contaminated water in a golf course water cooler.
Back then, Charlie Fultz was a golf course superintendent in Virginia more than 2,000 miles away, but he still remembers when that tragedy rocked the golf world. So, it is understandable that Fultz was pretty happy when water coolers disappeared from municipal Heritage Oaks Golf Course in Harrisonburg, Virginia in 2020 as many superintendents were told to limit golfer touch points in response to the pandemic.
He was even happier when water coolers did not make the cut as some of those accessories started to come back into play.
"When we reopened, a hotbed discussion was water coolers," said Fultz, director of golf course operations at Heritage Oaks. "That (Beeman) story always scared me. I can't believe that has not happened more. As acting general manager and superintendent, the city came to me and said 'tell us what you want and what you don't.
"We sell bottled water in the pro shop. That eliminates cross contamination, so water coolers went away."
Golf cars at Heritage Oaks have ball washers already attached arrived at Heritage Oaks, the washers that once were on every hole also never came back.
Although bunker rakes were reintroduced for golfer use, it was not in pre-covid numbers.
"We must have had five in each bunker. It was absurd," Fultz said. "We put one in each bunker. It's not like golfers use them anyway. Our rakes even say on the handle to put them back in the bunker. They never do it, and we all laugh at it."
Paul Hallock also removed ball washers from the SaddleBrooke Golf Course in Tucson, Arizona. The next new armada of golf cars will have ball washers attached, so washers on the course are a thing of the past. Their long-term demise is due more to economics than a virus.
"They were trash anway," Hallock said. "We're not going to spend $16,000 to replace them. They are staying off, and there is no plan to bring them back. We didn't make that decision because of Covid, but Covid put us over the edge."
Brian Boyer, superintendent at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club in San Jose, California also put the ball washers away permanently. He also has adopted a new view toward bunker rakes.
"We removed the ball washers for good," Boyer said. "What's the point? They are gone permanently.
"Bunker rakes are back, and that has been a plus for us. If I have a rake out there, I don't feel guilty about us not (raking bunkers). They had the option, and there's about a 50-50 chance of them raking."
Although ball ejectors and pool noodles are pretty much gone from many golf courses, several superintendents reported that golfers still are putting with the flags in.
"More than 50 percent of our golfers leave them in," Boyer said. "I was surprised to see that."
