As just about everyone eagerly anticipates a post-Covid world, the pandemic has brought a lot of changes to golf, many of which will disappear when the threat of infection dissipates. Some other changes to the game likely are here to stay.
As implements that golfers love, but superintendents despise, like rakes, emerge from storage, the obvious change that everyone hopes will remain is the renewed popularity of the game.
Rounds played last year were up by 14 percent compared with the year before. Although it will not be until early 2022 when this year's numbers are available, golf still is enjoying a renaissance.
That is certainly the case at The Club at Ruby Hill in Pleasanton, California, 20 miles east of San Francisco Bay in Alameda County.
"We're still seeing 200 rounds a day every day," said Steve Agin, director of golf course maintenance at The Club at Ruby Hill in Pleasanton, California. "We never used to see that, maybe on a weekend. "The busiest day of the year used to be the day after Thanksgiving. Now, it can be any Wednesday. We now surpass that on most days."
Thirty miles away, on the other side of the bay at Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club in Menlo Park, the story is a similar one, but as some restrictions ease in the country's most Covid-restrictive state, some people finally are beginning to find other things to do with their free time and disposable income.
The busiest day of the year used to be the day after Thanksgiving. Now, it can be any Wednesday. We now surpass that on most days.
"We've had a huge increase in demand for tee times over the last year," said superintendent Josh Lewis. "We were completely closed for a total of six weeks when everything initially locked down, but the club has been under some form of restriction every day for the last year. We closed the second week of March (in 2020) and opened back up May 5.
"Demand on the golf course has been about the same as last year until very recently. As more people have gotten vaccinated and restrictions have started to lift we've started to see some of the pressure lift as people have other options for things to do."
A year ago, superintendents everywhere were celebrating the wholesale removal of rakes and ball washers from the golf course.
They are re-emerging around the country at the insistence of golfers who do not know how to use one and rarely utilize the other.
At Ruby Hill, club management developed a tee-to-green plan of what is coming back and what is not so they have a consistent message to present to members.
"Do I think I am going to get (Covid) from a bunker rake? No, but I don't want to be the only guy who says we are taking cup noodles out, bringing rakes back out. Now, we have a consensus on that among management," Agin said.
"I don't know why we would ever put ball washers out again. Maybe on the first and 10th holes, but not on all 18. They were hardly ever used before."
On the other side of the country, one of the things most affected at Fairview Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, since the onset of the pandemic is the club's long-standing caddie program.
Few places can match Fairview's historic caddie program that has been in place for 114 years and includes a pair of U.S. Open winners.
Caddies were allowed back on the golf course last June, but were not permitted to carry clubs. That eventually changed, but members now have to request a caddie when making a tee time. The purpose, said Fairview superintendent Jim Pavonetti, is to avoid caddies congregating in groups while waiting for loops.
"A hot topic so far this year, the members are concerned about the caddie program. The members here love the caddie program," Pavonetti said. "You can only limit their ability to work for so long before they find other work. It's a sensitive topic right now.
One-time Fairview caddie Johnny Farrell won the 1928 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields, and Tony Manero, also a looper at the Connecticut club, won the tournament in 1936 at Baltusrol.
"There is a lot of history here," Pavonetti said. "And the caddie program is near and dear to a lot of our members."
With protocols in place to help ensure the safety of members and employees, one thing that is here to stay in many places is a philosophy of safety. Gone are the days of being sick and going to work and toughing it out.
"I think everybody is going to naturally approach things differently. I can pretty much guarantee that the days of coming to work feeling sick and 'sucking it up' are over," Lewis said. "Keeping our people safe has always been a top priority, but I think keeping our people healthy is just as high on the list now."
