Course owners chafe at limited golf

Reporting from Chicago

Monday, April 27, 2020

Golfers will be allowed to play the game they love beginning Friday.

The lifting of the COVID-19-related ban on golf doesn’t mean course owners are happy.

Rather, they’re gritting their teeth as they open their courses, though not their clubhouses.

“We’re in the red with twosomes and no carts,” said Brian Broderick, owner of Carriage Greens Country Club in Darien. “We’ll be able to get 80 to 100 players a day on the course.”

With 15-minute intervals between twosomes, that means an early start and some nine-hole rounds. But Broderick reports his first three days, beginning Friday, are sold out.

Mark Haines, owner of Lincoln Oaks Golf Course in Crete, knows his regulars have been playing in Indiana. His course is two miles from the border. He’s done the same thing.

“Two weeks ago, I played White Hawk in Indiana,” Haines said. “There were 176 cars in the lot, and 103 had Illinois plates. They’re still going to hop the border now, because they can play foursomes.

“As a whole, my regulars are going to Indiana once a week. They play here three times a week.”

Haines saw no reason for foursomes to be prohibited.

“In golf, you know who you’re with. It’s you and your brother or your friends. There’s not one scenario that tracks COVID-19 back to a golf course. That’s what’s most frustrating about this.”

Haines can move 28 to 32 people off the tee in normal times. Only eight will be allowed per hour for the moment. That means no leagues or outings – most of which include lunch before or after, which is essentially out with clubhouses and sit-down restaurants closed. Courses can offer take-away meals, but that’s it. They can’t even sell golf balls. Like Broderick, he’ll be running in the red, but losing less money than if his operation remained completely shuttered.

“We’re all gonna get beat up this year,” Haines said. “In another month or so, it could get really bad. Golf courses today rely on leagues and outings. How can we do leagues with eight players an hour?”

He also saw no reason to prohibit practice.

“It’s asinine,” Haines said. “You can’t go to the practice green or the chipping green. At White Hawk, they had six different stations and you weren’t near anyone. So you can’t properly loosen up.”

Haines wrote on Lincoln Oaks’ Facebook page that it cost him $4,250 to run the course, adding “Allow 4 comes and now we can come close to paying some bills.”

Broderick, who has not laid off any staff, said he applied for the federal small business loan and received $6,000 of the $55,000 he requested. He said it costs $2,000 a day to run Carriage Greens.

The angst with the 33 regulations carries over to the private club scene. One club e-mailed its members announcing they could play again, but took a jab at Gov. J.B. Pritzker, calling the rules “very strict and some would say draconian and unreasonable. … It is clear that the Governor’s office is just looking for violations of these rules to shut down golf as they did in March.”

There’s nothing in the two pages of regulations that indicate any such intent, but the frustration factor is high among golfers, club members and course owners.

“They’re bullshit, a Band-Aid on a gushing wound,” Broderick said. “These rules are absolutely insane and ridiculous.”

Broderick also lashed out at the Illinois PGA and Chicago District Golf Association, which had been lobbying Pritzker’s office for a lifting of the ban, which was instituted on March 19 after two days of play following the original shutdown oder.

“We’re done with them,” Broderick said. “We’re not paying any more monthly fees. I don’t know how many people they had in Springfield banging on the door, but you don’t get any points for trying. You get points for results.

“I see zero value in these associations. No one even tried to contact me.”

As of Monday afternoon, the Cook County Forest Preserve District and city of Chicago courses were expected to remain closed. The DuPage County Forest Preserve District will open two of its three courses on Friday and the other one next week.

– Tim Cronin

Later this week: Illinois Golfer's first digital issue of the season, with an updated course directory.