Golf reopens in Washington: Time to behave and ‘grip it and rip it’

Good luck finding a tee time on the golf course this week. Golfers filled up the schedules right after the governor announced that play could begin, with restrictions, on Tuesday.

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This will not be your normal golfing experience. The new rules:

• Twosomes only, unless you are playing with family members. Foursomes with family members are allowed “at the golf course’s discretion”
• Only one person in a cart, unless the other person is a child
• No rakes in bunkers
• No touching or removing the flag stick
• Some pro shops will be open for necessities like gloves, balls and tees. Some will not, only allowing online purchases of those things that will be left out for you
• Beverage carts on some courses, none on others

“I think some of the rules of golf may be a little bit relaxed for a while,” said vice president of operations for Premier Golf Mike Fosnick.

His group manages 11 courses around the region, including Seattle’s four public courses.

“We just want to get everybody back out there and exercising and playing the game that they love,” Fosnick said.

Fosnick said the response to the governor’s lifting of restrictions was almost immediate.

“I think they had their fingers on their computers because our mobile app, our website, and our phone system just blew up with tee times,” he said. “We filled all of our tee times with twosomes in a matter of hours.”

It was the same experience for David Hein, the vice president of Oki Golf, which manages eight public courses in the region.

“We’ve got nearly a thousand golfers ready to hit our eight public courses first thing Tuesday morning,” Hein said. “Even with twosomes, that’s going to be a robust day for us.”

So, how are the courses going to keep golfers from crowding up?

It’s not uncommon for groups to congregate at some Par 3 holes. Hein said his staff will be watching that closely.

“No matter how we monitor the restrictions and the guidelines, part of the responsibility falls on the golfer themselves,” he said. “We’ll be there to encourage them and help them if they need some guidance.”

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It’s the same game plan for Premier’s golf courses.

“Don’t try to form a foursome and try not to ride in a cart together,” Fosnick said. “We’re going to be pretty diligent about our enforcement of the governor’s directives. We are hoping that everybody understands, and it goes off smoothly.”

It is going to be a new experience on the first tee on Tuesday, as no one is really sure how it’s going to go. The best advice is to be patient and just be happy that you’re hitting the ball again, and as Fosnick said, behave.

“If we behave ourselves and everything works well, maybe we’ll get some additional restrictions loosened in the future,” Fosnick said.

Be sure to check with your specific club on all the rules before heading to the course. Some are only allowing debit or credit cards, while there could also be driving range restrictions.

My advice: Grip it and rip it and be thankful you’re out on the course. Scoring 75 or 105 doesn’t matter right now.

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