The Greenville Municipal Golf Course opened back up to the public on Thursday, but not after new guidelines were implemented to help prevent golfers from possibly contracting the coranavirus.
The golf course had been closed the last couple of days because of both the caronavirus situation and because of the rainy weather, golf course manager Lee Sipes said.
Some of the new policies implemented by the course include:
• raising the cups out of the holes
* users should bring sanitizing equipment and spray disinfectant to minimize the transmission of bacteria
* disinfecting the golf carts after every round
* closing the snack shop
* limiting the number of customers inside the pro shop to five customers at a time.
“I think keeping the golf course open is important because right now the community has nothing else to do,” Sipes said.
Sipes said he believes that if golfers follow the guidelines there should be minimal risk of players being possibly infected.
Greenville Parks and Recreation Director Corey Holmes said keeping the golf course open makes sense given how valuable it is to the community.
“But, we are continuing to monitor the situation and will make changes when we need to,” Holmes said.
Throughout the country, local municipalities are debating on whether or not to allow members of the public to play golf. For example, golfers are currently allowed to play in California Ohio, and many part of Florida. Golf is not allowed in states like Wisconsin, Maryland and Illinois.
One of the arguments for keeping golf courses open is that even the most strict “shelter-in-place” orders being implemented across the country allow for some forms of recreation, like walking and riding bikes. As long as golfers keep a safe social distance from each other, it can be played safely.
Thursday morning golfers playing the course, like 66-year-old Lee Nick, said they were grateful the city is keeping the course open.
“It is a beautiful day, and this course is really pretty,” Nick said. “I don’t think there is much risk to anyone because we are out in the outdoors keeping our distance from each other.”
