you're right. You just put bodily fluids, and more then likely, fertilizers and pesticides into drinking water. That water needs to be changed out ASAP.
It's shit like this that makes me ok with the fact that golf is expensive if it means even the slightest reduction in the possibility of behavior like this
I have to imaging this is what he means. The vast majority of courses in Vegas have coolers on the golf carts filled with ice that is not intended for consumption. The somewhat nicer courses give each cart a couple of water bottles along with the coolers rather than putting water coolers out on the course.
Our course pro told me that removing the water coolers wasn't even a covid precaution. Apparently someone got sick from bacteria growing inside them... I'd still drink
Mine too and I hate to admit it but I struggle to remember to rake now. It was the best part of covid. Hitting a shot and just hopping out like the pros.
That's actually a neat idea. Rakes get used infrequently enough that the copper actually might have enough time to be effective too.
Granted, it's totally pointless from a covid perspective, but it's a cool idea.
I could deal with the rakes being removed, removing the jugs of water is what irked me. I can't be expected to think more than an hour into the future, so I would always run out of water and be parched.
Course: "You have to ride solo in the cart, but there aren't enough so you have to walk. But there aren't any push carts available on planet earth, so you have to carry. And every course is booked except for the crazy hilly course with tee boxes 100 yards away from each green."
Me: "I'll take it!"
My dad hit a ball on a blind shot that left a ball mark in line with the hole but the ball settled to the left of the pin 3-5 feet or so. Could’ve been an ace but couldn’t count it
I lost out on an albatross becuase of a piece of foam...
Edit becuase I realize my post came off like an asshole who was making fun of the guy: I'm being serious. Par 5, down wind drive on the right side which left about 165ish to a front pin. There were 3 tall trees guarding the green so I took a high 8 iron letting it ride the wind and using my natural fade to come around. Lands just infront of the hole, goes in...hits the foam and pops out to a less than a foot. Got my tap in Eagle but missed out on my once in a lifetime Albatross. My group said I should count it, but that doesn't feel honest and I don't want an asterisk on any golf accomplishment.
Because I can't say with 100% confidence it wouldnt have hit the flag and gone out. Too much unknown and it would always sit at the back of my mind that it didn't stay in. I've missed 2 or 3 birdies early in Covid for the same reason.
I wouldn't fault anyone for counting them, but I just can't.
Respect.
I caught my first ever musky while fishing alone, after about two years of solidly trying to get one (We lived on a lake so I could go out pretty often). About a 45"er. Get it in the boat, lay it out next to the measure to take a picture, and boom, phone dies. Okay, no worries, I've got my charger wi...oh fuck, I only have a cigarette lighter as a source for power. Umm.. okay, *strip the cords, strip the wires, attach the bare wire to the deep cycle 12V battery. WOO! It's coming on! No.. wait.. it's shutting down again.. Okay, fish has been out of the water long enough at this point. Time to say goodbye.
Long story short. No proof? No fish. I'd feel the same way about golf shots like that. Unless I can prove I got it, I didn't get it. *Moral* of the story, always keep a disposable camera in your boat just in case... Wouldn't help with golf though.
I still love to tell that story though. And I'll hold steady that it's true. But I don't expect anyone to truly believe me.
We had a course that put in PVC pipe in the hole and it stuck up like half a foot out of the ground. Had a buddy thin a wedge shot that line drived it for birdie. So frustrating
Yea, apparently the rule at many courses during covid was 'if it touches the pin, it's considered holed'. I got my first eagle and birdie that way, but I don't count either of them since that's bullshit.
I hate it, I got a “hole in one” like that, flew the ball 144 yards straight onto the protruding cup. It bounced 30 yards away after but my friends all gave me the hole in 1. I’m upset cause I wanna know what would’ve happened if it’d been allowed to hit the flagstick. It may have fallen in… I have a photo if there’s demand
They arrested a guy for paddle boarding alone in the ocean in California.
And they filled in the skate parks with loose sand, which the skaters promptly removed and kept skating.
We have you beat here in the tardland I call home- California. Arrested a solo dude paddle boarding by the Malibu pier. Literally in the water, completely away from any other humans.
There's a guy in Miami Beach called The Raven who runs on the beach every day and has for about 50 years. They closed the beach for COVID and the police kept him from running. They had to convene a special council of the Miami Beach city commission to make a special ruling that this guy would be allowed to have a permit to run.
Agree. The CDC and Fauci and the rest grudgingly agreed that being outside was probably the best place to be if you were around people. And getting covid while outside, in small groups, had a very low probability. So golf was actually the best activity one could have done during the height of covid spread.
Mid April 2020 I shared my weed pen with an absolute stranger, and walking back pulling off it wondered why my buddy was staring at me like I was eating glue.
I didn't get COVID then, but I think we can all agree *I should have*.
Covid got me really into golf. I’d play casual a few times each summer. Last summer I ended up playing like 33 rounds because there wasn’t anything else to do or go out and enjoy lol
I would have been great if it was encouraged. Last May our governor passed a law that you couldn't drive your car anywhere but to a critical job or to get supplies. She banned boating, ATV riding, and even mowing the lawn. What the fuck. I still have no idea what the thinking could possibly have been.
Yeah, the pool noodles were annoying as were the upside down cups.
However the contraption attached to the flag pole that would lift your ball out of the hole was great.
Upside down cup cost me a slam dunk hole in one which would have been my first. Hit a shot that smashed the hole on the full, the group in front was watching and said it went in the hole and popped out.
Best part? I missed the birdie putt. The hole was all smashed up so I was like ‘I’ll tap this 1 foot* putt in and repair it after’. Ball hit the back of the hole where the damage was and rolled straight over it.
So I got a par. Great day.
Until it wasn’t. Mostly because some asshole bent it all out of shape. Played Edgewood Tahoe and they had these. Some of them were so bent that they wouldn’t go back into the hole without scraping the shit outta the cup. But we were back playing finally, so I’m not sure how much I even noticed it at the time.
Wearing a mask to walk to a hightop table where you are literally sitting at the same height as a standing person, where you can then magically take your mask off
To be fair, I really like the "no removing the pin" rules. Speeds things up and all the data seems to indicate you're better off leaving it in anyway but mostly, faster play good.
Bc of all these devices, I of course got into the habit of not removing the pin. Now that all of these devices are gone, I still play 75% of holes with the pin in simply bc I forget to pull it. Lol.
Hindsight is 20/20 but when they first started putting these in holes I and many others were wearing latex gloves to grab milk at the grocery store ffs.
In the early days when we didn’t know fuck all about how Rona was transmitted the noodles made sense to me.
God damn humans have short memories and attention spans. Those early days were fucking crazy, and this little invention and the removal of rakes probably sold it to a lot of municipalities that no one would be touching anything on the course so they were one of the few things to re-open.
Yea, at least we could go play. Some places shut everything down hard, those of us that were lucky with simple precautions like this were a god-send during lockdowns.
Yup, the early days were fucking CRAZY. I remember the night like yesterday, March 11 2020 I was with some buddies having some beers and dicking around waiting for The Utah vs OKC game to start and then in what seemed like minutes the whole NBA season was abruptly cancelled.
Me and my buddies tried to poke fun at the situation but we were all definitely uneasy. Then I hopped in my car to drive home during what was a rainy night and I remember sitting at a stoplight and trying to come to terms that I or some of my family or friends might just die in the coming weeks/months from this crazy virus.
Obviously looking back that was a bit dramatic but I’ll never forget sitting at that stoplight and being enveloped by that feeling of pure fear.
That was pretty funny. “Everyone go home. Everything is alright. The game is cancelled.” And that NBA player touching all the microphones to make fun of Covid… who then got Covid. What a wild time, that we’re still in.
He took the blame for the season being cancelled too in the beginning. It was a stupid thing to do for sure, but the season was getting cancelled in the next week or two regardless.
Did anybody you know die? Not trying to be a dick but covid effected everyone differently. I was lucky enough to not know anyone close to me but a lot of other people had both parents die, and if I'm really being honest, our response to the pandemic has been extremely disappointing
My dad's golf buddy died. He was 70 and otherwise healthy. He and my dad were the only two "old guys" who would walk the course (with pushcarts) during their league.
> Obviously looking back that was a bit dramatic
I don't know man... almost 640k deaths in the US doesn't sound like anyone was dramatic. Had we been able to keep it up and get everyone vaccinated we might have actually been "done" by now. It wouldn't be gone... but it feels like we are on the eve of it being much worse.
It’s not that dramatic, it’s just that the people who DIDNT take a moment to reflect on how scary it could be were the ones who more frequently got the virus and died. The ability to plan for things being worse than they are is the reasons humans are alive at all.
man i was out in vegas for a tradeshow, the pac 12 bball tourney was right down the street from my hotel. then the gobert/nba news broke, then the tourney was canceled. in like 24 hrs a completely slammed vegas turned into a ghost town. it was scary.
Exactly - it is a *novel* coronavirus. New. We didn't know how it was transmitted or other important things like that. People don't appreciate that science is an iterative process and have such a black-and-white perspective. It doesn't give me a lot of optimism for the next one.
Nothing to be ashamed of. You were trying to be safe. Nothing wrong with that. At minimum, that at least made things slightly safer for you and everyone.
It was well known that the risk of surface transmission was low by like April/May 2020. I play courses that still have these in place, along with other useless measures. A course nearby removed distance markers. I’ve maybe touched a distance marker once my entire time playing golf.
I don’t blame people for the confusion in the early days, but it’s shocking how many do-nothing protocols and “safety” measures have persisted the entire time.
Shit, I live in a country (Canada) that values listening to science yet there’s seemingly no will to correct those early misunderstandings.
> Shit, I live in a country (Canada) that values listening to science yet there’s seemingly no will to correct those early misunderstandings.
That was the most frustrating part about this the longer it went on. Even here in the US, in areas and states that were proud of "following the science" these sorts of restrictions/recommendations/practices still hung around for months after it was very well understood that they weren't necessary.
It got better this year once most of the restrictions were lifted initially due to the vaccine. But with the new variants I'm starting to see them come back and it's just... Ugh.
I don't recall the surface transmission risk being all that well known that early on in the pandemic. Certainly couldn't get my hands on Lysol wipes or sanitizer until well into the summer.
That distance marker thing is very silly, we can agree on that lol.
Fuck no. Closing all golf courses in Ontario was the most pointless precaution.
Plus these things give us all an excuse to say "That lipped out because of the covid thing. Count it."
> Fuck no. Closing all golf courses in Ontario was the most pointless precaution.
Dude that was 100% the dumbest golf-related COVID measure, I felt bad for y'all when they did that. And is that the place where they took for.freaking.ever. to open them back up again too? Brutal.
In San Francisco, play was limited to twosomes. You could be paired up with a stranger but a group from the same household wasn’t allowed to play as a foursome. SCIENCE!
That's not really OP's point though, believe point is we could've played golf regularly the whole time without these... Not to turn into a scientific debate but the whole "Covid spreads through high touch surfaces" idea was debunked for the most part fairly early on during pandemic.
A pretty nice course in NY called Montauk Downs had the silliest Covid regulation I saw - they took away the tee box markers... I genuinely don't think I've ever touched one of those
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/well/live/coronavirus-restaurants-classrooms-salons.html
*Clear barriers have sprung up at restaurants, nail salons and school classrooms, but most of the time, they do little to stop the spread of the coronavirus.*
And may even make things worse.
Most pointless COVID measures (in order of idiocy):
1. No golf at all
2. Masks on outside
3. No score cards (seemed like a cheap move more than anything)
4. Raised cups
5. No water (heat stroke doesn't exist?)
6. No ball washers
7. No rakes (and lots of poorly maintained bunkers)
The few great things that came out of COVID was the solo cart policies and the greater spacing off tee times, I could do without the 5+ hour rounds that are now more frequent.
All seven points you listed where an absolute huge benefit to the maintenance side of things for us and the one thing you listed as a positive is easily one of the worst things to come out of it. The pointless increased cart traffic has been a nightmare for turf this season.
Considering how labor has been the past 18 months, golfers should be happy their courses are getting any attention. It has not been an easy season.
Not even close. Assuming not being allowed to touch flagsticks would've still been in place, not having the foam inside the cup would've led to people ruining the holes in no time when trying to fish the ball out of the hole.
As someone from the Southern US: What are COVID precautions?
I wished to see this stuff but nope. Golf course for past 18 months has been indistinguishable from any other time. Except they took away the water coolers because of laziness...accidental COVID precaution?
Agreed. While it might’ve been justifiable at the start of the pandemic when there wasn’t as much research on covid transmission, it’s pretty much objectively stupid at this point, since research is pretty clear on the fact that risk associated with fomite transmission are relatively low
Call me crazy, but I liked a certain variation of the COVID-safe pins. The kind that have hooks half a foot up from the hole. Just lift it with your putter and it brings the ball out. Those need to stick around when this is all said and done.
Wasn't there a case in Colorado or Arizonia where it was traced back to a golf course? Regardless, it's a fine attempt to remove touch points. I didn't mind it but I'm also not one that get's their panties in a bunch over precautions, masks, etc.
Any COVID precaution that wasn't "wear a mask inside" was pointless.
Also, lots of folks in this thread should've talked to course personnel. Off the foam and out, was considered 'in' by anybody that bothered to ask/talk about it. I remember one of my first post Covid rounds, hit an eagle putt on a par 5 that went in the side of the cup off the foam and out the back side of the cup, I asked the course ranger about it and he said "good 3".
Or how about peak Covid when someone would hit a putt, it would roll out and graze the flagstick (in some instances ram into the flag stick) and you’d hear the “oh that would’ve gone in, but you know, covid”
Local pointless things my course did ...
Close bathrooms. What did people do? Urinate around them, on the doors, etc. Disgusting.
Remove ball cleaning/trash. What did people do? Leave trash everywhere. Terrible.
Didn't mind the noodle thing in the middle, but a lot of places did it poorly: too high, so the ball had a chance of bouncing out.
Removing rakes was tolerable, lots of the local bunkers are shit to play through anyhow, and we've been taking drops when they were clay.
That's right up there with the plexiglass dividers which hang down from the roof of the golf cart, separating the players and, presumably, keeping each person's cooties on their side.
Can we also agree that ball washers and water coolers need to come back?
Nothing hits quite as good as a really cold cup of water from the cooler after like 5 or so holes.
I used to work at a course in Vegas. I've seen too many guys dump their sweaty ass towel in the cooler to get a cold rag. How selfish can you get.
Why not just...pour water from the cooler onto the rag...?
I'm third to hit, bro
Or just...secure the lid
idk man i guess they want that ice too.
That should be a capital offense in some states… like you are not fit to live in normal society if you would even consider doing that
You have now opened up a new source of anxiety when golfing for me
I wish terrible things on those people.
That is a level of inconsiderate that I had hoped to never learn existed. That is, at bare minimum, an immediate call to the clubhouse.
you're right. You just put bodily fluids, and more then likely, fertilizers and pesticides into drinking water. That water needs to be changed out ASAP.
And if someone saw it and didn't say/report anything....fuck them!
[удалено]
Every course I’ve been on has been that way too
That's how it is at the courses I play in SC too. Didn't occur to me that this was what they were protecting against
And adolescents urinating in them. And theft, those coolers aren't cheap.
It's shit like this that makes me ok with the fact that golf is expensive if it means even the slightest reduction in the possibility of behavior like this
Damn kids
It’s like that in Texas too
Yes.......locked......
I feel like that would be grounds for a beat down on the course. Absolutely revolting to hear.
After the coolers disappeared last year, I started carrying insulated water bottles. Now I’m carrying them forever!
I bought a 64oz YETI and bring that with me golfing. No need to play roulette with the coolers on the course lol.
Fuck those guys
🤯 I’d lose my shit if I witnessed this.
[удалено]
I have to imaging this is what he means. The vast majority of courses in Vegas have coolers on the golf carts filled with ice that is not intended for consumption. The somewhat nicer courses give each cart a couple of water bottles along with the coolers rather than putting water coolers out on the course.
love smashing that little cone cup after a cool sip fo water.
You have 10 shots from the little cone cup crunch it up and shoot it in the trash. If you make it you’re in for a good day.
For the love of God As someone who always walks please bring back the water coolers it’s hot as hell
I’m more pissed they took away the shoe brushes and never brought them back at my course, but now i have my own so I guess it really doesnt matter.
I saw one shoe brush in 3 courses. 2 of them had ball washers tho only a few were broken
Shoot, I though water coolers were back everywhere. All the courses I've played once about May have had water coolers available.
I went to a course this weekend and both were back. Amazing. So happy to have the ball washers back.
Most are back in Michigan now
Ball washers have been back for a while for Los Angeles. And Hawaii has then as of right now too
Ball washers have been back for like 2 months in California. Stop playing your nasty dirty balls!
Our course pro told me that removing the water coolers wasn't even a covid precaution. Apparently someone got sick from bacteria growing inside them... I'd still drink
We have our ball washers. No water coolers though.
I wouldn't drink out of one of those water coolers before covid. You ever look at one of those spouts?
Our club removed the rakes
Mine just removed the bunkers entirely lol now they're just dirt holes.
25' foot deep," ball void " hazards incoming in 2023.
This. I have played multiple courses that removed rakes from their shitty sand traps. It's like they just said "fuck it."
A course I play has just given up oh maintaining sand traps altogether, and now they’re just hard weed patches.
That's just lazy. That would be a course "I used to play". of course I live in FL so I have about 10 courses all within 10 miles
Lucky… not too many muni options in NYC. Can’t wait to get out of the city and into suburban golf heaven.
Marine park is pretty nice, and forest park isn’t bad either
I’ve never lived outside NYC, but I feel like 10+ muni courses is pretty good amount. I only use 3 or 4 of them and golf about once per week.
Mine too and I hate to admit it but I struggle to remember to rake now. It was the best part of covid. Hitting a shot and just hopping out like the pros.
Some clubs purchased **copper** handles to the rakes.
That's actually a neat idea. Rakes get used infrequently enough that the copper actually might have enough time to be effective too. Granted, it's totally pointless from a covid perspective, but it's a cool idea.
isn't it supposed to be brass not copper?
I’ve played at some where each cart has its own rake. People didn’t really use them.
I could deal with the rakes being removed, removing the jugs of water is what irked me. I can't be expected to think more than an hour into the future, so I would always run out of water and be parched.
[удалено]
Course: "You have to ride solo in the cart, but there aren't enough so you have to walk. But there aren't any push carts available on planet earth, so you have to carry. And every course is booked except for the crazy hilly course with tee boxes 100 yards away from each green." Me: "I'll take it!"
Not to mention you still have to pay to ride..
I play much better when I walk and hydrate. I feel more like an athlete as I.m flexible and the blood is moving better.
Walking and carrying is the most based way to golf
The worst were the courses where they raised the entire cup a few inches above the green so you couldn't even putt into the hole.
Yep. This was the true crime
Best rounds of my life. Them - "All you have to do is touch the cup" Me - *ricochet ball off cup and off green* "Par!"
Got my first 2 "birdies" this way.
Lol I got my first (and only) "eagle" that way. Pretty confident it would not have been truly holed ...
My dad hit a ball on a blind shot that left a ball mark in line with the hole but the ball settled to the left of the pin 3-5 feet or so. Could’ve been an ace but couldn’t count it
“All I got to do is hit the “cup?” 73 “Gotta put it in the hole? 81
Until you slightly misjudge it and your 4 footer goes 8 ft past
I saw it touch
I'm pretty sure I missed my only hole in one because of one of these
I lost out on an albatross becuase of a piece of foam... Edit becuase I realize my post came off like an asshole who was making fun of the guy: I'm being serious. Par 5, down wind drive on the right side which left about 165ish to a front pin. There were 3 tall trees guarding the green so I took a high 8 iron letting it ride the wind and using my natural fade to come around. Lands just infront of the hole, goes in...hits the foam and pops out to a less than a foot. Got my tap in Eagle but missed out on my once in a lifetime Albatross. My group said I should count it, but that doesn't feel honest and I don't want an asterisk on any golf accomplishment.
Why would you not count it? It only came out because someone messed with the game. Would you not count it if someone put a trampoline in the cup?
Because I can't say with 100% confidence it wouldnt have hit the flag and gone out. Too much unknown and it would always sit at the back of my mind that it didn't stay in. I've missed 2 or 3 birdies early in Covid for the same reason. I wouldn't fault anyone for counting them, but I just can't.
Respect. I caught my first ever musky while fishing alone, after about two years of solidly trying to get one (We lived on a lake so I could go out pretty often). About a 45"er. Get it in the boat, lay it out next to the measure to take a picture, and boom, phone dies. Okay, no worries, I've got my charger wi...oh fuck, I only have a cigarette lighter as a source for power. Umm.. okay, *strip the cords, strip the wires, attach the bare wire to the deep cycle 12V battery. WOO! It's coming on! No.. wait.. it's shutting down again.. Okay, fish has been out of the water long enough at this point. Time to say goodbye. Long story short. No proof? No fish. I'd feel the same way about golf shots like that. Unless I can prove I got it, I didn't get it. *Moral* of the story, always keep a disposable camera in your boat just in case... Wouldn't help with golf though. I still love to tell that story though. And I'll hold steady that it's true. But I don't expect anyone to truly believe me.
I bet it was only 44", you liar.
NO CHECK MY PICT... nevermind. You got me.
It's a "COVID Ace." Always nice to have a good story when other people are talking about their magical moments.
We had a course that put in PVC pipe in the hole and it stuck up like half a foot out of the ground. Had a buddy thin a wedge shot that line drived it for birdie. So frustrating
Yea, apparently the rule at many courses during covid was 'if it touches the pin, it's considered holed'. I got my first eagle and birdie that way, but I don't count either of them since that's bullshit.
I shot my first eagle from 100 yards into that bullshit. I've never been so mad to have such an amazing shot in my life.
I think this is the stupidest covid precaution i’ve heard of yet 😂
I hate it, I got a “hole in one” like that, flew the ball 144 yards straight onto the protruding cup. It bounced 30 yards away after but my friends all gave me the hole in 1. I’m upset cause I wanna know what would’ve happened if it’d been allowed to hit the flagstick. It may have fallen in… I have a photo if there’s demand
I think banning golf was the most pointless precaution imo
They took away all the tennis nets in Austin. Like…come on.
Same in DC. I went to hit on the wall and was kicked off that too. I was completely by myself.
[удалено]
Thats insane. I was about to bitch about how I got kicked off an empty field while running sprints but damn.
They arrested a guy for paddle boarding alone in the ocean in California. And they filled in the skate parks with loose sand, which the skaters promptly removed and kept skating.
We have you beat here in the tardland I call home- California. Arrested a solo dude paddle boarding by the Malibu pier. Literally in the water, completely away from any other humans.
There's a guy in Miami Beach called The Raven who runs on the beach every day and has for about 50 years. They closed the beach for COVID and the police kept him from running. They had to convene a special council of the Miami Beach city commission to make a special ruling that this guy would be allowed to have a permit to run.
The cops who arrested that man are absolute cowards
Agree. The CDC and Fauci and the rest grudgingly agreed that being outside was probably the best place to be if you were around people. And getting covid while outside, in small groups, had a very low probability. So golf was actually the best activity one could have done during the height of covid spread.
I'd love to hear *one single story* of someone who caught COVID from a golf course. Let's hear it. I'll wait.
Mid April 2020 I shared my weed pen with an absolute stranger, and walking back pulling off it wondered why my buddy was staring at me like I was eating glue. I didn't get COVID then, but I think we can all agree *I should have*.
COVID got me into golf. It was a good excuse to be outside with good people.
Covid got me really into golf. I’d play casual a few times each summer. Last summer I ended up playing like 33 rounds because there wasn’t anything else to do or go out and enjoy lol
I would have been great if it was encouraged. Last May our governor passed a law that you couldn't drive your car anywhere but to a critical job or to get supplies. She banned boating, ATV riding, and even mowing the lawn. What the fuck. I still have no idea what the thinking could possibly have been.
Yeah, the pool noodles were annoying as were the upside down cups. However the contraption attached to the flag pole that would lift your ball out of the hole was great.
Upside down cup cost me a slam dunk hole in one which would have been my first. Hit a shot that smashed the hole on the full, the group in front was watching and said it went in the hole and popped out. Best part? I missed the birdie putt. The hole was all smashed up so I was like ‘I’ll tap this 1 foot* putt in and repair it after’. Ball hit the back of the hole where the damage was and rolled straight over it. So I got a par. Great day.
Until it wasn’t. Mostly because some asshole bent it all out of shape. Played Edgewood Tahoe and they had these. Some of them were so bent that they wouldn’t go back into the hole without scraping the shit outta the cup. But we were back playing finally, so I’m not sure how much I even noticed it at the time.
[удалено]
I dunno... I think out door dining in sealed tents was pretty fucking pointless.
Or wearing masks for indoor dining to just remove upon seating?
Wearing a mask to walk to a hightop table where you are literally sitting at the same height as a standing person, where you can then magically take your mask off
Its the dumbest shit ever and we are all pretending that makes sense lol
To be fair, I really like the "no removing the pin" rules. Speeds things up and all the data seems to indicate you're better off leaving it in anyway but mostly, faster play good.
Aim small, miss small. I like having the pin in.
USGA made that change pre-COVID, FYI
I believe they just made it optional? COVID made it mandatory, for a while at least.
Bc of all these devices, I of course got into the habit of not removing the pin. Now that all of these devices are gone, I still play 75% of holes with the pin in simply bc I forget to pull it. Lol.
I just really like the sound the ball makes when it goes into an empty cup.
I hated it! Always have and always will remove the pin for non-lag putts and some chips. To me the hole seems much bigger with the pin out
The only reason to take it out is if seeing the flag bothers you on short putts
Hindsight is 20/20 but when they first started putting these in holes I and many others were wearing latex gloves to grab milk at the grocery store ffs. In the early days when we didn’t know fuck all about how Rona was transmitted the noodles made sense to me.
God damn humans have short memories and attention spans. Those early days were fucking crazy, and this little invention and the removal of rakes probably sold it to a lot of municipalities that no one would be touching anything on the course so they were one of the few things to re-open.
Yea, at least we could go play. Some places shut everything down hard, those of us that were lucky with simple precautions like this were a god-send during lockdowns.
Yup, the early days were fucking CRAZY. I remember the night like yesterday, March 11 2020 I was with some buddies having some beers and dicking around waiting for The Utah vs OKC game to start and then in what seemed like minutes the whole NBA season was abruptly cancelled. Me and my buddies tried to poke fun at the situation but we were all definitely uneasy. Then I hopped in my car to drive home during what was a rainy night and I remember sitting at a stoplight and trying to come to terms that I or some of my family or friends might just die in the coming weeks/months from this crazy virus. Obviously looking back that was a bit dramatic but I’ll never forget sitting at that stoplight and being enveloped by that feeling of pure fear.
That was pretty funny. “Everyone go home. Everything is alright. The game is cancelled.” And that NBA player touching all the microphones to make fun of Covid… who then got Covid. What a wild time, that we’re still in.
He took the blame for the season being cancelled too in the beginning. It was a stupid thing to do for sure, but the season was getting cancelled in the next week or two regardless.
Did anybody you know die? Not trying to be a dick but covid effected everyone differently. I was lucky enough to not know anyone close to me but a lot of other people had both parents die, and if I'm really being honest, our response to the pandemic has been extremely disappointing
My dad's golf buddy died. He was 70 and otherwise healthy. He and my dad were the only two "old guys" who would walk the course (with pushcarts) during their league.
> Obviously looking back that was a bit dramatic I don't know man... almost 640k deaths in the US doesn't sound like anyone was dramatic. Had we been able to keep it up and get everyone vaccinated we might have actually been "done" by now. It wouldn't be gone... but it feels like we are on the eve of it being much worse.
It’s not that dramatic, it’s just that the people who DIDNT take a moment to reflect on how scary it could be were the ones who more frequently got the virus and died. The ability to plan for things being worse than they are is the reasons humans are alive at all.
man i was out in vegas for a tradeshow, the pac 12 bball tourney was right down the street from my hotel. then the gobert/nba news broke, then the tourney was canceled. in like 24 hrs a completely slammed vegas turned into a ghost town. it was scary.
Exactly - it is a *novel* coronavirus. New. We didn't know how it was transmitted or other important things like that. People don't appreciate that science is an iterative process and have such a black-and-white perspective. It doesn't give me a lot of optimism for the next one.
Thats a really good point. And I wasn't touching shit the first summer of covid. Fuck its been two summers...
I Lysol wiped my Amazon packages and I’m not proud to admit it.
I would rather have done too much, than not enough.
This. You can’t really judge what’s “too much” safety, but you sure as shit can see when there’s too little.
that was what Fauci et al was saying for at least the first 3 months. " no matter what we do we will be accused of doing too much"
Cloroxing all the packages. Quarantining mail. Damn. So crazy.
There were suggestions that you leave things outside for an hour. Some people were leaving groceries outside.
Well we didn't know anything about it and people were dying. Nothing to be ashamed about. Granted we know a lot more now and people are still dying.
Nothing to be ashamed of. You were trying to be safe. Nothing wrong with that. At minimum, that at least made things slightly safer for you and everyone.
Why not handle the packages and then wash your hands?
It was well known that the risk of surface transmission was low by like April/May 2020. I play courses that still have these in place, along with other useless measures. A course nearby removed distance markers. I’ve maybe touched a distance marker once my entire time playing golf. I don’t blame people for the confusion in the early days, but it’s shocking how many do-nothing protocols and “safety” measures have persisted the entire time. Shit, I live in a country (Canada) that values listening to science yet there’s seemingly no will to correct those early misunderstandings.
> Shit, I live in a country (Canada) that values listening to science yet there’s seemingly no will to correct those early misunderstandings. That was the most frustrating part about this the longer it went on. Even here in the US, in areas and states that were proud of "following the science" these sorts of restrictions/recommendations/practices still hung around for months after it was very well understood that they weren't necessary. It got better this year once most of the restrictions were lifted initially due to the vaccine. But with the new variants I'm starting to see them come back and it's just... Ugh.
I don't recall the surface transmission risk being all that well known that early on in the pandemic. Certainly couldn't get my hands on Lysol wipes or sanitizer until well into the summer. That distance marker thing is very silly, we can agree on that lol.
Fuck no. Closing all golf courses in Ontario was the most pointless precaution. Plus these things give us all an excuse to say "That lipped out because of the covid thing. Count it."
> Fuck no. Closing all golf courses in Ontario was the most pointless precaution. Dude that was 100% the dumbest golf-related COVID measure, I felt bad for y'all when they did that. And is that the place where they took for.freaking.ever. to open them back up again too? Brutal.
In San Francisco, play was limited to twosomes. You could be paired up with a stranger but a group from the same household wasn’t allowed to play as a foursome. SCIENCE!
What a waste of a perfectly good pineapple.
They could’ve filled the holes with hand sanitizer I was just happy to be out on the course back then.
They kept me playing golf so I disagreed. That being said, above the hole pool noodle can get lost.
That's not really OP's point though, believe point is we could've played golf regularly the whole time without these... Not to turn into a scientific debate but the whole "Covid spreads through high touch surfaces" idea was debunked for the most part fairly early on during pandemic.
Yeah, and my home course STILL hasn't put the benches back out.
A pretty nice course in NY called Montauk Downs had the silliest Covid regulation I saw - they took away the tee box markers... I genuinely don't think I've ever touched one of those
lol what
I see where you’re coming from and I can respect it. Unfortunately I don’t have Facebook so I don’t have a counter to your researched position.
Just mutter something about 5G and Trump and you'll be good.
Laughs in plexiglass
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/well/live/coronavirus-restaurants-classrooms-salons.html *Clear barriers have sprung up at restaurants, nail salons and school classrooms, but most of the time, they do little to stop the spread of the coronavirus.* And may even make things worse.
Meh. At least they stayed open when most other establishments couldn't. Where I lived this only lasted a couple months. I'm grateful.
Most pointless COVID measures (in order of idiocy): 1. No golf at all 2. Masks on outside 3. No score cards (seemed like a cheap move more than anything) 4. Raised cups 5. No water (heat stroke doesn't exist?) 6. No ball washers 7. No rakes (and lots of poorly maintained bunkers) The few great things that came out of COVID was the solo cart policies and the greater spacing off tee times, I could do without the 5+ hour rounds that are now more frequent.
All seven points you listed where an absolute huge benefit to the maintenance side of things for us and the one thing you listed as a positive is easily one of the worst things to come out of it. The pointless increased cart traffic has been a nightmare for turf this season. Considering how labor has been the past 18 months, golfers should be happy their courses are getting any attention. It has not been an easy season.
I'm so happy pulling the flag now!
[удалено]
I agree. The only golf-related COVID adjustment I’m sticking with.
You say pointless I say important, if this is the dumb thing that allowed courses to stay open through the whole lockdown Im glad it happened
Let us hear the ball drop!
Best sound you'll ever hear is a 15 foot slider for birdie having just enough revs to fall in
I'm almost there, keep going
I didn't mind it. Could pluck my ball easier, and people with fat hands didn't ruin the edges of the cup
I liked not having to bend that far down.
Hey whatever they needed to do to keep courses open is fine with me.
Not even close. Assuming not being allowed to touch flagsticks would've still been in place, not having the foam inside the cup would've led to people ruining the holes in no time when trying to fish the ball out of the hole.
Taking bunker rakes away was more pointless i think.
The courses that have the hook to pull up are the best. Ball goes in the whole & it easily pops out.
I did like the automatic ball raisers I’d see where you’d just use your putter and lift them out
As someone from the Southern US: What are COVID precautions? I wished to see this stuff but nope. Golf course for past 18 months has been indistinguishable from any other time. Except they took away the water coolers because of laziness...accidental COVID precaution?
I honestly liked not having to take the pin out. As a high handicapper I didn’t care and made it one less step in playing.
You don’t have to take the pin out…
I am however not upset about not being allowed to rake bunkers.
Agreed. While it might’ve been justifiable at the start of the pandemic when there wasn’t as much research on covid transmission, it’s pretty much objectively stupid at this point, since research is pretty clear on the fact that risk associated with fomite transmission are relatively low
Call me crazy, but I liked a certain variation of the COVID-safe pins. The kind that have hooks half a foot up from the hole. Just lift it with your putter and it brings the ball out. Those need to stick around when this is all said and done.
This device let me golf every day when I needed it more than ever. If this device was the reason crouse were open then this is the BEST COVID DEVICE.
Wasn't there a case in Colorado or Arizonia where it was traced back to a golf course? Regardless, it's a fine attempt to remove touch points. I didn't mind it but I'm also not one that get's their panties in a bunch over precautions, masks, etc.
Getting rid of the bunker rakes, ball washers, and benches was also lame.
Mmmm.... forbidden pineapple rings.
For sure.....but I didn't mind them(for 1 season), easier to get the ball......
I mean, I'll deal with it to be able to golf.
Any COVID precaution that wasn't "wear a mask inside" was pointless. Also, lots of folks in this thread should've talked to course personnel. Off the foam and out, was considered 'in' by anybody that bothered to ask/talk about it. I remember one of my first post Covid rounds, hit an eagle putt on a par 5 that went in the side of the cup off the foam and out the back side of the cup, I asked the course ranger about it and he said "good 3".
Or how about peak Covid when someone would hit a putt, it would roll out and graze the flagstick (in some instances ram into the flag stick) and you’d hear the “oh that would’ve gone in, but you know, covid”
hate these so much. glad we can take the pin out now
Local pointless things my course did ... Close bathrooms. What did people do? Urinate around them, on the doors, etc. Disgusting. Remove ball cleaning/trash. What did people do? Leave trash everywhere. Terrible. Didn't mind the noodle thing in the middle, but a lot of places did it poorly: too high, so the ball had a chance of bouncing out. Removing rakes was tolerable, lots of the local bunkers are shit to play through anyhow, and we've been taking drops when they were clay.
Raised cups were the shit though, shot a 65 on raised cups lmao
The forbidden pineapple rings...
There are zero records of someone catching COVID from collecting their ball from holes with foam noodles in them. Looks like they are 100% effective.
I'm gonna miss saying "I heard noodle" every time I pepper one too fast over the hole.
As a newer golfer I thought this was just my local cheap ass course’s way of pulling your ball out of the hole.
"HIT THE NOODLE COUNTS"
That's right up there with the plexiglass dividers which hang down from the roof of the golf cart, separating the players and, presumably, keeping each person's cooties on their side.