In midst of coronavirus outbreak, most local golf courses open — with precautions

Golf professionals wear a lot of hats anyway.

And these days — especially those already open for the season, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, they’re wearing even more.

“Yeah, I’m open,” said Billy Bomar, co-owner of Prairie Falls Golf Club in Post Falls, “and learning a lot about social distancing, and everything Panhandle Health (District) needed me to do, we’re doing.”

So, it seems, are everyone else — or at least they will soon.

Most golf courses in the area are open, or plan to open soon, based on the weather.

The Links Golf Club in Post Falls has been open, weather permitting, for a couple of weeks.

The Coeur d’Alene Golf Club plans to open for the season today.

Avondale Golf Club in Hayden Lake is open.

Ponderosa Springs, a par-3 course, is open.

Circling Raven in Worley is still planning to open March 27.

The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course is still on track to open April 1.

Prairie Falls has been open for at least a month — give or take a few days due to weather. Last weekend’s snow kept the course closed until it reopened Wednesday.

On Thursday, Bomar estimated some 90 rounds were played on his course.

“It’s just different people,” he said. “It’s funny, because I’ve got all these people that haven’t been here in years, because they play in Spokane, and they can’t play there ... hey, welcome back.”

Prairie Falls is walking-only at the moment. Bomar said he’s not allowing motorized carts yet.

“I just couldn’t see making sure my carts were going to be clean enough ... there’s so many areas on a cart you can touch,” he said.

Also, the course is “a little soft out there now” for the weight of a cart.

For sanitary reasons, Bomar said he’s telling those golfing, “don’t touch the flagsticks, don’t rake the bunkers ... which I jokingly say no one does anyway.”

Players are asked to use their feet to smooth out the bunkers as best they can.

His pro shop and restaurant is limited to a certain amount of folks at a time. Snacks and beverages are offered to-go.

Bomar intentionally added some gaps in tee times, in an attempt to eliminate a buildup of groups on tees.

He said the course itself remains the same.

At The Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course, “We’re crossing our fingers that golf, with safety measures in place, will be more likely to survive any required temporary shutdowns,” head professional Andy Mackimmie said. “We do anticipate our restaurant dining room will potentially be shut down at some point like Washington has done temporarily; however, we do expect to be able to continue offering food and beverage service on the course and through the take-out window.”

He said if the “stay in place” mandates continue, the course may refocus its marketing events to target more local golfers in April and possibly May.

“Most of our individual destination stay-and-play resort golf guests are still maintaining their reservations for spring play, which is great news considering,” Mackimmie said. “On the flip side, several of our larger corporate spring group golf events have canceled or moved to later in the season. I think everyone is waiting as long as they can to see what unfolds in the coming weeks. We feel like outdoor activities like golf should evoke much less anxiety in the world of controlling the virus and allowing players to maintain comfortable safe distances from each other. We’ll be implementing ‘no touching pins,’ sanitizing all object touch points regularly, things like that to promote a safe environment.”

Though spring play numbers may be down due to the pandemic, the nice weather in the early spring — which is often not the case around here — might eventually get more players out of the house.

“People will be so sick of this quarantine lifestyle and be dying to enjoy an outdoor activity as long as they feel safe,” Mackimmie said. “I think the most frustrating aspect of all this is not knowing if it will be weeks or months before all this settles down.”

Circling Raven is still on track for its earliest opening in the course’s history, said Dan Shepherd, who handles public relations for the course.

At Circling Raven, he said, there will be no flag sticks on the greens, and only one player per golf cart will be allowed. Golfers will place their own bags on golf carts (the bag drop service has been discontinued for the foreseeable future). Only carry-out food is available; no dining will be allowed in the clubhouse. The course has door monitors, only allowing four golfers to check in and be in the clubhouse at once.

Avondale also said it will not have flag sticks on the greens, and holes will be cut in the center of the greens. Bunker rakes have been removed. Range baskets and range dispenser coins are being disinfected.

Rental carts are one rider per cart, charged half price.

The Avondale Grill will be open for window service for golfers and take-out orders for all other customers. Inside seating is currently suspended, though an outside patio area has been set up.

At The Links, they’ve eliminated the food and beverage side of the business until further notice, and they’ve closed off their seating error to people don’t gather there.

“We are cleaning and recleaning every day,” said Darrell Hull, director of golf at The Links. “We are sterilizing golf carts before they go out and trying to keep one person to a cart. We are trying to keep our tee times spread far enough apart that we don’t have people standing around in the clubhouse or on the putting green.

“We all have to work together and do what we can do to get through this.”

Those who have been out to Prairie Falls this year have also noticed something different about the course.

The driving range is gone.

“I’m going to develop it into some lots, and sell it,” said Bomar, who did the same thing a couple years ago on what was then the front nine, turning a par-5 into a par-3 and putting homes on the rest of the land there.

“These were projects approved in 2008 when the economy went south,” he said. “This allows me to keep the course open.”

Plans are to put in some sort of warmup area near the first tee, and a new short-game practice area will be constructed near where the old one was.

Some courses have gone to social media to explain the changes/restrictions, and still be able to offer golfers a diversion from the ever-changing news of the day.

”I had a group that went out yesterday,” Bomar said Thursday, “and they didn’t have their phones on, didn’t have any contact, and they said that’s the best 4 1/2 hours they’ve had in a long time.”