Local golf courses seeking more clarity on whether or not to close due to Gov. Newsom’s stay at home order
As many people look for ways to enjoy fresh air while social distancing, golfing continues to be a popular sport.
But we found two distinctly different scenes at two Coachella Valley golf courses on Sunday. Some had very busy greens and people enjoying the sunshine, while others were closed down.
News Channel 3 looks into why the major difference and what golfers have to say.
At Cathedral Canyon Country Club a group of golfers getting ready to tee-off.
“Both my husband and I take very good care. We have our gloves on at this given time and we are very conscious of that. It’s something that we don’t take lightly whatsoever but besides walking or biking or that type of thing is we feel golf is a good outlet for us and like I said it helps to relieve that anxiety or feelings of loneliness,” Jan Ashlin said to News Channel 3 as she was getting ready for a day of golf and sunshine.
For this course, they are taking extra health precautions, signs posted in the clubhouse, staff disinfecting carts and golfers being made aware of safe health practices while on the course.
“I’m glad they are taking care of the carts, wiping them down and of course wearing gloves and not pulling up the flag so other people don’t transmit the virus so I’m glad they are taking the precautions to protect all of us,” Ray Atanasoff said.
“I think this golf course in particular made it so that you don’t have to go out with people that you don’t know and we can go out in a two-sum like this and if we wanted to take our own carts we could’ve. The course has made it so that all the ball washing stations are gone, the cups are different so you don’t have to reach in so everyone is taking the necessary precautions for it to be safe for everybody,” another golfer, Jordan Sachs said.
It’s a much different scene than the one at the Palm Desert Country Club where there are no golfers, no carts and no official tee times are available for the foreseeable future.
PGA West in La Quinta posted to Facebook followers: “Due to Gov. Gavin Newsom's stay at home order, all PGA West facilities are closed… this includes all golf courses.”
The Silverrock resort in La Quinta has also shut down, posting on their website: “closed until further notice.”
“Our golf course shut down," director of golf at Palm Desert Country Club, Dave Zickau said. "We laid off basically the majority of our staff along with probably the majority of golf courses here in the valley,” he added.
We checked the state order directing people to stay home except for those needed to protect Californians. Read here.
We did not find golf courses listed under “essential critical infrastructure.” See here.
“We just need some clarity on can we be open with some strict guidelines or do we need to close? We just don’t know what we can do,” Zickau told News Channel 3.
