Los Angeles City Golf new policy
That’s just stupid and sad. Now how many courses are going to have to shut down due to the lack of business. I hope none, but the way smaller businesses and restaurants are right now it’s not good.
- Thread starter
- #28
Well in this case these courses are the ones run by the city of Los Angeles. I don't know what the other courses in LA county that are privately owned are doing. A big part of it is interpreting the orders being put out by the county Health Dept. Even here in Ventura county where I live, you see different courses doing different things based on who is running it and how they read into it. Some have rakes, some don't. Some only issue single rider carts, others have dividers between driver and passenger, some say those are against the rules of the order. My understanding of it all is that the CITY of LA is by far the most strict organization in regards to COVID policies. Even before the latest surge they still kept close putting greens and short game practice areas. They also only allowed mats on the range instead of the grass tees even though you can space out even more with the grass tees. Some REALLY illogical rules.
I have a reservation at Woodley Lakes for the 11th, so fingers crossed, I will be fine and my reservation will stand (email says up to the 10th).
I have been playing Harbor Park pretty regularly and had a reservation for 2 people for my wife and I for next week. I got the email and my reservation was cancelled. When I go to web site it looks like only reservations for groups of 4 are accepted despite that the original email said groups of 2, 3 or 4 from same household would be allowed. Are reservations by phone only now for groups of < 4? How many households have 4 golfers who all want to play?
When I made reservations by phone for a resort course in LA county, I was told they are "supposed" to only allow groups from same household but there were no questions when I showed up to play.
When I made reservations by phone for a resort course in LA county, I was told they are "supposed" to only allow groups from same household but there were no questions when I showed up to play.
asawadude
New member
The status of Los Angeles area golf as I know it is this:
For the period of November 28, 2020 through December 20, 2020, the golf courses operated by the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles are following the ridiculous Los Angeles County Department of Health guidelines regulations restricting tee time assignments to a single individual or to multiple members of the same household. That means a 7:00 am tee time can be reserved by one and only one player playing by himself or herself, or by 2, 3,or 4 players from the same household.
Whether or not the golf course managers agreed to this without putting up a fight is unknown, but certainly there will be a substantial decline in golf course revenue because of these incredulous policies set forth by the Dept of Health. Obviously the Health Dept officials who put these revised rules in place have no knowledge of the game nor do they recognize the ultra low risk of Covid transmission on the golf course because these revised regulations simply make no sense.
Let's think about this for a minute. A size of a typical municipal golf course is 110 acres. Obviously, there are buildings and facilities on the course, along with the rough and barrancas, so let's say half of the 110 acres or 55 acres is the area covering tee to green which is probably a severe underestimate. At capacity, there are 4 golfers occupying each of the 18 holes, so there's 72 golfers on the course. That comes out to one golfer per .764 acre or 33,275 square feet. Social distancing is a natural part of the game.
Yet, when we walk into a 40,000 square foot Costco, there will be 300 people inside that store and that's at 25% capacity per the Covid 19 mandates.
The game of golf probably has a close to zero rate of infection. I've heard of ZERO cases of anyone getting Covid 19 from the act of playing golf, other than 3 people who were contact traced to a golf course in the Midwest. And the PGA and LPGA players certainly don't count because they constantly traveling on planes, through airports and hotels, and eating their meals at public places. They're contracting Covid because they have to participate in high Covid exposure non-golf activities on a weekly basis.
So apparently the County of Los Angeles wants to fix what's not broken. To apply some golf parlance to the situation, that's par for the course.
What bugs the hell out of me is that SCGA and the golf course owners and managers have not done a credible job in advocating on behalf of Los Angeles based golfers. They just buckle under the pressure of bureaucracy without so much as a whimper.
I was looking at the SCGA website; they issued the following statement on Friday 12/04/20:
www.scga.org
.
That's a lot of words used to say nothing noteworthy. And what's up with the overuse of the word "promulgated"? Whoever wrote this piece for the SCGA certainly doesn't know his target audience. Makes me wonder why I need to be in an SCGA golf club. Other than keeping my GHIN, what has the SCGA done for me lately?
I don't know how anyone else feels, but I'm rather pissed about the state of golf in Los Angeles. It was already pretty ridiculous with putting and chipping greens closed since February, but this latest development is rather disheartening. There are 20 golf course within 30 minutes of my house and I can't play most of them.
Fortunately there are still a few LA County golf course starters who will bend the rules and let normal foursomes on the course, plus the Long Beach courses are still operating under May 2020 Covid 19 rules. I guess I'll be playing Big Rec, El Dorado, and Skylinks a lot this month.
But the good news is the new Department of Health mandate specifically states the rules don't apply to the homeless or those participating in a protest so we know where golfers rank in the food chain according to the County and City of Los Angeles.
For the period of November 28, 2020 through December 20, 2020, the golf courses operated by the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles are following the ridiculous Los Angeles County Department of Health guidelines regulations restricting tee time assignments to a single individual or to multiple members of the same household. That means a 7:00 am tee time can be reserved by one and only one player playing by himself or herself, or by 2, 3,or 4 players from the same household.
Whether or not the golf course managers agreed to this without putting up a fight is unknown, but certainly there will be a substantial decline in golf course revenue because of these incredulous policies set forth by the Dept of Health. Obviously the Health Dept officials who put these revised rules in place have no knowledge of the game nor do they recognize the ultra low risk of Covid transmission on the golf course because these revised regulations simply make no sense.
Let's think about this for a minute. A size of a typical municipal golf course is 110 acres. Obviously, there are buildings and facilities on the course, along with the rough and barrancas, so let's say half of the 110 acres or 55 acres is the area covering tee to green which is probably a severe underestimate. At capacity, there are 4 golfers occupying each of the 18 holes, so there's 72 golfers on the course. That comes out to one golfer per .764 acre or 33,275 square feet. Social distancing is a natural part of the game.
Yet, when we walk into a 40,000 square foot Costco, there will be 300 people inside that store and that's at 25% capacity per the Covid 19 mandates.
The game of golf probably has a close to zero rate of infection. I've heard of ZERO cases of anyone getting Covid 19 from the act of playing golf, other than 3 people who were contact traced to a golf course in the Midwest. And the PGA and LPGA players certainly don't count because they constantly traveling on planes, through airports and hotels, and eating their meals at public places. They're contracting Covid because they have to participate in high Covid exposure non-golf activities on a weekly basis.
So apparently the County of Los Angeles wants to fix what's not broken. To apply some golf parlance to the situation, that's par for the course.
What bugs the hell out of me is that SCGA and the golf course owners and managers have not done a credible job in advocating on behalf of Los Angeles based golfers. They just buckle under the pressure of bureaucracy without so much as a whimper.
I was looking at the SCGA website; they issued the following statement on Friday 12/04/20:
SCGA Video: SCGA.org | COVID-19 Updates | SCGA
Your one stop shop for everything related to the new and improved World Handicap System
www.scga.org
That's a lot of words used to say nothing noteworthy. And what's up with the overuse of the word "promulgated"? Whoever wrote this piece for the SCGA certainly doesn't know his target audience. Makes me wonder why I need to be in an SCGA golf club. Other than keeping my GHIN, what has the SCGA done for me lately?
I don't know how anyone else feels, but I'm rather pissed about the state of golf in Los Angeles. It was already pretty ridiculous with putting and chipping greens closed since February, but this latest development is rather disheartening. There are 20 golf course within 30 minutes of my house and I can't play most of them.
Fortunately there are still a few LA County golf course starters who will bend the rules and let normal foursomes on the course, plus the Long Beach courses are still operating under May 2020 Covid 19 rules. I guess I'll be playing Big Rec, El Dorado, and Skylinks a lot this month.
But the good news is the new Department of Health mandate specifically states the rules don't apply to the homeless or those participating in a protest so we know where golfers rank in the food chain according to the County and City of Los Angeles.
- Thread starter
- #33
Well they have finally lifted the single household requirements. They've also said that singles can book rounds, but looking at the sign ups I only see 2-4 players for the open times. Maybe after someone has booked a 2 or 3some they'll let a single sign up.
I talked to one of the starters and they will update the software overnight. You can call a course directly and book a single at this time.
I canceled all of my tee times, I am not comfortable playing in groups of mixed households where not everyone keeps their mask on. But this allows the rest of you to go ahead and book your times in mixed grips. I'm just telling you my personal decision, not looking for an argument.
I canceled all of my tee times, I am not comfortable playing in groups of mixed households where not everyone keeps their mask on. But this allows the rest of you to go ahead and book your times in mixed grips. I'm just telling you my personal decision, not looking for an argument.
I talked to one of the starters and they will update the software overnight. You can call a course directly and book a single at this time.
I canceled all of my tee times, I am not comfortable playing in groups of mixed households where not everyone keeps their mask on. But this allows the rest of you to go ahead and book your times in mixed grips. I'm just telling you my personal decision, not looking for an argument.
Don't know if this gives you any comfort, but I've been golfing in mixed groups since May and peeps stay far apart from each others. It also helps if they keep the flagstick in and use the noodle in the hole. But it depends on the people and the attitude of the course.
Nevermind, must read the last posts first.
