Drive carefully: Wichita reopens 2 golf courses with coronavirus precautions in play
With coronavirus precautions in place, Wichita is reopening two of its golf courses.
The city announced Monday that the Auburn Hills and MacDonald courses will reopen for play starting Tuesday.
“Two things have really happened,” said Troy Houtman, Parks and Recreation Director. “We got a lot of interest to open them back up so we took a look at what other golf courses are doing locally and across the state.
“Looking at those, we kind of figured out a way . . . how can we make sure our staff are safe as well as our golfers while still providing the service. And that’s what we did.”
The courses been closed by city directive since March 25, when Sedgwick County issued health orders shutting down thousands of non-essential businesses, limiting public gatherings to 10 people or less, and urging people to stay home as much as possible to avoid spreading COVID-19 infection.
Since the closure went into effect, some local officials have questioned whether there was a need to shut down the public courses.
They noted that private golf clubs and public courses outside the city were allowed to stay open and argued the game of golf itself is more or less as safe as walking, biking or playing tennis in the parks, which have been allowed throughout the stay-home order as long as social distancing guidelines are followed.
Other cities in Sedgwick County didn’t close their public courses, which are exempt from both the county’s health order and similar orders issued by Gov. Laura Kelly shortly after the county acted, Houtman said.
Some changes in course operations have been made to minimize contact with staff and to eliminate possible touch points that could transfer the virus. There will be a limit of one golfer at a time in the clubhouse and no pro-shop merchandise or concession sales, Houtman said.
The drinking fountains are turned off, so golfers will have to bring their own beverages if they want something to drink while playing.
Beer sales at the course are suspended, but the rule against bringing in outside alcohol remains in force; so basically no alcoholic drinks on the links, Houtman said.
There are also some changes to the game itself. Flag sticks have been removed from the greens and the cups have been filled in so that golfers don’t have to reach down inside to retrieve their ball.
“These guys (that) are all going to be golfing out there, they know the rules, but I think they’ll make some exceptions for the situation that if it hits the cup, it’s going to be considered going into the hole,” Houtman said.
Under ordinary circumstances, not raking the sand smooth after playing a shot from a trap is a major breach of golf etiquette. But the rakes have all been removed, so if you play a shot from the trap, just leave the divot and footprints behind, Houtman said.
Also, no scorecards and pencils will be distributed, so golfers will have to keep score in their own notebooks or use the city’s mobile-phone golf app.
Other restrictions include:
▪ No cash payments, only credit or debit cards.
▪ No use of clubhouse restrooms.
▪ No cart rentals, walking only.
▪ All golfers must practice social distancing of six feet or more.
▪ Tee times must be booked in advance at golfwichita.com or over the phone. No walk-in tee times will be allowed.
▪ No more than four golfers per group.
▪ Tee times will be limited to one foursome teeing off every 20 minutes to maintain spacing between groups.
▪ No ball washers, benches, or bag stands are being provided on the course.
▪ The driving range at Auburn Hills will remain closed.
This story was originally published April 13, 2020 at 12:52 PM.
