Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2021 - 27

A new focus for turf managers coming
out of the pandemic is water cooler
management,
says Jack Mackenzie,
executive director of the Minnesota Golf
Course Superintendents Association. His
members whose courses typically provided
multiple water stations have cut
back drastically. Likewise, golfers have
adapted by bringing their own hydration
to the course. And while benches
and accessories have returned to the
golf course, many facilities have replaced
stand-alone ball washers with options
mounted on golf cart fl eets, changes
which Mackenzie likes to call a part of
the " new norm. "
Moving to Paperless
When queried about COVID-19 best
practices he believes worth continuing
into the post-pandemic golf world, Eric
Vegoe, the president of the University of
Minnesota Men's Golf Club which plays
out of the Lester Bolstad Golf Course
in Lauderdale, instantly retorts, " online
booking and payment. "
Like Whillock, Vegoe is not alone in his
appreciation of paperless reservations
and payment. C.J. Holl, the city administrator
for Wells, a city of 2,300 located
in Faribault County west of Albert Lea.
Holl took over operations of the Wells
Golf Course from a private golf board,
which was dissolved in 2019. During
COVID-19, Holl ran the clubhouse
" essentially staffl ess " and used a dropbox
to collect cash green fees. Thanks to
a background in retail operations, Holl
owned several Subway franchises and
knew about contactless payment systems
(CPS), but he found CPS didn't exist for
golf courses. His research led to a New
Zealand company that is custom building
a kiosk to Holl's specifi cations for the
Wells course and expected to be installed
in early July.
Golfers will be able to pay and go play,
or pay for multiple rounds including
Minnesota Youth on Course rounds, and
purchase a club membership including
an MGA membership.
The Wells golf course, which dates to
1926 and featured sand greens routed
inside of a harness horse racing track, is
" Nearly everything extraneous
to actually playing golf except
tee and yardage markers and
flagsticks, was removed from
the course. There were no
distractions to play golf and
get through the round quickly. "
-W.P. Ryan
previous executive orders, limits on
indoor dining and banquet capacity
were lifted on May 28. With the return
of golf outings, guest play and banquet
business, Carlson's members " are looking
forward to a very good 2021, " he says.
now literally on the cutting edge of golf
retail technology. Holl notes the kiosk
will collect golfer data never before available,
and reduce labor costs especially
during off-peak times. And, with a nod
to safety best practices, it comes installed
with a hand sanitizer.
" A win-win, " Holl calls it.
Optimism Ahead
Joe Foley, the USGA's regional affairs
director for the upper Midwest, was
on the road for the fi rst time since the
COVID-19 lockdown April 26 at the
MGA Board of Directors spring meeting
at Brackett's Crossing Country Club in
Lakeville. The USGA has seen a sizable
increase in championship entries postpandemic,
reported Foley, jibing with
the observations of public operators
May and Whillock who reported March
rounds as the best on record, and April
rounds as " remaining robust. "
Minnesota's
private facilities also
got a jump on the 2021 golf season by
opening a week earlier than usual, says
Rollie Carlson, managing director of
the Upper Midwest Chapter of the Club
Management Association of America.
While COVID-19 safety protocols limited
indoor dining options and completely
eliminated event and banquet
business, most private clubs running
nine or 10-minute tee time intervals
were especially busy on the golf course.
" A good deal of capacity was used last
year, " Carlson said.
Still, golf outings and guest play were
almost nonexistent.
With Governor Tim Walz's recent
Executive Order 21-21, which rescinded
Slowing the Spread
Fred Apple, Ph.D., an internationally
recognized expert in clinical chemistry
and toxicology, reminds us that we all
take risks when we touch anything on
the golf course. Carrying hand sanitizer,
washing hands and following " a little
common sense " is par for the course for
Apple, a 4.6 index who divides his golf
between the University men's club and
the Mount Washington Resort Golf Club
in New Hampshire.
The major form of COVID-19 transmission
is through respiratory expulsions.
One benefi t of last year's masking
and social distancing practices was an
overall 85% decrease in non-COVID-19
viral infections, explains Apple, a laboratory
medical director and principal
investigator at the Hennepin Healthcare
Research Institute.
" There's no downside with practicing
smart social distancing and following
CDC guidelines, " Apple says. " If you're
going to be around the unvaccinated,
and you are not vaccinated, stay distanced,
especially indoors. We can get on
with our daily lives on the golf course...
[but], more importantly, we're trying to
beat [COVID-19] globally before it possibly
mutates and we need a new second
vaccination. "
As any golfer will admit, confi dence
on the green comes a lot more easily
once the fi rst putt has dropped.
Although COVID-19 protocols didn't
prevent putts from dropping (some
fl agstick pullers may disagree), many
putts fell silently into the cup thanks to
hole liners and fl agsticks. With touchless
safety protocols now historic relics,
golfers will once again hear the peculiar,
pre-pandemic hollow clunk of a Titleist
falling unfettered into the cup.
Foley told the MGA board it is a good
sound.
" One I'm glad to hear again. " MG
mngolf.org
Summer 2021 MINNESOTAGOLFER
27
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Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2021

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