On a recent Friday with gorgeous weather, the kind of day gift-wrapped for outdoor enjoyment, Adrian Stills looked across Osceola Municipal Golf Course to see the full impact of these times.
But all in a good way.
“We were slam-packed,” said Stills, 61, the longtime, general manager and golf professional at the city-owned, municipal golf course in Pensacola, where he grew up learning to excel in the sport.
More than 170 rounds of golf were played that day in April. It was during a time when Osceola was one of few recreation opportunities in the city permitted during a heightened period of the coronavirus pandemic.
► Pensacola bike shops see record sales as more cyclists hit the road during pandemic
► Pensacola exercise and outdoors: What we'll miss from quarantining
► Five Flags Speedway fans 'chomping at the bit': Operator hopeful for a restart to racing
With that many players, it equates to stretching groups of golfers from early morning to well past mid-afternoon in order to complete 18 holes.
“That whole weekend was almost like a record for us,” said Stills, a Pensacola Catholic High graduate, who rose from prep golfer to professional golfer and won numerous tournaments during his career. “We have not had those kind of numbers since I was a kid and Osceola was one of only three golf courses in the Pensacola area.
“Those are unbelievable numbers. We are probably up 20% of play across the board. It’s been good. It’s one of the safest sports you can play right now.”
Keeping golf course open helps bottom line
What’s happening at Osceola with the resurgence in golf is occurring throughout the other public-play golf courses in Northwest Florida, along with the entire state.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis allowed golf courses to remain open as an exemption when issuing a stay-at-home order for April.
At Osceola, it’s been a much-needed boost for the city of Pensacola Parks and Recreation Department when so many other venues were closed.
“It has been a struggle for all of our parks and rec places,” Stills said. “All the venues like rec centers, like Sanders Beach (Community Center), that would have been packed with weddings and receptions … all of that has been shut down.
“Our food and beverage service here at Osceola in the past has done a lot of weddings and receptions. And they have taken a hit because that is their primary income.”
How Osceola keeps staff and players safe
The clubhouse at Osceola remained open, but the dining area, including a bar where golfers gathered following their round, was not available.
Food could be purchased and consumed on the outdoor veranda of the clubhouse, as well as alcoholic beverages, which Stills said remained very popular with golfers.
On the golf course, the motorized golf carts are restricted to one person, unless for special exceptions like husband-wife or parent-child playing together. That has meant Osceola’s fleet of 60 golf carts require immediate cleaning, sanitizing, following a round, in order to be re-used again during the day.
In addition, Stills has removed the rakes for the sand bunkers. Players are asked to smooth the sand with their feet following a shot and are permitted to improve the ball position in the sand – normally a rule-breaking move. The sand bunkers are then redressed before each day.
Circular floats are placed inside the cup container on the hole at each green, so golfers can remove putts they convert without touching the flagstick.
Inside the clubhouse, 10 additional hand-sanitizer dispensers have been added.
“I wash my hands constantly,” said Stills. “I probably have washed my hands more times in the past weeks than I could ever imagine.”
But Stills said all of these changes for protection have occurred to the delight of golfers thankful for a chance to be outside playing golf. Osceola’s layout, designed during a time when motorized carts did not exist, allows for players to easily walk the course.
“People have really enjoyed coming out and having an activity they can do,” Stills said. “It is a lot easier to have social distancing in golf than any other sport. That has actually been a good thing for us.
“It has given us a chance to ramp up the facilities as far as wiping everything down and cleaning everything. The place has never looked better. From that perspective, business has been good, fortunately, and it’s given us the opportunity to get the facility in good shape.”
Golf pro sees positive side of situation
At Osceola, a course which opened in 1926, there is so much history. This was a golf course Pensacola’s Jerry Pate played during his youth days in the 1960s, leading into becoming one of only 11 players in golf history to win the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open, along with Pate’s other PGA Tour triumphs.
Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, a Milton High graduate and currently recognized among the world’s best players, also played numerous rounds at Osceola during his youth days.
Inspired by Pate, Stills followed and earned his way onto the PGA Tour. For 25 years, he was the only African-American player to advance on the PGA Tour by earning his way through the grueling PGA Tour qualifying tournament stages.
Stills won more than 30 satellite tour and “mini-tour” events during his career and played in two U.S. Open Championships. He was inducted in 2012 into the National Black Golfer Hall of Fame.
His success helped inspire Pensacola’s Joe Durant, an Escambia High graduate, into playing daily rounds at Osceola as a kid, before rising in greatness as a multiple-winner on the PGA Tour and now multiple winner on the PGA Champions Tour.
For Stills, being so invested in Osceola and its history, seeing the golf course become an outlet, a source of recreation and relief for so many golfers in the community, there is an added pride.
“What we are trying to do now is to make sure everybody has the best experience as possible at Osceola so they will come back,” he said. “I have been an optimist all my life. You always have two ways of looking at things.
“I always choose the side that you take the cards you have and make the best of it. I hope we come out of this (coronavirus pandemic) with people getting more healthy and more active.”
Bill Vilona is a retired Pensacola News Journal sports columnist and current senior writer for Pensacola Blue Wahoos/Studer55. He can be reached at bvilona@bluewahoos.com.
"course" - Google News
May 06, 2020 at 06:57PM
https://ift.tt/2WuJHPa
A sport built for social distancing? Pensacola golf course sees surge in golfers - Pensacola News Journal
"course" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35q9ps5
https://ift.tt/35rCFi1
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "A sport built for social distancing? Pensacola golf course sees surge in golfers - Pensacola News Journal"
Post a Comment