The Yale Golf Course will now remain closed through the end of August, according to the course’s website and an email sent to the course membership Monday by Vicky Chun, Yale’s director of athletics.
Chun started in the email, obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media, that the course’s closure has been done “to take an abundance of caution with the health and safety of our staff, members and visitors.” Yale University has been shut down for 15 weeks due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The course, which has been closed since last November, was originally supposed to be closed through the end of July in an update provided in late May. The gate leading to the course’s entry on Conrad Drive in New Haven still has a sign saying, “The Yale Golf Course is closed for the season.”
Chun reconfirmed what was noted in an earlier Hearst Connecticut Media story about the Yale Golf Course that all of the members have been sent their annual dues back.
“Most members understand that the course remains closed due to a global pandemic,” Chun said in an emailed response requesting further comment.
Chun noted in the email to the members that from “mid-March to early June” during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of those helping maintain the golf course were “reduced to two workers per day for a total of four hours” but have increased since.
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The sign to the Yale Golf Course in New Haven indicating the course is closed.
Photo: Joe Morelli / Hearst Connecticut MediaThe sign to the Yale Golf Course in New Haven indicating the course is closed.
The sign to the Yale Golf Course in New Haven indicating the course is closed.
The sign to the Yale Golf Course in New Haven indicating the course is closed.
“For the last three weeks, we increased our grounds crew to 80 percent. I am happy to report that we will be at 100 percent this week,” Chun said. “In addition, we will be bringing in course landscape experts to help bring the course back to where it was pre-COVID.”
Anthony Pioppi, a golf writer for Turfnet.com, said he was at the course Monday.
“The rough has been mowed, the fairways were being mowed, they were mowing the (green) collars, they were trying to catch up from months of not being able to do what they could do,” said Pioppi, also the executive director of the Seth Raynor Society. Raynor was the architect of the course, which opened in 1926.
Yale, ranked as the top collegiate course in the country last year by Golfweek, is currently without a director of golf operations or a course superintendent. Peter Pulaski was the director of golf for two decades before leaving in early June and Scott Ramsay left for the Country Club of Farmington on March 5 after 17 years as the course’s superintendent.
Chun indicated in the email to members that “we are currently in the process of hiring a General Manager that will oversee all business and financial operations of the course.” That person will then hire the next superintendent, she said. Chun also said she hopes to have a general manager in place by mid-August.
Even if the course does open in September, all of the fall tournaments have been canceled, according to the course’s website.
“There is no question the members want to play the course, as do I, but the risk is not worth the reward at this point in time,” Chun said. “We continue to work closely with university officials to understand the risks and trends and I will always err on the side of caution of our staff, members and the greater Yale community.”
joseph.morelli@hearstmediact.com; @nhrJoeMorelli
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