State-wide stay-home executive orders in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic might have you confused about whether golf is or isn’t allowed where you live or even near where you live. Enter the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America with a state-by-state list of where it’s still OK to play. As this list is updated on a daily basis and as stories and changes develop with states' executive orders with respect to golf, we will monitor it and update our list below accordingly. There have been more than a dozen changes or modifications in the last week alone.

Just in the last 10 days, several of the 17 states that initially had shuttered golf courses, began reopening the game to players with strict social distancing and CDC guidelines in place. That includes several states that will reopen golf courses for play in the next week that have been banned since March. Announcements in the last few days have come from Illinois, Washington, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where Gov. Phil Murphy reopened the state's parks and golf courses, beginning on May 2. "This will bring us in line, broadly speaking, with our neighboring states," Murphy said. "I did not want to see us in a situation where residents would be needlessly crossing state lines in either direction. To be clear, we cannot have everyone rush out to a park or golf course. Social distancing will be strongly enforced, and we expect golf course personnel to enforce this requirement." New Jersey's guidelines for golf were stern, including tee times 16 minutes apart which might be double what they were at some courses and twosomes only unless the group involved immediate family members or similar. "If we don’t like what we see, I hate to say this, I reserve the right to reverse the Executive Order that I’m signing today," Murphy said Wednesday.

Maine, too, just announced that courses will open in the state as part of Gov. Janet Mills phased plan of businesses reopening. Courses will open Friday, and that was met with instant interest from that state's golfers. “We’re excited we’re finally going to be able to open. The phone is ringing off the hook,” Dan Hourihan, the general manager and owner of Nonesuch River Golf Club in Scarborough told the Portland Press Herald.

Despite the restrictions of the reopenings, it still might be even better news than expected. While courses have been closed, superintendents have generally been allowed to maintain courses. It's minimal maintenance, but without the effects of golfers and, most especially, carts, plus with slightly raised mowing heights, there have been benefits to the delayed opening. That could be an extra surprise for eager golfers, according to Shelia Finney, senior director of member programs with the GCSAA.

"They've been able to keep up with minimal maintenance, they're still keeping up with mowing, so even though they've not been maintaining the way they would with normal play, I think the courses are going to be in fantastic condition when they open back up," she said. "No ball marks, no divots, no carts, for sure. I think they will be able to transition from minimal maintenance to getting the course back into very playable conditions really quickly. Certainly better than you might be thinking. Now, it's not going to be Augusta National, but you won't be walking onto a goat ranch where the fairway grass is going to be six inches tall. That will not be the case at all. You're going to have really good dense turfgrass coverage."

The language in most executive orders from state governors’ offices was rarely specific to golf, and only after direct contact by state golf association leaders did states often clarify the situation. For now, only seven states still have banned golf being played by classifying golf courses as “non-essential businesses” with no projected opening date (California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Vermont). Wisconsin opened courses April 24 under social distancing guidelines, and Minnesota's governor opened up golf courses along with certain other recreational activities after his mid-day announcement on April 17. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, once the order was revised to allow public golf courses to open, one course booked 213 golfers in 43 minutes over the lunch hour.

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