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NEWS PROJECTED FUTURE OF GOLF
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR THE GOLF INDUSTRY
AFTER COVID-19?
continued from page 29
someone sick with the disease would have to future of the golf industry. Right now, signs are
be playing. Second, that person would have to highly encouraging. Courses that were under
get the virus on their hands through coughing, lockdown have seen large waves of golfers.
sneezing, or otherwise transferring body fluids on Even courses that were never closed have
their hands. Third, they would then have to touch reported a decent increase in rounds played.
the flagstick soon after. Fourth, the next person Golf retail stores are also seeing business return
to touch the flagstick would have to touch it in to near normal, and on many days, exceed their
the same exact place as the infected person – corporate offices’ expectations. That’s not only
assuming the virus was still on the flagstick (more good news for the retail operations, but also for
on that later). Fifth, that next person would then the club manufacturers and suppliers of these
have to introduce the virus into themselves by stores.
touching their eyes, nose, or mouth within a few Demographically, golf is currently faring
minutes of touching the flagstick. In other words, well. Most golfers have either secure investment
as Dr. Prober pointed out, this highly improbable. income or job security that withstood the
Dr. Amesh Adalja, from Johns Hopkins
University, said on golfdigest.com that retrieving economic shutdowns, so the majority of golfers
a ball from a hole presents “very minimal risks in should continue to play. The wild card is how soon
those types of situations. You can dream up any the tens of millions of unemployed Americans
kind of odd situation where the virus transmits in return to the workforce, as they represent a
these special circumstances, but that wouldn’t be smaller but significant portion of the golfing
something I would be worried about.” population. It would be foolish to venture a guess
And since Dr. Prober and Dr. Adalja made at this early stage, but hopefully the majority will
these statements, new information has come out not be without jobs for long.
that the coronavirus doesn’t fare well in sunlight. The early models reporting that over a million
Willliam Bryan of the Department of Homeland Americans would lose their lives were egregiously
Security (DHS) said DHS research showed the virus wrong, as was the assumption the infection
having a half-life of two minutes in sunlight. This fatality rate was over three percent. While current
means that a maximum of 1/32 of the virus would research from a number of sources, including
be left on an outdoor surface after 10 minutes the Stanford University School of Medicine, the
of sunlight exposure. Therefore, it would seem University of Southern California and the University
handling a bunker rake is extremely safe, as well. of Bonn in Germany, as well as antibody studies
Dr. Ezekiel Emanual from the University of done in Colorado, Massachusetts and New York
Pennsylvania, speaking on the television show all show the actual infection fatality rate is likely to
Morning Joe, said that in order to get infected, be under one-half of one percent, the virus is still a
“You need to see a prolonged amount of virus very serious matter. While, as the saying goes, “so
over a period of time. That happens indoors, not far, so good,” the golf industry needs to keep on
outdoors.” He also pointed out that there have its toes and continue to promote the game and
been “very few” instances of people getting make people feel confident that they can play
infected outdoors. without any significant risk. w
With all of that as the background, the
headline of this article asks what’s in store for the
30
SUMMER 2020 Golf Teaching Pro ®
