Marion County golf courses reopen amid virus restrictions
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — This weekend, golfers got to get back to playing in Marion County after being closed due to coronavirus concerns.
The moment golf courses in Marion County heard they could open back up, they were ready. Winding Ridge golf course says they’ve been preparing since the day they had to close down.
Winding Ridge is slammed this weekend, seeing a total of around 250 social distancing golfers between Friday and Saturday.
“Aw, they’re loving it,” owner David Scott said. “Just to get out. They keep saying, ‘We’re so glad the Marion County course is open’ because the closest they had to go was either Hamilton or Hancock County. Now they can stay right here!”
Winding Ridge says by being shut down in April, they lost out on around $60,000 that they can’t make up for, all while courses outside of Marion County have been open. But that’s allowed Winding Ridge to see what’s working under current guidelines and be prepared.
“When we shut down April 3, we kept everything ready to go so that we could open the next day if that was going to be the case,” Scott said.
They’re trying to make sure there’s as limited contact as possible outside of hitting the ball. Foam barriers block the cup and prevent people from spreading germs when they reach in to get their ball. As you can imagine, a little bit of leeway on the holes has golfers getting record low scores left and right.
“The foam things are really, really helpful,” Jennifer Purvis said.
“Yeah, because if you just touch it, you count it,” Kelly Purvis said.
“It counts!” Jennifer Purvis said.
The course really focuses on their golf carts.They’re operating at 50% capacity, and each cart is limited to one person, unless they’re from the same family. Each piece of equipment, carts included, go through a disinfecting wash after they’re used.
“Some of the carts went out three times,” Scott said. “So that’s a lot of cleaning. It’s a lot of extra work, but it’s well worth it.”
Even though they missed out on a chunk of money during April, Winding Ridge says May is when golfers really start coming out in full force. Right around the 4th of July is when they get a lot of their outings. So they say if everything goes on track, they should still have a pretty good year.