PA Golf Courses to Re-Open Friday, What You Need To Know

To the delight of many people in the state, one of their favorite outdoor activities will officially be returning on Friday.

On Monday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced that some outdoor activities can return, which means that golf courses across the state will be re-opening. As a safety precaution, golfers need to be aware of some changes that have been made to all courses and the way that you play a round of golf.

Pittsburgh Sports Now caught up with Josh DeNinno, General Manager of the Moon Golf Club, who gave us a list of changes that golfers need to be aware of.

Courtesy Moon Golf Club

“We here at Moon Golf along with other courses are going to be public safety minded, community minded and good stewards of everything that we’re being asked to do,” said DeNinno.

BIGGEST CHANGES TO PENNSYLVANIA GOLF COURSES

*No interaction with the golf staff like you’ve done in the past. Most clubhouses, buildings and the “19th Hole” for beverages after the round will be closed. Instead of checking in inside the clubhouse, their will be an outdoor check-in process.

*Golfers will only be allowed to ride in a cart by themselves unless you arrive with someone from the same household.

*Golfers will not be able to touch the flag sticks and there will not be any rakes around the bunkers.

*The cups in the hole have been altered, which eliminates another touch-point. The cup has been inverted which means the ball will only be dropping about a inch into the hole.

*Individual holes will have fewer yardage markers.

*At all public courses like Moon Golf Club, YOU MUST HAVE A TEE TIME to golf. They are not permitting walk-on golfers for any reason.

*Most courses are not accepting cash for greens fees so you must pay by cards, preferably this is done ahead of time.

*No loitering or hanging out at the practice green or elsewhere before or after the round.

Courtesy of Moon Golf Club

As you can imagine, DeNinno and his staff at the Moon Golf Club were glad to get the news on Monday that they’d be back open for business but also knew that it a lot of work would follow that announcement.

“It was with great surprise on Monday that we found out that we’d be able to re-open in less than four days,” said DeNinno. “We did not anticipate that happening so soon. We’re very grateful that golfs place in people’s lives is being recognized because it’s something fun to do and good for their mental health along with getting some exercise being outside.”

“However, we’ve been asked to do a lot very quickly on completely altering our procedures which has taken a lot of ingenuity, hard work and creativity from our staff to create a completely different experience for our golfers as they approach the golf course. For us, within 4 minutes of the Governor’s announcement, our phones began ringing and never stopped. This comes with some mixed emotions because our staff is now going to have to interact with hundreds and hundreds of people so we need to make sure that a lot of things are being done to ensure their safety.”

One other thing that DeNinno wanted to remind the golfers to Moon Golf Club and that’s to please make sure they call ahead (412-262-2992) or go to their website, http://www.moongolfclub.com to reserve your tee times. In fact, Moon Golf is sold out completely for Saturday and they’re nearly sold out for Friday.

“Our staff is working tirelessly to make sure their experience here is the safest, more enjoyable visit possible. We miss our golfers as much as they miss us.”