SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — As the weather gets warmer, everyone is heading to the golf course. The issue is: pileups at holes. Players are waiting in long lines to get a chance to hit the ball. What makes the situation even worse is that the course staff cannot do a lot to mitigate the situation.
“We just deal. Obviously, there’s some planning that goes ahead. We start trying to bring in employees to take advantage of that, knowing that the nice weather is upon us. The students will be coming out to play and practice, as well as the memberships. So, we gradually start to bring on more and more employees from outside help to inside help,” said Sean Dadey, head golf professional, Drumlins Golf Course.
Dadey explained that at the Drumlins course, hole 1 is a lot easier because it’s wide open and people can move through the hole quickly. The issue comes at hole 2, which is more difficult because it’s a lot narrower and beginners struggle. They take a lot more shots and hit the ball all over the place, which takes up more time and hence a larger pileup.
However, not everyone feels like the delays are that big of a problem.
“Not often, not very often at all. Some days, like today, we’re behind a foursome, but we’re a threesome, and it’s still easy to get on and off,” Richard Hezel, longtime Drumlins member, explained.
But another big thing that holds up lines is when people use the same golf set.
“So, when people tend to think that sharing clubs or sharing a bag is a good idea or will help, it actually isn’t because then somebody’s gonna be on one side of the fairway and then they’re gonna run over to get a different club. So, ideally, we want everyone to have their own set of clubs,” Dadey said.
Drumlins has golf sets for people to rent. Currently, you cannot schedule a tee time, everything is first-come come first-served serve with players going out every nine to ten minutes.
For more information, check out their website.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Golf courses start to get busy as the weather gets nicer
Jonah Lipson: Drumlins Golf Course tends to get pretty busy this time of year. Making sure that the holes don’t get overcrowded can be difficult, but there’s not a whole lot the staff can do.
Sean Dadey: We just deal. Obviously, there’s some planning that goes ahead. We start trying to bring in employees to take advantage of that, knowing that the nice weather is upon us. The students will be coming out to play and practice, as well as the memberships. So, we gradually start to bring on more and more employees from outside help to inside help.
Lipson: This is hole one, a simple, easy par five, but you’ll see that as we keep going, for beginners, it changes things.
Here we are at hole two, which is a lot more narrow and difficult than hole one. This is what starts the hold up, because its a lot more difficult, it’s worse for beginners because they are slower, and it starts a whole line.
But a lot of players don’t think that delays happen that much.
Richard Hezel: Not often, not very often at all. Some days like today, we’re behind a foursome but we’re a threesome and it’s still easy to get on and off.
Lipson: Another big cause for holdups is when two players use the same golf set.
Dadey: So when people tend to think that sharing clubs or sharing a bag is a good idea or will help, it actually isn’t because then somebodie’s gonna be on one side of the fairway and then they’re gonna run over to get a different club. So, ideally, we want everyone to have their own set of clubs.
Lipson: Drumlins Pro Shop has golf sets for people to rent. Currently, there are no tee times and everything is first-come come first first-served with players going out every nine to ten minutes. Reporting from Drumlins, Jonah Lipson, NCC News.