Tour Restart Date

[fixyurdivot]

I just saw this headline stating a tentative restart.  I'm both excited and nervous.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/golf/sources-pga-tour-to-announce-june-restart-to-2020-season/ar-BB12DmtW?ocid=spartandhp

[perseveringgolfer]

Madness until a vaccine or accurate tests are available with results within hours..

Can you imagine the furore if one person contracts this deadly disease from any tournament? 

You could have 1 super spreader who unknown to him/her infects hundreds at one tournament just by touching a flag, or score card, pencil, water bottle storage handle etc etc

 

If only I could invent a pair of glasses that would let you 'see' infected areas or people, like infrared does.

 

I think our lives have changed dramatically for the next 18 months.

[Mr. 82]

1 hour ago, perseveringgolfer said:

Madness until a vaccine or accurate tests are available with results within hours..

Can you imagine the furore if one person contracts this deadly disease from any tournament? 

You could have 1 super spreader who unknown to him/her infects hundreds at one tournament just by touching a flag, or score card, pencil, water bottle storage handle etc etc

 

If only I could invent a pair of glasses that would let you 'see' infected areas or people, like infrared does.

 

I think our lives have changed dramatically for the next 18 months.

In 2017, the latest published statistics for deaths in the United States, 55,672 people died from the Flu.  We are currently just over 26,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States.

Do you see where I am going with this?

Also, and I am not fact checking it, but I think your commentary on how this virus spreads is inaccurate, and overtly dramatic.

My point being that there is more unnecessary fear driving this whole thing then actual facts and reality.  There are many parts of this country where there isn't a single case of COVID-19.  And some cases I have seen and read about list nursing homes where the majority of people there contracted the disease.  Well, what's to say that they wouldn't have contracted the "regular" flu in the same fashion and died from it?

Let's just relax a little bit and not go ballistic based on what I consider to be fear mongering by the people that run the national media that for the most part, derive their worldview based on what is happening in New York City, and a couple of other large cities.  New York was FUBAR before COVID-19, and will be FUBAR long after COVID-19.  Nothing will ever change that.

[fixyurdivot]

What strikes me as odd is that the decision is not theirs to make - at least if any of the states and their governors have decided against large public venues.  I'm solidly in the let's get ourselves back up and running ASAP but, unless we see some dramatic reduction in the numbers, feel that stuffing 10's of thousands of folks together in pro sport stadiums and golf courses should wait.  Now, I'm all for fanless games/tournaments - essential personnel only.  I think it would be rather fun to watch an MLB game or PGA event without us there.  

[palvord]

5 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

What strikes me as odd is that the decision is not theirs to make - at least if any of the states and their governors have decided against large public venues.  I'm solidly in the let's get ourselves back up and running ASAP but, unless we see some dramatic reduction in the numbers, feel that stuffing 10's of thousands of folks together in pro sport stadiums and golf courses should wait.  Now, I'm all for fanless games/tournaments - essential personnel only.  I think it would be rather fun to watch an MLB game or PGA event without us there.  

I think what will be interesting is how those states that have banned large gatherings view a field of 156 players plus 156 caddies.

And that's before you add in camera crews, announcers, PGA personnel, rules officials, maintenance crews, etc. 

I hope we are able to have live sports back in the near future, but the logistics of any sport being up and running, even without fans is going to be very tricky.

[THEZIPR23]

13 minutes ago, palvord said:

I think what will be interesting is how those states that have banned large gatherings view a field of 156 players plus 156 caddies.

And that's before you add in camera crews, announcers, PGA personnel, rules officials, maintenance crews, etc. 

I hope we are able to have live sports back in the near future, but the logistics of any sport being up and running, even without fans is going to be very tricky.

The video of Rory with his push  cart because caddies aren't allowed would be glorious. 

[palvord]

1 minute ago, THEZIPR23 said:

The video of Rory with his push  cart because caddies aren't allowed would be glorious. 

The new debates that could be had on the Golf Channel:

DJ is a far superior golfer to Rory because he carries his bag rather than using a push cart.

[RickyBobby_PR]

Sports in general and also summer concert tours will be interesting to see how things play out. The initial plans coming out of DC seem to be getting a schools, day cares and summer camps open first while maintaining washing hands, maybe wearing masks, etc. multiple states are already looking at opening things back up and several have formed coalitions around it.

Spain had 300k people go back to work yesterday and in certain areas of the country we are only a few weeks behind where they were with the virus. 
 

I can easily see golf get going with restricting the number of people on course watching or no fans at all. 

[fixyurdivot]

You know, providing them motorized push carts seems reasonable.  Let's see how these Creme de la creme  perform without a caddie.  Also, they could probably appreciably scale down the number of camera crew, etc., and still provide some decent coverage.  We don't need to see every conceivable angle and ball logo from everywhere.  A little old school would do uss good.  Heck, let's do it in black and white .

[palvord]

19 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

You know, providing them motorized push carts seems reasonable.  Let's see how these Creme de la creme  perform without a caddie.  Also, they could probably appreciably scale down the number of camera crew, etc., and still provide some decent coverage.  We don't need to see every conceivable angle and ball logo from everywhere.  A little old school would do uss good.  Heck, let's do it in black and white .

Scaling back camera crews is probably going to happen.

How about a drone that is dedicated to each golfer. 156 drones on the course. What could go wrong? 

[fixyurdivot]

They could add crowd noise/reactions, "get in the hole", "ba-ba-booey", and "cheater" calls - it would be an interesting experiment.  

[revkev]

I’m all in on a conservative approach to getting back.

 

Golf could easily be the first sport back - even 500 people - players plus production crew - spread out over 200 acres with modified rules - no touching the pin, pool noodles in the hole, temperatures taken before the start of each round, can easily support current social distancing rules in many states.

 

Unless something changes dramatically between now and then, a mid June start is doable.

 

Over 40 percent of courses are open in more than enough states to host events.

 

Schools opening will be far more “dangerous” than golf. My proud principal and I are struggling to figure out what that will look like should we be allowed back in May. We know that the current “better” models assume a June 1 return. We desperately want our kids together for a week but not at the cost of a person’s life - a grandparent, an at risk kid, a mom, a dad? I couldn’t live with myself if that happened.

 

Tomorrow’s treatment day at the hospital for my daughter will be more dangerous than playing golf. :(

 

I think Golf should shoot for June but not expect to have fans on sight until there’s a clear treatment or vaccination in place.

 

 

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[SlowNLow]

4 hours ago, palvord said:

Scaling back camera crews is probably going to happen.

How about a drone that is dedicated to each golfer. 156 drones on the course. What could go wrong? 

I think you are on to something big here.  

[Quigleyd]

I am very cautiously optimistic for this. I need something in my life other than quarantine and covid. The country needs a boost in optimism. So I am very happy to see this. 

[Punch Out Golf]

The Memorial is always one of the best weeks here in Columbus...I just hope were allowed on the course!

[ZenGolfer]

15 minutes ago, Punch Out Golf said:

The Memorial is always one of the best weeks here in Columbus...I just hope were allowed on the course!

Doubtful.  We still arent allowed to have mass gatherings of more than 10 people.  I expect you will see tournaments without patrons.

[RickyBobby_PR]

Nothing like Colonial in mid June to get the season back. With Gov Abbott wanting to get the state open and with guidance from DC this should be more than just a possibility. Might not have any fans on course but getting sports going again will be great

[jayjay0808]

The tour has said they intend to have the first 4 without fans. The more I see numbers I think that this will be realistic. Whether they go beyond the first 4 without fans is dependent on how this all shapes up.

[fixyurdivot]

It looks like they've already revised the revised the proposal.  The whole pro sports, concerts, and large venue entertainment industry is going to be a challenge.

[revkev]

The tour has said they intend to have the first 4 without fans. The more I see numbers I think that this will be realistic. Whether they go beyond the first 4 without fans is dependent on how this all shapes up.

I think we need to get used to sports without fans for a while. It’s not happening until there is either a vaccine or a viable treatment.

Vaccine is a year plus away, treatment could come sooner. But without that large gatherings like a sporting event are highly unlikely.


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[RickyBobby_PR]

13 minutes ago, revkev said:

 

I think we need to get used to sports without fans for a while. It’s not happening until there is either a vaccine or a viable treatment.

Vaccine is a year plus away, treatment could come sooner. But without that large gatherings like a sporting event are highly unlikely.


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Oxford University has one on production and could be ready by fall.

I don’t think we need to wait for that and that with the use of various malaria drugs have positive impacts, the availability of more testing with faster results and the Murray modeling predicting lower numbers we can get back to some semblance of fan attended events by football season if not before that in some areas

[revkev]

Oxford University has one on production and could be ready by fall.
I don’t think we need to wait for that and that with the use of various malaria drugs have positive impacts, the availability of more testing with faster results and the Murray modeling predicting lower numbers we can get back to some semblance of fan attended events by football season if not before that in some areas

We will see, I hope that you’re right - I will remain skeptical that this will happen though.


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[newballcoach]

As a rabid sports fan I would love to see all of our sports and events return. Many of the proposals that have been put out are optimistic, but the leagues want to play and people want to see them, live fans or not. However, the amount of testing and medical equipment  that these leagues would be using up is enormous. Many areas have shortages for their frontline healthcare workers, I don't think a pro golfer needs a test before a nurse. 

As a Canadian, perhaps we are in a different mindset and scenario about COVID, but as a high school teacher I am terrified for schools to re-open. They are an obviously high-risk for disease transmission, especially since almost all research shows children as asymptomatic carriers of the disease. All it would take is 5% of students at a school to be positive and you could potentially affect every family at that school (as well as administrators, teachers and support staff) inside of two weeks. If schools reopen here while the disease is still rampant or without a vaccine, I will not be living with my family. My son was born premature last year and has a compromised immune system and weakened lungs. If he contracts COVID it's a very dangerous situation. So I would be living in my brothers basement while I am being forced to work, in order to keep him safe. 

So while some people don't seem to think this is a big deal (shout out to the people who think it's the flu) the facts, research and all of the first hand accounts have a big of a different thing to say. You might not die from it, you might just get sick, but don't assume that your privilege of being young and healthy should get you some sort of special pass that is allowed to put other people in danger. The reason Italy had crippling death totals and hospitals overrun was people there did not take it seriously, and consistently broke quarantine orders to continue living their lives as normal. Sound familiar?

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, newballcoach said:

As a rabid sports fan I would love to see all of our sports and events return. Many of the proposals that have been put out are optimistic, but the leagues want to play and people want to see them, live fans or not. However, the amount of testing and medical equipment  that these leagues would be using up is enormous. Many areas have shortages for their frontline healthcare workers, I don't think a pro golfer needs a test before a nurse. 

As a Canadian, perhaps we are in a different mindset and scenario about COVID, but as a high school teacher I am terrified for schools to re-open. They are an obviously high-risk for disease transmission, especially since almost all research shows children as asymptomatic carriers of the disease. All it would take is 5% of students at a school to be positive and you could potentially affect every family at that school (as well as administrators, teachers and support staff) inside of two weeks. If schools reopen here while the disease is still rampant or without a vaccine, I will not be living with my family. My son was born premature last year and has a compromised immune system and weakened lungs. If he contracts COVID it's a very dangerous situation. So I would be living in my brothers basement while I am being forced to work, in order to keep him safe. 

So while some people don't seem to think this is a big deal (shout out to the people who think it's the flu) the facts, research and all of the first hand accounts have a big of a different thing to say. You might not die from it, you might just get sick, but don't assume that your privilege of being young and healthy should get you some sort of special pass that is allowed to put other people in danger. The reason Italy had crippling death totals and hospitals overrun was people there did not take it seriously, and consistently broke quarantine orders to continue living their lives as normal. Sound familiar?

And Sweden did zero quarantining and only encouraged their citizens to exercise social distancing and while they had a spike a couple weeks back they are getting thru their peak now and their percentages are better than Italy and Spain.

Oklahoma is in a similar boat. Many parts of the country here are getting close to their peak or going thru it and the latest data shows that many are more than well equipped to handle their peak and have more beds and ventilators than were ever initially projected.

On the plus side as well the ability to test continued to increase here in the states, hydroxychloroquine has proven to be effective for helping those infected recover to a point after a couple of days they are feeling stronger. Oxford University has started production of a vaccine that could be available on the fall.

Yes the virus has serious symptoms for those that develop them and yes people die from it, fortunately more recover than those who die. Nobody wants to see people die but nobody freaks out that in the US 50-80k die every year from the flu, 200k+ died around the world in the first 3 months of this year from malaria and we have vaccine for that. 
 

The models that have been used for projections have continue to drop in the predictions even as NYC was going thru their worst time. A study in Silicon Valley indicates that many more people have/had the virus than testing indicates and that based on their testing data the actual mortality rate is at the levels of the flu. 
 

While it is scary to think people can catch this virus and die from it there are too many positive signs imo to continue with the doom and gloom. While I would hate to see people lose their jobs permanently at stadiums, sports teams, sports broadcasters and we have to get the economies of the world back and running and do we run a risk yes but so far all the plans being used in GA, TX, FL appear to use enough precaution. They are following the guidelines laid out by the experts. Will some areas have to wait longer? Of course but that’s the beauty of each state being able to do what works best for them.

Im sorry but I refuse to accept the doom and gloom approach around this virus. 

 

 

[THEZIPR23]

41 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

And Sweden did zero quarantining and only encouraged their citizens to exercise social distancing and while they had a spike a couple weeks back they are getting thru their peak now and their percentages are better than Italy and Spain.

Oklahoma is in a similar boat. Many parts of the country here are getting close to their peak or going thru it and the latest data shows that many are more than well equipped to handle their peak and have more beds and ventilators than were ever initially projected.

On the plus side as well the ability to test continued to increase here in the states, hydroxychloroquine has proven to be effective for helping those infected recover to a point after a couple of days they are feeling stronger. Oxford University has started production of a vaccine that could be available on the fall.

Yes the virus has serious symptoms for those that develop them and yes people die from it, fortunately more recover than those who die. Nobody wants to see people die but nobody freaks out that in the US 50-80k die every year from the flu, 200k+ died around the world in the first 3 months of this year from malaria and we have vaccine for that. 
 

The models that have been used for projections have continue to drop in the predictions even as NYC was going thru their worst time. A study in Silicon Valley indicates that many more people have/had the virus than testing indicates and that based on their testing data the actual mortality rate is at the levels of the flu. 
 

While it is scary to think people can catch this virus and die from it there are too many positive signs imo to continue with the doom and gloom. While I would hate to see people lose their jobs permanently at stadiums, sports teams, sports broadcasters and we have to get the economies of the world back and running and do we run a risk yes but so far all the plans being used in GA, TX, FL appear to use enough precaution. They are following the guidelines laid out by the experts. Will some areas have to wait longer? Of course but that’s the beauty of each state being able to do what works best for them.

Im sorry but I refuse to accept the doom and gloom approach around this virus. 

 

 

Not sure using a country that has one of the highest death rates in the world is an example we should follow.

[RickyBobby_PR]

16 minutes ago, THEZIPR23 said:

Not sure using a country that has one of the highest death rates in the world is an example we should follow.

The stay at home orders weren’t to prevent people from getting the virus but to prevent hospitals from being over run and to flatten the curve. Many parts of the US are flattening their curve and are showing that they have the beds and ventilators to handle cases during their peak and beyond. 
 

per capita the US is barely in the top 10 of cases and Sweden isn’t there at all. 

[russtopherb]

3 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

And Sweden did zero quarantining and only encouraged their citizens to exercise social distancing and while they had a spike a couple weeks back they are getting thru their peak now and their percentages are better than Italy and Spain.

..

Sweden's experiment has failed and their death rates are rising - https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidnikel/2020/04/14/sweden-22-scientists-say-coronavirus-strategy-has-failed-as-deaths-top-1000/#6cdeb6f07b6c

Hydroxychloroquine has not proven to be effective and in one study actually lead to higher death rates than standard COVID treatments - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/hydroxychloroquine-treatment-for-covid-19-shows-no-benefit-and-more-deaths-in-va-study-2020-04-21

Annual flu deaths in the US average from 12,000 - 61,000, not 50k-80k - https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html And yes everyone panics, that's why everyone is encouraged to get their flu shot.

You're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.

[RickyBobby_PR]

28 minutes ago, russtopherb said:

Sweden's experiment has failed and their death rates are rising - https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidnikel/2020/04/14/sweden-22-scientists-say-coronavirus-strategy-has-failed-as-deaths-top-1000/#6cdeb6f07b6c

Hydroxychloroquine has not proven to be effective and in one study actually lead to higher death rates than standard COVID treatments - https://www.marketwatch.com/story/hydroxychloroquine-treatment-for-covid-19-shows-no-benefit-and-more-deaths-in-va-study-2020-04-21

Annual flu deaths in the US average from 12,000 - 61,000, not 50k-80k - https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html And yes everyone panics, that's why everyone is encouraged to get their flu shot.

You're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.

Here’s a more up to date article for Sweden 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-04-19/sweden-says-controversial-covid-19-strategy-is-proving-effective

the drug is having positive effects in the US and several have come out thanking the president for talking about it even as Michigan banned it.

The facts are on both sides but again let’s remember why stay at home was in place. It was to flatten the curve and to help the medical system from being overrun and not keep everyone from getting it. That has happened and and the projections for number of deaths keeps dropping. 
 

And this study indicates virus may be less deadly than everyone is saying.

if you don’t want to get the virus stay home, nothing stops anyone from doing that. But the life must go on and getting people out and back to work in all areas of life is necessary.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/17/1000113/up-to-4-of-silicon-valley-already-infected-with-coronavirus/amp/

 

[revkev]

Well back to golf - I’m looking forward to it’s return. I remain skeptical that fans will be allowed before August and wonder about the Ryder Cup. But regular tour events with limited fans on site should work out fine so long as areas whose hospital systems are stressed are avoided.

 

In regards to other sports I’m thinking baseball with no fans starts in July and limited fans in August - I doubt you will see full stadiums for football this season - we need to get the the next “flu” season before going full bore and even then some of the things we are doing now could help reduce those annual flu outbreaks that plague us - wouldn’t it be nice if we could save as many lives over the next five years as we lost this year simply by social distancing and wearing a mask in public if symptomatic?

[

mention=65447]Newballcoach[/mention] - our schools in Florida are staying virtual through the end of the year. Baring another significant outbreak I think we are back in August with some changes like taking temperatures when they arrive. But let’s face it, the days of the perfect attendance awards were ending anyway. Can I function with a fever? Yeah. Could I infect a dozen or so others with it - probably and i don’t want to do that whether its COVID, the Flu or a common cold.

 

Being tough may mean staying away

 

 

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[fixyurdivot]

2 hours ago, revkev said:

Well back to golf - I’m looking forward to it’s return. I remain skeptical that fans will be allowed before August and wonder about the Ryder Cup. But regular tour events with limited fans on site should work out fine so long as areas whose hospital systems are stressed are avoided.

 

In regards to other sports I’m thinking baseball with no fans starts in July and limited fans in August - I doubt you will see full stadiums for football this season - we need to get the the next “flu” season before going full bore and even then some of the things we are doing now could help reduce those annual flu outbreaks that plague us - wouldn’t it be nice if we could save as many lives over the next five years as we lost this year simply by social distancing and wearing a mask in public if symptomatic?

[

mention=65447]Newballcoach[/mention] - our schools in Florida are staying virtual through the end of the year. Baring another significant outbreak I think we are back in August with some changes like taking temperatures when they arrive. But let’s face it, the days of the perfect attendance awards were ending anyway. Can I function with a fever? Yeah. Could I infect a dozen or so others with it - probably and i don’t want to do that whether its COVID, the Flu or a common cold.

 

Being tough may mean staying away

 

 

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Personally I'm not wanting to see us become a nation (world) of germaphobes. I like our traditional human interactions. No past flu or pandemic events have moved us to this level before and, whether we like it or not, these events are part of human history and not something we control.  Finding balance (our reactions) seems very challenging in today's social media-centric world.  Perspective and context often gets blurred and sadly for the wrong motives.  My opinion...worth exactly what you paid for it. If what I've said bothers you, please PM me.

I do agree that sporting venues, theatres, amusement parks, concerts, etc. are going to be a challenge for the rest of the year.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  We're talking HUGE $$$ in loss revenue and HUGE numbers of fans eager to play their part.  A Ryder Cup absent "USA, USA, USA" and "Ole, Ole" chants would be really weird.