California City’s Reversal of County Restrictions Sets Off Tee-Time Scramble

After the Los Angeles County Health Department instituted stricter new guidelines on December 1st to only allow golfers from the same household to play in the same group, America Golf canceled 5,000 reservations for slots at the five public courses it runs in Long Beach. But when the city of Long Beach, which has its own health department, decided existing protocols could still be allowed, American Golf made a “mad dash” to call golfers back and re-book them, according to Regional GM Gary Johnson.

Long Beach, Calif. golf courses were told on December 1 that the Los Angeles County Health Department had approved more strict protocols for outdoor recreation, The562.org reported. The changes included a new restriction that only golfers from the same household would be able to play in the same group together.

American Golf runs all five Long Beach public courses—Recreation Park 18, El Dorado Park, Skylinks at Long Beach, Heartwell and Recreation Park 9—and responded to the order by canceling all of its pre-booked tee times online for the next eight days, The562.org reported.

“If Joe Smith wanted to play by himself at 9 a.m. on Saturday, he had to make a tee time by himself,” Gary Johnson, American Golf Regional General Manager told The562.org. “He had to take the entire tee time as a single.”

In a break from the way it’s largely been operating throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Long Beach Health Department decided to not follow the Los Angeles County order, The562.org reported. On December 2, Long Beach officials told American Golf it could go back to the original COVID-19 protocols implemented in May that includes closed restaurants, no cart sharing and pins screwed into the holes so golfers aren’t touching the same equipment.

The City of Pasadena, which also has its own health department, has also made the same decision, The562.org reported.

“Last night at around 10 p.m. we got the message from the City of Long Beach,” Johnson said on December 3. “In a 14-hour period we had to cancel 5,000 reservations and told them they could re-book it. Then 12 hours later we said, ‘Sorry, you can go back to normal,’ so it was a mad dash.”