Golfers Flock to Brookside, Other Local Courses

Golf courses in and around Pasadena have seen a surge in play in the few weeks since Gov. Gavin Newsom allowed golf courses to reopen.

“We haven’t seen these types of crowds in years,” said Darryl Dunn, CEO and General Manager of the Rose Bowl Operating Company, which runs Brookside Golf Club next to the stadium. “Happy that people were able to come out and golf is fortunately is a social distance … socially friendly type of event. So the golf course is popular.”

Brookside has implemented several safety measures, including limiting golf cart use, capping groups to four or fewer, and requiring tee times be booked online or by phone.

Other courses are also seeing higher demand.

“Normal Monday would probably be around 50-something players. Now it’s been 100,” said Johnny Eusebio, General Manager of Eaton Canyon and Altadena golf courses. “Same thing for the weekend. It’s picked up pretty good.”

While walk-ups are not allowed at Brookside, they are allowed at Eaton Canyon and Altadena.

The increase in golf course activity has been seen in other parts of the country, as well, but whether health and safety procedures are being enforced is a mixed bag.

“I was free to walk and staff seemed truly interested in new safety measures, I still saw 16 guys sitting around a table on a patio next to a snack shop. At another, a sevensome caromed down the final fairway, each player in his own cart before congregating as a tight group on the green,” USA Today’s Jason Lusk wrote on May 8 about golfing in central Florida.

But his experiences at two other courses were vastly different.

“Both properties not only allow walking – a great method for social distancing – they promote it. Reduced tee times prevented the courses from being too crowded. My rounds there felt as safe as a stroll to my mailbox, only with better organization,” Lusk added. “Reduced tee times prevented the courses from being too crowded. My rounds there felt as safe as a stroll to my mailbox, only with better organization.”

Whether the surge seen since stay-at-home orders were lifted continues, it may just be what the game of golf needs to regain popularity.

A sportscasting.com article in Sept. 2019 said the number of people playing golf in the U.S. was 25 million in 2016 compared to 30 million a decade prior.