North Shore Golf Summer 2020 V2

NORTH SHORE GOLF <<< 5
Linda Courtemanche of Lynn
smiles as she steps away from her
putt at Gannon Municipal Golf Club.
Dave Eaton of Peabody wears
a face covering as he makes his
way to the 16th green at Wenham
Country Club.
PHOTOS: SPENSER HASAK
were upset and angry at first but that
was the state guidelines," Lyons said.
"We’re all doing the same thing, all
the municipal places are a little
more cautious. I think people
are certainly happy with the
way it's worked out."
"Our pro shop sales have
seen a big adjustment," Cronan
said. "The retraining is all about
being credit card-only and
nobody coming inside
(the pro shop). The
phones are ringing all
day now. But golfers
are happy and we’re
happy, too. We're just a little
tired; there's no down time."
Those kinds of adjustments
came slower for driving ranges
and other golf centers across
the state. Places like Sun 'N Air
Golf Center in Danvers
couldn't open its
entire facility until
early June.
"It was
tough," said Phil
Cornetta, who
runs a golf school at Sun
'N Air. "I’m someone who
works hard and puts in a
lot of time, so it was weird
to be off two months.
"But we lucked out because we have
a par-3 course that was able to start
May 18. Walking that course all day —
I was probably walking 30 miles a day
— I think I have the strongest legs of
anyone through quarantine."
On the teaching side, Cornetta,
who is hands-on with students,
has adopted some unconventional
methods to keep things safe.
"I have the grass tees measured out
six feet so I know where I can stand,"
Cornetta said. "I duct tape some pool
noodles together and use them to give
my pointers. Sometimes, I have one in
each hand poking people around. It's
funny for the first week or two, but it
has been easier incorporating things
like drill training and expanding and
doing more video analysis. We all
have masks on, and I could probably
get in there and help keep people
comfortable."
Keeping their golfers comfortable
seems to be a common theme among
everyone in the community right now.
"We're still operating under some
Phase 1 rules, and we might (be)
for the rest of the year," Cronan
said. "It seems to be working.
I've had customers come up and
say they feel safe here, and that's
great. We’re going to get food
service going (soon) with some premade
sandwiches, so we're looking
forward to that."
The slow crawl to getting things
back to normal is what everyone's
hoping for this fall.
"I would like to get
back to (operating
full) camps clinics,"
Cornetta said. "We've
capped everything at
eight people, which is
not what I would like. We want 15-20
kids, if we could. Moving forward as
restrictions start to get less and less,
that's what it all depends on. At this
stage I feel pretty safe."
"I think golf is in a good place,"
Lyons said. "We see plenty of people
re-engaged." Lyons said retailers have
told him they're selling more box sets of
clubs. "The question is going to be, 'How
can we retain these golfers?' Things are
definitely going to get back to normal at
some point, but the key is retention."
Bill Brotherton contributed to
this story.