Recreational opportunities in North Little Rock have been almost completely shut down for weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the phone at the Burns Park Golf Course hasn’t stopped ringing, city officials said.
“I was there for five minutes [Thursday], and the phone rang 12 times,” Parks and Recreation Director Terry Hartwick said. “It’s very busy.”
North Little Rock’s Parks and Recreation Department has closed various places across the city in an effort to promote social distancing during the pandemic.
North Little Rock City police began patrolling the Arkansas River Trail daily to enforce social distancing, and the Old Mill, a popular tourist attraction at Lakeshore Drive and Fairway Avenue, was closed because visitors weren’t following the social-distancing guidelines.
Hartwick recently closed off all swings, city-owned tennis courts and pavilions, but the golf course remains open.
Little Rock announced in March that all parks and recreation facilities in that city would be closed, including golf courses and the Rebsamen Tennis Center.
Burns Park Golf Course manager and resident professional Steve Ralston said his course decided to make changes after learning Rebsamen Golf Course in Little Rock had been closed.
“I imagine there will be some stir-crazy people sitting inside all day, and this will provide them a little relief in the open air,” Ralston said in March.
Revenue numbers show it was a profitable decision, because the city-owned golf course has seen a rush of new golfers, officials said.
“We are getting a little bit of everybody right now,” Ralston said. “We got a lot of college kids at home right now, so we are seeing the whole gamut of ages.”
Burns Park Golf Course had revenue of $33,145 in March, an increase from $27,183 the course made over the same time last year.
“I have seen a lot of golfers I have never seen before. Every day we get a new golfer out here,” Hartwick said. “In fact, I have had golfers come up to me and thank us for having the course open.”
Hartwick said the course has been extremely busy for reasons that stretch beyond new golfers.
“The social-distancing measures we have put in place kind of slow things down,” he said.
The measures include accepting credit card payments over the phone in advance, having only one person per cart and setting a maximum of 70 people allowed on the course at a time.
“We are actually serving about half the normal amount,” Ralston said.
The course has also put pieces of cut foam pool noodles in the holes to allow golfers to easily remove their ball without touching the flag. The flags are sanitized daily, and only staff are allowed to rake the sandtraps.
The course stops leasing out carts at 5:30 p.m. each day in an effort to prevent overworking the staff, Hartwick said.
Ralston said golfers are trying to figure out how the new safety measures are affecting their golf outing.
“I am basically working all day every day,” he said. “As you know the city had to furlough part-time workers, which has affected us, but this is our job.”
Hartwick said that while the measures slow the process, he is confident the course can keep them up as long as the pandemic lasts.
“If these measures have prevented at least one person from getting sick, then it’s worth it,” he said.
Ralston said golfers have been tolerant of the new measures.
“If you look around the country or Central Arkansas, you will find everybody is doing the same procedures,” he said. “The hardest part is just getting swamped with phone calls.”