Won't Someone Think of the Golfers?

On a warm, sunny Tuesday afternoon in Brockton, golfers were not going to let the coronavirus crisis get in the way of playing nine holes or more, ignoring warnings from the mayor to stay home and taking to golf courses around the city, even though they are closed throughout Massachusetts under a state order deeming them nonessential businesses.

Mayor Robert Sullivan said he’s now instructing the Police Department to send officers to get people off the golf courses, including the city-owned D.W. Field Golf Course, which was closed on March 16 when the mayor declared a local state of emergency. Sullivan said golfers are still trespassing onto the D.W. Field Golf Course and playing, parking in an adjacent lot and walking through a closed gate.

Golfers are also walking onto private courses all around Brockton, hitting the fairways at places including Thorny Lea Golf Club and White Pines Golf Course, even though the facilities are closed during this time as non-essential businesses by order of Gov. Charlie Baker. Groups of golfers could be seen playing together on Tuesday afternoon amid pleasant, 60-degree spring weather, when the golf season is usually just getting into full swing. The golfers were getting creative, too, putting twigs into the cups to replace missing flagsticks removed from the greens at the golf courses, in order to mark the holes so they could be seen from afar.

“It’s just not appropriate” said Sullivan, during an interview on Tuesday, angered that some city residents are not taking coronavirus health advisories seriously. “We have to be in this together. ... It’ nice weather, and people want to be outside. But there has to be a standard of social distancing and following guidelines.”