Golf column: Courses acted responsibly when it came to restrictions

Golf should be proud. Among the few nonessential businesses allowed to operate during the early stages and let us hope the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sport provided an outlet to a quarantined community, and did so in a responsible manner.

While there may have an a couple of outliers, golf courses followed state-mandated protocols in keeping the players safe through social distancing, proper sanitizing and eliminating potential virus-carrying implements.

As of Saturday, golf has been reclassified as an essential business, allowing courses to issue carts and bring in more employees on the premises.

Yes, courses got it right. The golfers, for the most part, were tolerant of this new-world golf, abiding by the new regulations and appreciating what the state granted us in unique times.

Like I said, for the most part.

For the past several weeks, as I expressed that playing golf during a pandemic was a privilege and not a right, my inbox became overblown.

Many emails were in agreement, a sentiment not often heard but fully appreciated. Others wrote it to say they "respectfully disagreed" with what I wrote, which is the civilized way to initiate dialogue about any issue.

Then there was the faction who believed their entitlement to ride a cart surpassed the state's right to slow the spread of a highly contagious disease.

My reporting was deemed "incomplete." I was called (listed alphabetically) "arrogant," "condescending," "an elitiest," "insensitive," "lazy," "offensive" and "uninformed." And that all came from just one responder.

A few expressed "disappointment" that I would suggest that golfers who couldn't walk when they play should wait until the enviroment was safer.

"Seems rules are written by guys in suits that don't play golf," one wrote.

Another said, "Yes,...