Golf column: High schools get green light to play, but they may face limitations

When he issued his guidance Monday for the startup of high school fall sports, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo failed to specifically mention golf.

"There's a part of me, crazy times that they are, thinking to myself, 'Is there a reason that they're not going to let golf go?' " Section II boys' golf chairman Tom Gladd said Tuesday.

As you would expect, the state views golf as a "low risk" sport and will allow the players to begin Sept. 21. While it is certainly good news, that is about a month later than usual.

How that will affect the Section II golf season is still being sorted out, but there is one thing Gladd is sure about.

"If we do start playing, we're going to have to do it differently," he said.

The good thing about golf is teams don't have to practice together. Most of the better young golfers in the area are part of junior programs and have their games in good shape.

Scholastic teams aren't even permitted to practice before Sept. 21, but in the case of golf, schools can enter immediately into matches on that date.

Sectionals usually are held in early October and the state qualifier, which sends nine Section II golfers to the New York tournament in the spring, traditionally is held in mid-October.

"We're not going to play a full season," Gladd said. "We're going to play a truncated season. We're probably going to look at one day to identify nine kids and two alternates to go down (to states), which means we're going to have to start with a smaller field."

Gladd said he is not in favor of playing the state qualifier in the spring, citing the difficulty of securing courses and their potential wet condition.

On the girls' side, Section II coordinator Eileen Troy said she is waiting for further guidance from the section and the New York State Public High School Athletic...