Even as all organized sports activities in the United States and elsewhere halted due to the COVID-19 outbreak, in Central New York some area golf courses opened up late in March, taking advantage of the lack of remaining winter snow on the ground and reasonable temperatures.

Or at least they were opened up.

Onondaga County executive Ryan McMahon announced on Sunday that golf courses in the county would close the following day at 8 p.m. and remain closed until at least April 27.

Though most courses in the county fall under the jurisdiction of this order, courses run by New York State, such as the one in Green Lakes State Park, are not covered. That course is slated to open this Friday, April 10.

McMahon said that his office had received many complaints from the public, through phone calls and emails, about groups on golf courses in a time when strict social distancing has closed schools and all non-essential businesses.

Golf courses, with their big, wide-open spaces, were considered by many a healthy alternative to the tight-quarters nature of most sports that rendered them unable to take place amid the fight to stop COVID-19.

To that end, courses here and in other parts of the country had put up safety measures in order to meet those concerns. They included only having one player use a cart, wiping down that cart to disinfect it, and not touching the flagsticks when putting on the greens.

The county issued this order while, at the same time, issuing a voluntary “shelter in place” order that asks citizens to go out for everyday needs only on alternate days for two weeks until April 18, and to limit access to county parks on that same basis – though neighborhood walks are still allowed.