Last week two of the world’s biggest oil companies suffered significant defeats on the same day.

AB 672 is the most damaging piece of legislation re golf to be filed in a generation.

AB 672 (Garcia; D-Bell Gardens) – the “hottest” to hit the golf industry in the last 20 years in our opinion!

On Friday the state changed its reopening blueprint effective April 15 to permit indoor live events. Sporting events, concerts, and theatrical performances off limits for the last year will again be parts of our lives.

The LA County Department of Public Health amended its “Safer at Home” Tier order, the county’s “Youth/Adult Sports Leagues” order, and the county’s “Re-opening Restaurants” order, all of which apply to golf club/course functions that are not exclusive to golf courses.

Los Angeles County Public Health (DPH) has updated its “Golf Appendix” to align the play and practice of golf with the rhythms of life in the “Red Tier”

So, if you’re flummoxed by the disconnect between the ability to dine, shop, or even use a gym indoors at your golf club/course and the inability to putt, chip, play in consecutive tee times, or host high school golf matches – you are not alone.

“It is the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that would enable the use of underutilized golf courses for open space and affordable housing.”

As we reported Monday, the State of California issued a massive overhaul of “Outdoor and Indoor Youth and Adult Recreational Sports” protocols last Friday, effective this Friday (2/26). We noted that with respect to golf in even the “Purple Tier” counties, much of what has been proscribed can now be permitted, particularly with respect to high school competitive golf and certain adult competitive activities.

One and one-third human beings is what a maxed-out golf course puts on one acre of open space under current COVID restrictions, a 1.3 to 1 ratio that has been the game’s ticket to spectacular success during the pandemic. It’s the unshakable fact about the game that persuaded public policy makers that golf is among the safest forms of outdoor recreation; indeed, the safest when one considers that unlike other outdoor recreational activities, the business model of golf involves strict control over ingress and egress.