The golf course may be the last sports refuge in these crazy times.

At its essence, golf is a solitary sport, and even when enjoyed with others there is a natural distance between players. But even on the links some changes have emerged to help keep everyone safe.

The most obvious change of course is there can be no post-round beers at the bar or lunch either  since all restaurants are closed. But course eateries are still offering snacks, lunch-type foods like sandwiches and beverages to take onto the course.

Here is what some of the public courses in the sportingAcause.com Tri-State area are doing to accommodate golfers in coronavirus world.

Egremont Country Club, South Egremont, MA- not open yet, hope to be open soon.

Hotchkiss School Golf Course, Lakeville, CT – may open as soon as April 1st.

Fairview Farm Golf Course, Harwinton, CT – open for the season, burgers, dogs,  sandwiches and beverages available to take on the course.

Green Woods Country Club, Winsted, CT – not open yet.

Quarry View Golf Course, Canaan, CT – course and driving range open, no food options.

Undermountain Golf Course, Copake, NY – open, beverages and snacks available to take on the course , no lunch menu yet.

Winding Brook Country Club, Valatie, NY – tentative opening date  March 29th.

Canaan Country Club, Canaan, CT – open but without carts, limited luncheon items and beverages available for takeout.

Links at Union Vale, Lagrangeville, NY – beverages and sandwich menu to go. Also only allowing one golfer per cart and only a couple people in the pro shop at a time.

Other measures that some clubs are taking to avoid the virus spread are no rakes in the sand traps, no ball washers, leaving the pin in while putting and using raised cups (when your putt hits the raised cup lip it is considered “in”).

Many courses are also sanitizing carts after each use.

Before you tee off, check with the pro shop at your favorite course to see what changes they’ve made to help ensure our safety.