Please clarify: What is the "valid reason"? And don't reply that COVID can be transmitted in that fashion, the previous poster is correct that outdoor surface to human transmission is essentially 0%

A better solution would be to cut the pvc down to halve the height of the cup liner...that way when the hole doesn't get set correctly, or on a slope, the pvc will still be at least 1 inch below the surface. Cane Garden did this and it works perfectly, no pvc missed putts.

352-753-3396; Golf Administration; saves a lot of time getting nonsensical answers on TOTV.

They have kept the courses from closing from covid. You can reach down and pick up your ball with 2 fingers and not touch the flag or the pvc. The daily cases in the Villages and surrounding areas is still increasing every day. I'm for any actions that help keeping the disease from being spread. Be happy you are able to complain about something so insignificent as the pcv in the holes instead of being in a hospital hooked up to a breathing machine, fighting for your life

These deaths were not necessarily "from" COVID19. They were attributed to COVID19.

Agree

Which means that all those deaths would not have happened per the informed and educated judgement of the attending physician or the county coroner had the person not caught Covid. But I am certain you know more than they do about filling in death certificates and the primary and contributory causes of someone's death.

While I am sure you know more about the essentially zero rate than I do, the no touching of the flag is not only happening here. The PGA tour has the caddies wiping down the flagstick after each touch. Even if the rate is essentially zero, if it is not actually zero what is the problem with erring on the side of caution? This is one of those examples in life where the risk benefit ratio is easy to calculate. The risk of being careful is zero, the benefit of being careful may be above zero. Being careful wins.

There is substantial documentation to show that the CDC directed doctors and hospitals to label a death as a Covid death if the patient tested positive. Even traffic deaths have been recorded as Covid deaths in this instance. You would not know this if your only source of information came from MSM. Keep in mind that the monitoring of this disease and its treatment is directed by government agencies. Accordingly, inefficiencies are endemic.

Not necessarily true. But I AM certain I know more about filling out death certificates than most. Most states will ask for primary cause of death, then "due to" and another "due to" followed by a "contributing factor". So it typically looks like this:

Cause of death: Cardiopulmonary arrest
due to: Coronary Artery Disease
due to: Atherosclerotic Heart Disease
Contributed by: Coronavirus COVID-19

The problem is that we cannot tell if this death was DUE TO Covid-19 or if the virus was just incidental. However, for each death, and for that matter hospitalization, that mentions COVID-19 anywhere, the hospital receives a national average of $13,000 more in reimbursement. You can guarantee that everyone getting admitted is getting tested, and all positives are clearly mentioned on the death certificate or on the hospital bill. As a result, not too many parties are interested in accurate numbers---certainly not the hospitals, certainly not the media, and certainly not anyone/group with a vested interest in promoting the number of deaths.

That being said, this is the most serious pandemic in quite some time, and caution is clearly indicated. But in the case of a flagstick outdoors the Oregon Dept. of Health did a study of 1380 cases and found that AT MOST, outdoor transmission is 0.07 %, which would imply 0 from a flagstick. Personally, I would take that risk if necessary, however, I just don't see a good reason to touch the flagstick at this time

Finally, everyone please remember to get your annual flu shot---it will do far more to save your life than a PVC pipe in a golf hole

A lot of people like them so they can say the got a hole in one when the ball touches the pipe. Never has there been as many hole-in-ones in the paper since the pipe was put in place. I’ve seen people say they got 2 hole-in-one’s during the same game in the paper! It’s a miracle...maybe the pros should try it.

Thank you bjean🤪🤪

Plastic should be cut to a certain height , to avoid riding the top and going by

By your response it appears to me that you don’t golf here in the villages and if you do you don’t play multiple courses. I play 3x per week at three championship courses and different courses all over the villages. The issue is based on my experience, the pvc pieces are not all cut to the same length, sometimes from hole to hole and other times from course to course. The golf cup holes are all the same depth, that’s the rule, but as stated the height of the pvc pipe is not cut consistently which at times causes the ball to roll around hole and pop out.

FALACY? Try to convince the the 551,000 who tested positive in Florida and the families of the 8,764 who died In Florida that attempts to control the spread of COVID-19 are a waste of time and effort.