Warmer weather and reopened courses brought golfers out in droves and filled up tee times Saturday.

Tancie Plutyk, whose father, Frank Ekas Jr., runs Saxon Golf Course, 839 Ekastown Road, Sarver, said, “We are packed. We have every tee time from 6 a.m. to 6:25 p.m. sold. Sunday we are filled from 6 a.m. to 2:20 p.m.”

Sarah Zediker, owner of Hiland Golf Course, 106 St. Wendelin Road, said business has been very good since the course opened Friday.

“I've got 80 carts. All but three are out,” she said Saturday.

“The phone was ringing off the hook. I took a lot of phone calls Monday and Tuesday,” she said.

“I was a nervous wreck because of all the changes we had to make,” said Zediker.

,h3>New provisions[/naviga:h3]

As part of Gov. Tom Wolf's easing of stay-at-home restrictions across the state, golf courses were allowed to reopen Friday under new provisions.

Plutyk said everyone on the course and in the clubhouse must be masked. She added a plexiglass shield in front of the cash register.

“There's only one customer allowed in the clubhouse at a time. The kitchen is closed,” said Plutyk.

Tee times are scheduled every 15 minutes to avoid golfers clumping up.

Carts and bathrooms are sanitized after every use.

New restrictions call for the removal of benches, ball washers, rakes and waste cans on any course. Flags can't be touched.

Styrofoam is used in the cups to eliminate the need to remove flags.

Zediker said her kitchen and bar were closed but she was allowed to sell beer from a window.

She said by Wednesday she will be able to sell food from a modified menu from a window, too.

[naviga:h3]Golfers adjust[/naviga:h3]

The new rules take some getting used to, said Zediker.

“I'm a people person. I'm used to seeing people, people I know,” she said, adding now she can only see them through a window.

Golfers on Saturday just liked to be out on the links despite the new conditions.

“This is the first time I've been out since March 6,” said John Williams of Monroeville who just finished 18 holes with his usual foursome at Saxon.

“You have to enter in one door and go out another in the clubhouse,” said Williams.

He said he wasn't a fan of the Styrofoam blocking the cups and suggested the course turn the cups upside down instead to allow the ball to fall into the hole.

One of his partners, Gene Jackson, wasn't complaining.

“I fired an 80. I cleaned some clocks today. We had fun. It's nice to be out walking around,” said Jackson, saying his foursome passed on using carts.

“I won but now we can't drink any beer,” he added. “The world's turned upside down.”

Zediker at Hiland said the beer restriction came down from the state Liquor Control Board and was designed to prevent crowds from gathering.

“I can sell you beer, you just can't drink it in the parking lot. You can drink it on the course, but not in the parking lot,” she said.

The idea is to prevent golfers from congregating over a few cold ones to go over their rounds.

“There's a 15-minute limit in the parking lot. You're supposed to buy the beer to go and go home.”