The Portland Sea Dogs are temporarily repurposing their ballpark for target golf
Amid trying times for minor league baseball, the Red Sox affiliate is getting creative.
Professional baseball may still be on hold in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. However, golf has gotten the green light.
So the Portland Sea Dogs are putting their ballpark to use.
The Double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox announced Thursday that, for four days next month, they will allow fans to tee off from the suite-level boxes at Hadlock Field for a nine-hole round of target-style golf. But before you get your driver out, the goal of this game is to keep the ball inside the park.
As a team-released promo video illustrates, the Sea Dogs will cut nine holes with flags into their outfield and spray-paint a 6-foot circle as well as a larger green area around each.
Players will rotate around corresponding tee boxes outside the park’s Sky Box suites aiming to get their ball closest to the hole. Since the longest hole is just 160 yards, they will only be allowed to use a 7-iron, 8-iron, 9-iron, or wedge.
Scoring is as follows: in the cup is worth one point, getting the ball within the 6-foot diameter circle is two points, and anywhere on the “green” is three. Anywhere on the field but off the green is four points. And if the ball is hit into the stands “or anywhere else,” that’s five points. Golfers will get two shots a hole.
The team notes that social distancing will be enforced all the while with a one-directional flow through the park and no more than nine people playing at a time. And since only one golfer is permitted per tee time, groups were encouraged to book consecutive tee times and then simply follow each other through the course. The team says that golf balls will also be collected and sanitized after each use.
Geoff Iacuessa, the president of the Sea Dogs, told the Portland Press Herald that it’s an idea the team has been kicking around for years, after the San Diego Padres launched a similar, if more extensive, concept in 2015.
“Given our season is still delayed, we’ve been looking at a number of ideas to stay engaged with our community and thought this was one we’d like to try,” Iacuessa said.
Unfortunately, tee times, which went for $30, went fast. By Friday, the Sea Dogs website said they had sold out the event, which runs July 9 to 12.
The good news is that Chris Cameron, the Sea Dogs’ vice president for communications, told Boston.com that the team is “definitely considering adding future dates.” But before they make any commitments, they want to see how the event next month goes first.
With the coronavirus threatening the minor league baseball season, the team may have some time to think about it.
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