The town of Bluffton, South Carolina and the county it is a part of, Beaufort County, have ended their mini-Mussolini mask “mandates.” How refreshing to see restaurants with signs on the door saying “masks are optional” or shopping at maskless Krogers. A few minutes away from Bluffton, right across the bridge on Rt. 278, is Hilton Head Island. There are still plenty of real southerners in Bluffton and Beaufort, but the super expensive resort town of Hilton Head has long been flooded with Neeew Yawk/New Joizy transplants. (Not that there aren’t plenty of genuine locals among all the fishermen and other working class people on the island).
I left mask-free Bluffton the past two days to go the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage golf tournament. As you cross the bridge and enter Hilton Head Island there are huge flashing signs saying “Wear a Mask. It’s the Law” and “COVID is Still a Risk.” (So is driving in Hilton Head weekend traffic, especially if one has consumed alcohol at one of the thousands of bars and restaurants on the island).
Before entering the golf course one is subjected to huge signs listing about twenty CDC regulations and more signs DEMANDING!!! that you wear a mask at all times on the golf course. The tournament organizers had dozens of volunteers walking around pushing signs in everyone’s face that said — you guessed it — wear a mask — and ordering anyone not wearing a mask to mask up.
The crowd was sparse for a PGA tour event with only 20 percent capacity . The rope line was much farther away from the fairways as was normal at PGA tournaments, and you are instructed to stand at least ten feet away even from the rope line if you are eating or drinking. My guess is that they didn’t want any spittle from hot dog munchers to fly through the air and infect a golfer with deadly COVID.
At one point I was walking on the cart path making my way to the next tee (following Davis Love III’s group) with no one around within at least a hundred yards. One of the short little volunteer Nazis appeared out of nowhere to demand that I put on a mask. I gave her the middle finger and some foul language and she scurried off.
10:02 am on April 17, 2021
