Central time better for Hoosier morning golfers

Until recently, I was under the impression that the Indiana golfing community probably uniformly supports Eastern Daylight Time for Indiana, due to the extra hour of evening sunlight from April through October.

So I was pleasantly surprised when one of my friends and coworkers mentioned that he appreciated my recent comments on Indiana's time zone and that he is also an ardent supporter of Central time, due to his passion for golf.

It turns out that he is one of a group of twelve or so golfers who enjoy playing nine holes together before work Friday mornings from March to September. My friend particularly likes this time slot because he can enjoy his golf and socializing at a time when his family is still asleep, thereby avoiding taking time away from his three young children, as evening golf would do.

They find that they can tee off about 30 minutes before sunrise and still tell which way the first drive is heading. With the sun rising here about 5:15 in mid-June on Central Daylight Time, they have been able to get on the course as early as 4:45, allowing them to get to the office by 7:00 or so. Even with a sunrise as late as 6:30 in March or September, they can still be at work by about 8:15.

With Eastern Daylight Time (if they continue to limit themselves to days when the sun rises before 6:30, in order to arrive at work at a decent hour) their usable pre-work golf season is shortened from about 25 to 9 weeks (mid-May through mid-July). I can see why that would give an avid golfer heartburn.

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Submitted to DOT Docket OST-2005-22114 and as a letter to the editor.

Published in "The Republic" (Columbus, Indiana) Monday, 14 Nov 2005.