When the days shortened and the temperature dropped as the winter of 2020-21 neared in New York, the calendar did to golf what the Covid-19 pandemic couldn’t do – drive people off the course. Sure, precautions were taken for safety, social distancing and foam cup inserts among them, but golfers continued to play during the unusual, stressful period. Jon Millman, a regular at Bethpage State Park for decades, was one of them.

“Bethpage was awesome dealing with it,” Millman says of the pandemic period. “Instead of tee times every eight minutes, they were every 16 or 20 minutes. You weren’t allowed to show up more than 10 minutes before your time. You couldn’t practice putt or anything. It was just pure golf. My kids and I were out there a lot, anytime we could get a slot. We’d never see the group in front or behind us.

It was incredible. But, when winter was coming, I realized that everything else was still locked down. I was looking for a hobby to do while my kids were in the basement playing video games.”

Nearly five years later, Millman, 51, a portfolio manager who lives in Plainview, N.Y., three miles from the 90-hole Bethpage complex, is a testament to how boredom can be an unlikely first step toward establishing a business. Read Full Story.