Kirk VanKeuren stood atop the 14th green, a large piece of artificial turf clutched within his hands near his waist, and glanced around. As he quickly surveyed the concrete surrounding the gazebo, then the stretch of space adjacent to it, the plan in his head came together.

“I cut the turf to size at home, in the spring when not many people are around,” said the owner of Bill Burr’s Flamingo Golf, about 10 days before the official start of summer and the iconic course’s 65th season in Ship…