As I have stated over the past couple of weeks we have been working on a plan at the club and gearing up to get back into golf. There has been a lot of work done on behalf of us all by the various golfing bodies in the UK to reopen golf courses once the time is right. We are fortunate that our sport lends its self well to social distancing and we have been given the go-ahead at the first easing of lockdown measures. That said, I am writing this on Thursday morning and last Friday after writing a piece being optimistic that we would be opening this week, the press reports coming out and the word within the golfing industry was that things had been put back to June. In fact only Ireland had given a clear pathway for clubs to get ready to reopen on the 18th May. You can imagine the surprise when Boris kind of announced that we could get back going by Wednesday. As he hadn't mentioned golf specifically no one, including the PGA on Sunday night quite knew if we would be allowed to open this week. Things started to get a bit clearer on Monday morning with the release of a document but even then it said only one balls and members of the same household were able to play together. That changed around lunchtime as the golfing bodies were meeting with MP's to finalise things so now you are able to play with one person at a time from outside your household. This is what we had been working towards and means that the plans and systems that we had put in place over the past couple of weeks to get people safely on and off the course will happen. These will be released by the club later today, Wednesday, so you should all have them by the time you get this. The government guidelines for the rest of the golf club are still being ironed out as they seemed to have gone back on the policy that MP's were working on making it unclear if we are able to open the Pro shop or not. We think it's going to be left to our common sense to reopen and as a major part of the club's plan was to use us to control tee times, the first tee and the pathway onto the course we will be more of an operational hub than a retail outlet. The Pro shop from a retail space will not be allowed to reopen fully until next month. You will still be allowed to purchase essentials such as golf balls, gloves, tees and drinks but the rest of the shop won't be functioning as normal. We will still be able to sell bags, shoes clubs etc but will have to be done via email or phone call to arrange a time for you to be able to come down to the shop or for us to drop things off at your house. I'm currently sorting out the back room in the pro shop to create a separate entry and a room away from those playing golf at the front of the shop for members to try things on or choose things they are after. As you will see later in the newsletter there will also be a way of communicating online. Once the course is up and running for a few days and we are happy that there is no compromise in player safety we will open up the range but for coaching only. With the traffic on the second and third plus the exit route from the course being down the side and back of the second, we can't allow people to use the range throughout the day unless you are coming to meet us for a lesson. We will give you times and directions to ensure its safe when you book in. I know that there will be lots of new do's and dont's coming your way from the club but they are just there to ensure your safety on the course. It will be new for all of us but I know we will get used to it and make it work. The upshot of it all is that you can come back to your club and play the game again and we look forward to seeing you again, we've missed you! First off were Mr. Wingrove and Mr Crisp on a stunning morning. |