ANTIGONISH: Hitting the links this summer is going to feel slightly different as golfers will be required to follow health and safety requirements as they play their rounds this summer in the midst of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
While many parts of our economy remain shuttered and many businesses have been suffering through the coronavirus pandemic, golf courses and country clubs are finally finding their swing.
“This could be a big year; this year could surprise everybody in the golf industry simply because there were so many unknowns at first,” Brian Affleck, manager of golf operations at Antigonish Golf Course (AGC) expressed to The Reporter Monday.
Ahead of the Victoria Day long weekend, Nova Scotia began to gradually ease more restrictions, and announced that along with golf courses, public beaches, archery, sailing, boating, and tennis could resume at outdoor facilities.
Since the long weekend, golf courses have been able to welcome golfers.
“It’s been pretty well received, because most people understand that if we don’t follow the public health guidelines, they’re going to start taking stuff away from us again,” Affleck said. “Based on the uncertainly everyone was going through for two months, everyone, including us, are just happy to be out playing golf right now.”
The biggest challenge: following pandemic-protection measures while keeping operations sustainable – that’s why AGC was members-only until June 1 to figure out how people were going to handle the new rules.
“By going members-only what it did was allowed us to really get a good system in place, and have good control over it,” Affleck said. “Whereas we opened for the public play right away, we wouldn’t have been able to communicate the protocols, so they understood the procedures for when they arrived and exactly what they had to do and what they needed to follow.”
While golf has returned, it comes with new guidelines designated to maximize physical distancing and limit the number of contact points where the virus can be transmitted.
Those interested are required to book a tee-time ahead and cannot just walk-on the course anymore. The AGC is asking their golfers to arrive no earlier than 15-minutes before their scheduled tee-time.
Members can book five days in advance and those purchasing green-fees are eligible to book two days in advance.
This summer, in order to gain access to the course’s driving range you’re required to book a practice time, and the putting green is only able to be used before your round.
“Based on public health guidance, we have to have record of everyone who steps on the property,” Affleck indicated. “We need to have documentation and be able to trace everyone on the property at any given time, in case of an outbreak.”
With over 200 golfers playing rounds of golf daily already, AGC is staggering tee-time intervals every 10-minutes which is allowing them to manage proper spacing on the course to reduce the chances of golfers bunching up on holes or waiting at tee boxes.
The clubhouse will not open, resulting in the course’s restaurant, The 19th Hole remaining closed for the foreseeable future. The proshop however is open to a maximum of two people being allowed inside at a time, but club storage is not permitted this season.
“We relocated our bar adjacent to the proshop so we can still serve beverages,” Affleck said. “We’re not able to host any tournaments this summer, so I can see us keeping our restaurant closed for the season.”
Though the sport seems naturally geared for physical distancing, there’s still potential risk of contracting COVID-19. Across the country, golf officials have worked together to answer public health official’s questions, working proactively to create their own set of protocols as opposed to have guidelines prescribed from outside of the sport.
CEO of Golf Canada, Laurence Applebaum indicated based on provincially developed guidelines, courses across the country are aiming for an “essentially almost touchless experience from the parking lot to the first tee.”
At the AGC, the rules are laid out on the club’s Web site and on signage throughout the course and includes; staggered tee-times; no more than four players per group; players must leave the property immediately following their round to avoid gatherings; golf carts are limited to one person unless the players live in the same household; and scorecards are only available upon request at the first tee.
The AGC has installed plexiglas around the cash register, and they also have a mobile point-of-sale machine they can bring out to the first tee for people who are not comfortable paying inside.
To limit that point of contact alltogether, the course has added an on-line payment option to their Web site so golfers can pay for their round before they arrive, and also introduced an e-transfer option.
On the course, other changes include; no bunker rakes or ball washers; one group only on a tee box at a time; placing foam in the hole so people can’t fully sink their putt; restricting golf cart sharing; and not touching the flagstick or removing it from the hole.
“We have pool noodles cut off in the bottom of the hole, the ball will still fall in the hole, but it only falls in an inch,” Affleck said. “It’s working pretty good so far; you reach in with two fingers and pick the ball up out of the hole.”
This year, the AGC has seen a rise in the number of course memberships sold, something he said is increasing every day.
“Just today for example, Sport Nova Scotia announced there will be no team sports this summer, so just since that e-mail went out about soccer, we’ve received a bunch of new junior members,” Affleck said. “Which is huge for us – we have a growing junior program as it is, we had about 100 kids in our program last year, and I can see our program growing well past that because kids can’t get involved with any other sports right now.”
Realistically, AGC didn’t lose too many golfing days due to COVID-19; even if they were allowed to start their season in early May, the course wasn’t in a condition to play golf on yet.
Where golf is filled with people who adhere to their personalized, specific rituals as they play through a round, Affleck said people have been adapting to the new norm of safety measures.
“People have been more than understanding,” Affleck said. “They want to be out here as much as we want to be out here.”
Despite all the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and the heightened controls being put in place right now, he suggested it has in-return maximized their operations.
“We have full control over everything; we don’t have people showing up, people aren’t waiting to use the driving range,” Affleck indicated. “Our whole operation under COVID restrictions, business is running really smooth right now.”