The golf industry’s lead supplier of IT has said it will offer a range of products, including tee time booking software, at no extra cost to golf clubs to help them quickly get back to normal following the lockdown.
The R&A has issued guidance, ranging from introducing 10 minute tee time gaps to a temporary rule that a ball is holed with the next stroke if it is within 12 inches of the hole, to golf clubs regarding measures they should implement when golf courses can reopen.
The golfing union of France, Fédération Française de Golf (FFG) has announced that golf courses can reopen from May 11, while golf courses reopened in Portugal on May 4.
New stories are still emerging of acts of selflessness within the golf industry – including a European Tour golfer who is making hand sanitiser for the NHS while a golf club has launched a shopping service for its local community.
The general manager of Fulford Golf Club in York talks about the challenges involved in managing a leading venue, how Covid-19 has dominated his work in recent weeks and how the club markets itself.
Toro has identified a virtual ecosystem of products such as irrigation control, fertiliser and pesticide application, turf and soil monitoring and equipment performance monitoring that when connected online reduce operating costs and enhance safety.
The head of Scottish Golf has said it is “highly likely” that only golfers playing on their own will be allowed to play golf in the first wave of the easing of the lockdown. The exception for groups will only be if they contain members from the same household.
A new survey of 135 Scottish golf clubs has found a surprisingly high number have not furloughed any staff, and three-quarters of last year’s members have now renewed for this year.
The chairman of the UK Parliament’s All-Party Group for Golf has given the strongest indication yet that golf courses could reopen shortly.
The golf industry in Wales has been given an advanced notification that there is a ‘realistic prospect’ that courses can reopen from mid May, according to the Daily Mail, although Wales Golf says ‘nothing has been agreed’.
The UK’s culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, has responded to a question specifically about golf by saying he is looking at data on whether golf courses can reopen in the first wave of the easing of lockdown restrictions.
A golf club manager has warned that his venue will have to introduce a phased return of tee times when the course reopens because it won’t be ready for heavy golfing traffic.
The disrespect some members of the public have shown towards both golf courses and guidance to stay at home during the lockdown has plummeted to a new level as one venue has revealed it found two people in a bunker having sex with each other.
The National Golf Clubs Advisory Association (NGCAA) explores the legal situation between a golf club and its head professional during the Covid-19 lockdown.
A light, foldable rake that can be carried in every golfer’s bag has been produced to ensure that bunkers can be raked by golfers, without the risk of spreading coronavirus, when golf resumes.
As many UK golf courses hope to reopen in May, one hopes to open for the first time ever during that month.
A national Scottish newspaper has called for the chair of Scottish Golf to resign while a separate media outlet states the organisation is facing legal issues, in the wake of the resignation of its CEO.
The team behind online booking platform Greenfee365.com believe that if the golf industry offers more digital payment options and markets to local golfers it will survive and even thrive during the post lockdown period.
A UK company has developed what it is calling a ‘Covid-19 Clip’ so that golfers do not need to touch the flag when the lockdown period ends and playing the game can resume.
A surprising new survey of private members’ golf clubs in the UK and Ireland has found that more than a third were ‘well prepared’ for the coronavirus pandemic.
US president Donald Trump is furloughing staff at his two Scottish and one Irish golf clubs, according to reports, while several more UK clubs have stated they have been appalled by the behaviour of local residents who have made a mess of their venues.
An economic survey of golf clubs in Northern Ireland, against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, will be presented to both the governments on the island of Ireland to ensure that the industry can bounce back when lockdown measures have eased.
The chief executive of Scottish Golf, Andrew McKinlay, has resigned after two years in post, due to ‘the impact of Covid-19’.
At least two closed and empty English golf clubs have been taken over by sheep during the coronavirus lockdown – where the ruminants have been taking on the grass cutting duties normally reserved for the currently furloughed greenkeepers.
Despite their apparent differences in relation to format, there are surprisingly many similarities between golf and football regarding transferable skills.
In South Korea, which has had a relatively low death toll, a professional golf tournament will go ahead next month; in New York, the worst-hit area in the world, golf courses reopened this weekend.
Several golf clubs have said they are appalled at the mess – and in some cases expensive damage – that members of the public have created by using their venues during the coronavirus lockdown.
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