‘Subscriptions are coming in nicely’

The manager of a golf club in lockdown has suggested he is optimistic for 2021 despite recent events – which, crucially, have not deterred his club’s members from renewing their annual subscriptions.

Colin Bee, secretary of Coxmoor Golf Club in Nottinghamshire, has said the venue is performing strongly, even if golf cannot be played on it at the moment, with little prospect of that changing for several weeks.

“We are a pretty strong club,” he said. “We have a strong membership base. It is subscription time at the moment and they are still coming in nicely.

“People are keen to just get playing again and hopefully we can do that by the middle of February.

“The members have given us great support. We have some visitors but we are very much a members’ club.

“We have tried to provide as much as we can while it’s been difficult. It’s a very busy club, people just want to play golf.”

Coxmoor Golf Club. Image from Facebook

While demand remains high to play golf, Bee revealed that the club, unsurprisingly, has suffered from the closure to its bar and catering facilities.

He added: “We are probably down in excess of 25 to 30 per cent in revenue, but we have offset that with government help and grants and have kept costs to a minimum.

“The bar and catering staff have been furloughed, but we’ve not laid anyone off. We run a tight ship anyway.”

The club is currently keeping busy with maintenance work around the course as it prepares for a return.

And Bee hopes there is light at the end of the tunnel, with golf perhaps better placed than most sports due to its socially-distanced nature.

“The natural etiquette of the sport means you are not on top of each other,” he said. “You walk around the reservoir and people are walking side by side.

“Our members have been very good at following the guidelines, but until the vaccine programme is rolled out to everyone things won’t get back to full normality.

“There will be a gradual easing and hopefully by the summer we can see things back to normal circumstances.

“Whether everything fully goes back to normal who knows, but something has to change soon.”