‘The benefits of being a club member will be seen fully when courses reopen’

A member of the PGA’s National Executive Committee has said he hopes the next meeting – scheduled for the day after Boris Johnson’s Covid roadmap revelation – will have ‘reopening courses’ on the agenda.

And when they do reopen he believes it is likely that courses will be ‘very busy’.

Prime minister Boris Johnson is set to reveal his roadmap out of lockdown on Monday (February 22), with reports stating that two-ball golf will resume in England in late March.

Andrew March, director of golf at Brean Golf Club in Somerset, said: “I haven’t heard any dates mentioned yet from the PGA but hopefully it will be in March sometime.

Brean Golf Club. Image from Facebook

“Exactly what it will look like I have no idea but whatever guise it takes it will be safe. Golf’s governing bodies have submitted documentation to government to prove how safe golf is and the health benefits it gives.

“As chairman of the West Region PGA I sit on the National Executive committee and we have a Zoom meeting scheduled for February 23 when hopefully a reopening plan will be an agenda point!”

March added: “It has been a difficult period with weather for greenkeeping teams over this lockdown. Whilst they have tried to use the break from golfers being on course to carry out their winter work projects dear old mother nature hasn’t always co-operated.

“Saying that if golf was open with the weather the opportunity to get out on the course may have been limited.

“One thing is definite is that golf will be one of the first, if not the first sport, to return after lockdown and if 2020’s return is anything to go by it will be very busy once again when it does.

“With many clubs welcoming an influx of new members last summer it is likely tee times will be scarce in the first few weeks and the benefits of being a club member will be seen fully.

“At least with the days becoming longer by the week it will open the opportunity of evening golf once again by the end of March.”

Meanwhile, Simon Rendle, the manager at Enmore Park Golf Club, also in Somerset, has said the club has been preparing for the new season, whenever it will start.

“We are in the process of re-levelling the fifth tee and have undertaken some much needed restoration work on the ponds,” he said.

“There have been some new paths installed to make sure that, when we can get back and regardless of the weather, we can hopefully provide more access to those who require buggies.

“The vast majority of the administrative logistical work at Enmore is undertaken during the winter months when the golf course is quiet, making sure that we have got everything in place ready for the following season.

“My personal view is it will be the middle to the end of March that we will be seeing members returning to play golf in some sort of format.”

“I think it will be a little while yet before we see people back in the clubhouse, but we are in the business of providing excellent golf facilities for our members to enjoy.

“Without members out on the course coming to work at Enmore is a very strange place to be, because we work in a people-driven and customer-driven environment but there are no people about!

“What everyone at Enmore wants above all is to be able to welcome members back, and see everybody enjoying the course and facilities that have been provided for them.

“It just can’t come soon enough!”