Tee times hot tickets as golf courses set to open
WATERLOO REGION — Golf enthusiasts didn’t wait for the official announcement from Ontario Premier Doug Ford to make plans for the weekend.
The 2020 golf season will resume Saturday at most area courses and tee sheets were filling up fast in the hours leading up to Ford’s daily COVID-19 update on Thursday afternoon. Golf courses, marinas and private parks can open for business on the first day of the May long weekend, with other businesses slated to open Tuesday as part of Ontario’s first stage in reopening the economy.
Conestogo-based GolfNorth Properties opened its website late Wednesday night for online booking. By Thursday morning, courses such as Rebel Creek, Grey Silo, Dundee, Foxwood, Beaverdale and Brookfield were booked solid for Saturday, which is expected to be the only pleasant day of the long weekend. Times are available Sunday and Monday, with rain in the forecast for both days.
The Saturday tee times that weren’t snapped up on the website were taken Thursday morning by more than 900 people who contacted the company’s call centre, said GolfNorth vice-president Mike Turner.
“It was almost like a monster, we don’t have an open spot in Waterloo Region until about 6 p.m. Saturday at Brookfield,” he said.
“We expected it to be busy, but not like this ... we’ve never seen anything like it really.”
Physical distancing measures will be in place when golfers arrive for their scheduled times at Waterloo Region’s public facilities that closed March 24 because of the coronavirus.
Players will be instructed to remain in their cars until 20 minutes before their tee times and encouraged to immediately leave at the conclusion of their round. Courses will take steps to remove things golfers can touch, such as rakes, ball-washers, garbage cans and benches. Washrooms are open and takeout foods will be available, with safety guidelines in place for both.
Power carts will be limited to single riders unless players are from the same household and the length between tee times has been extended to promote social distancing.
Carts will be sanitized at the end of the round.
Turner said GolfNorth has closely followed the lead of other provinces in how they set up their courses. A full list of guidelines for owners and golfers is available on the Golf Ontario website.
The Elmira Golf Club, Cambridge Golf Club, Savannah Golf Links and Puslinch Lake Golf Course also reported brisk business Thursday and were expecting an extremely busy Saturday.
Not all courses are ready to go.
Rockway and Doon Valley, which are both owned and operated by the City of Kitchener, won’t open until next week at the earliest and the courses will not open at the same time.
“We are actively working to prepare our courses to open, as soon as it is safely possible. And that is our main goal, it’s public and staff safety,” said Bob Cheyne, the city’s manager of Sport Development and Golf.
“We want to ensure that there’s a positive golf experience while ensuring that those safety standards are being followed. So we are likely to be at least one more week before we stagger the opening of our courses.”
Kitchener’s outdoor recreational amenities, such as playgrounds and sports fields, are closed until June 30 but golf courses are being treated differently from an enterprise standpoint, said Cheyne.
Mark Bryson is a Waterloo Region-based