Plenty of questions as golfers get in the swing
Golfers have asked questions about bubble restrictions as they flocked back to their courses yesterday with the shift to coronavirus level three.
Amy Sidford, general manager of Boulcott’s Farm Heritage Golf Club in Lower Hutt, said the club has received lots of questions and phone calls.
‘‘They are asking how far they can extend their bubble,’’ she said.
Under the government guidelines, a bubble needs to remain ‘‘exclusive’’ but can be expanded to connect with family and wha¯nau, or bring in caregivers, or to support isolated people.
Golfers are required to play in their family bubbles or solo, not in their usual foursomes.
Sidford said about 50 golfers had come through the gates by lunchtime yesterday.
‘‘We’ve had two groups of three, 12 twos and the rest are single golfers,’’ she said. ‘‘At this time our members are adhering to the rules.’’
At many of the country’s clubs, golfers must register for a tee-time online before arriving for a round.
At Boulcott’s Farm golfers are then signed in by staff - at a socially responsible distance - which allows the club to easily trace who has been on the course.
The club’s "click and collect" cafe also went well on the first day of operation, allowing golfers to get their caffeine and baked-goods fix.
Equipment isn’t available for hire either, which means non-golfers are not able to access the course.
Staff at the course have been on site since last week preparing for the reopening of the course.
Sidford said the team arrived back at a ‘‘critical time’’.
‘‘We would have had more damage,’’ she said. ‘‘We’ve been able to rescue everything, albeit there’s a few more weeds in the bunkers.’’
The bunkers are open on the course, and she’s advising players to ‘take relief’ if there’s a weed in the way, or to take a drop outside the bunker.
Scores aren’t being officially counted either, so if golfers score a hole-in-one, they are out of luck, she said.
‘‘We’ve had a few members say ‘I hope I don’t get a hole-in-one today’ because that usually results in a club-house shout . . . so that’s not up for grabs today,’’ she said.
New Zealand Golf chief executive Dean Murphy said golfers who do achieve a hole-inone would have to celebrate ‘‘privately’’, but many will be celebrating just because they are back on the course.
He’s glad golfers are adhering to the guidelines, which were released last week.
‘‘It’s taken some clubs and some players some time to get their heads around the restrictions at level three," he said. "But they’ve got themselves organised and from what I’ve seen it’s all be pretty smooth sailing."
As the country heads towards Covid-19 level two, Murphy thinks the sport will return to normal, minus big events and tournaments.
‘‘I think golf will return to relative normality at alert level two,’’ he said.
‘‘Clearly we won’t be having competitions or gatherings still, but we’ll get back to relative normality adhering to all the hygiene and distancing regulations.
‘‘We look forward to seeing those [level two] guidelines in due course.’’
At Remuera Golf Course the gates were opened at 7am and about 100 people were able to get a round in on Tuesday, well down from an average day on the course
Course superintendent Spencer Cooper said it was good to finally have the gates open to golfers.
As per the government guidelines flags have been removed, bunkers are not in use, drinking fountains have been decommissioned and toilets have been closed to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, he said.
‘‘For level three at our course we’ve deemed our bunkers to be ground under repair,’’ he said.
During the lockdown, Cooper opened the course to the 1500 neighbours that border the course. Hundreds of people were walking around the course every day, he said.
‘‘It’s been fantastic to see everyone so optimistic,’’ he said.
But he said it is imperative that everyone sticks to the guidelines outlined by the government and New Zealand Golf.