Clubs a fair way from being out of the rough
So golf can be played from next Tuesday. But will it? Level three offers golf clubs a poisoned chalice, of added costs and virtually no income.
Golf clubs can be opened under a variety of Covid-19 restricting safety measures, the Government said yesterday.
But the measures imposed will cost golf clubs both time and money, at a time there is very little money.
Playing in your ‘‘bubble’’ or alone, will thin numbers on a golf course wildly – a four is the usual group configuration.
Clubrooms must remain closed. So there will be no bar intake.
And pro shops must remain closed. So there will be no sales of clubs, balls, drinks, sunblock or even tees.
Equipment hire – clubs, carts, trundlers – is out of bounds as well. No money to be made there.
Even with income, many of New Zealand’s 390 clubs struggled to make ends meet before the virus teed off here.
Golf clubs also survive on a mix of volunteer labour, member donations, hosting corporate days, tournaments, travelling golfers, even hosting conferences or weddings. Mostly gone.
Some of the more prestigious urban clubs are well heeled, but those in small rural towns from Houhora in the Far North to Stewart Island in the south have less to come and go on.
Now, if there is to be golf, sanitisation will have to rule. A golf course is about 6km long, with items all along the way that an errant golfer might touch.
Without golfers wandering too far off line, items like gates, seats, flags, holes will have to be sanitised – often. Holes are a particular trap, as every golfer must use them 18 times a round.
Under the level three rules, clubs must contact trace everyone who steps on the course. Another cost. Golfers must play only with others in their bubble.
They must not congregate, nor walk within two metres of another golfer not in their bubble.
Maintaining courses under Covid-19 restrictions was already problematic for clubs.
Doing that and more to accommodate a few golfers might be too onerous for a lot of clubs.
Karori Golf Club on the outskirts of
Wellington opted to remain closed, even before yesterday’s announcement. Part of the reason was to allow the greens more time to recover for a period where greenkeepers could not tend them. The other part was due to the many restrictions that would need to be