Dear green place
It’s 9pm on Wednesday April 8. Like a lot of Golf Monthly readers, I should be settled on the sofa watching the traditional pre-masters Par 3 Contest. A little light entertainment before the main event starts tomorrow. It’s golf’s equivalent of Christmas Eve.
But as I type, there is, of course, no Par 3 Contest, no Masters Tournament, no professional golf across the world’s tours and, I suspect most disappointingly for us all, no club golf to be played.
No medals, stablefords, swindles, early rounds of summer knockouts, regular fourballs or, now the evenings are getting longer, a quick nine after work.
The coronavirus crisis is affecting every aspect of our lives, including the game we all hold so dear, and the enforced absence we are having to endure is, I’m sure, putting into focus how much the game means to us. As the song says: “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
Ever the optimist, I’m confident we’ll be back walking the fairways before too long, but when golf returns there’s no guarantee things will just pick up from where they left off back in March. Many clubs will have been badly impacted by this current enforced closure. Lost visitor income, catering and bar takings will never be recaptured, and any club that renews its annual subs in spring and summer faces the prospect of a possible shortfall, with golfers unable or unwilling to pay out a big lump sum in the current climate.
On page 38, we look at this dilemma facing golfers and clubs. It is no exaggeration to say how everyone reacts will ultimately determine the future of golf at grassroots level in this country. In short, we urge golfers to show loyalty and pay subs if their circumstances allow it, and clubs to offer maximum flexibility to members who are facing hardship and to consider ways they can recognise those who have shown loyalty.
Until such time as we’re back playing, the Golf Monthly team is working hard to bridge the gap and deliver your regular golf fix through the magazine and across our digital channels, where fresh content is being uploaded on a daily basis.
Stay safe everyone.