PLAYING BY THE RULES

As lockdown restrictions are finally eased after more than two months, guidance on activities you can now enjoy again

FROM today, the rules on exercise and activity have been relaxed in Scotland to allow some non-contact outdoor sports such as golf, tennis and angling.

While large gatherings remain forbidden, small groups of friends and family can meet for certain activities.

These include angling, running, tennis, horse riding and golf. However, with larger than usual numbers of people using golf courses for walking during lockdown, there are concerns about safety considerations once golfers return.

Other permitted activities on the Scottish Government’s phase one guidance include lawn bowls and water sports.

The list is not intended to be exhaustive but includes examples of the types of activities in which people can now take part.

The new rules were published by the Scottish Government yesterday. People can meet with friends and family from one other household for leisure pursuits, in small groups of no more than eight people.

This means that events such as organised races, walking club trips and cycle club rides will remain forbidden for now.

The guidance states: ‘You should use judgment and take part in any activity only if you can do so safely, maintaining physical distancing and not putting yourself or others at risk.

‘It is important to plan and not take unnecessary risks that may result in the need for medical care or emergency services support.’

SportScotland has also published detailed advice on how to take part in tennis, bowls and golf while observing Covid-19 social distancing guidelines.

This includes everyone bringing their own equipment as far as possible and their own water bottle and hand sanitiser.

Games will also need to be booked in advance instead of players turning up on the day.

Tennis players should mark their balls with their initials, whilst bowlers are reminded not to ‘shake hands or high-five’ other players, with no alcohol served or people watching.

Golfers should not share equipment or touch flags or flagsticks and smooth over the sand in bunkers with their feet or golf club to avoid touching rakes. When participating in outdoor activity, people should also avoid touching surfaces with hands, sharing equipment and touching their mouth and face.

One on one personal fitness training or coaching is permitted if it takes place outdoors and the required physical distancing can be maintained.

Unmanned, open facilities such as outdoor skate parks or bicycle pump tracks can be used, with strict physical distancing in place. However, indoor sporting facilities such as gyms and play parks remain closed.

Many Scots have already taken to their local golf courses for walks during lockdown.

Members of the public have the right to go for a walk on courses so long as they keep off the greens and avoid doing anything which could potentially damage the playing surface.

Mike Robson, the director of Swanston Golf Course in Edinburgh, said that hundreds of people had been using the course for walks since lockdown started.

He said: ‘Our biggest worry is that when we reopen people will continue to walk across the fairways, forgetting that it is a golf course. They are entitled to walk on it, but they must treat it like a golf course.

‘We don’t want to be confrontational with people, but we will have to post members of our team around the course to appeal to people not to walk across for safety reasons. They can use the paths around the edge.’

With lockdown restrictions easing, Swanston Golf Course said it was fully booked for the coming weekend. Mr Robson added: ‘Everyone is gagging for a game.’

While many clubs have been happy to allow people to use the otherwise deserted courses for walks during the lockdown, some have experienced problems.

In April, Dullatur Golf Club in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, took to social media to complain about the behaviour of some locals who had been using their grounds.

It said while it was happy to ‘share space’ with the community in ‘unprecedented times’, some people had been using the course as they would a ‘public park’ – with bags of dog dirt lying around and people playing hockey, rugby and football and even cycling on the greens.