As temperatures begin to rise, local golfers will be thinking about grabbing their clubs and heading to the links.
However, provincial COVID-19 measures have closed all non-essential business including golf courses.
Despite the closures, local courses are still preparing for golf to return sometime in the next couple of months.
Edward Novosky, President of Couchiching Golf & Country Club, said staff are returning to work later this week to begin preparing and maintaining the course for an eventual opening day.
“We are certainly hopeful and we are anticipating golf sometime this summer,” Novosky said.
While Couchiching Golf and Country Club officials are following government guidelines, they are hoping that the lifting of restrictions will occur sooner for golf than other activities.
“It’s an outdoor activity and we certainty have the ability to put certain restrictions in place where nobody is going to be around anybody,” Novosky says.
The local club hasn’t seen any major financial struggles yet like other local businesses trying to survive amid the pandemic. However, the cancellation of their April open house did have a negative impact.
“In the past, that’s an opportunity to talk about the upcoming season and get people excited and that’s when a lot of people come in to purchase memberships, so it’s having an impact on cash flow,” Novosky explained.
Coldwater's Bonaire Golf is typically one of the first local courses to open each spring. Staff have the course prepared and ready to go and are patiently waiting to see if the provincial government extends the non-essential business closure declaration past May 12.
Owner Randy Fielder says they’ve already come up with a protocol to keep staff and clients safe for when the course re-opens.
“The cup is going to be raised up an inch, so the ball just sits in there and nobody needs to touch it or the flagstick to get the ball out," Fielder explained.
Bonaire will also keep the ball wash closed and remove rakes from the sand traps.
“We are going to do everything we can to let everybody enjoy their game but not put themselves, friends or family in danger when they get back home,” Fielder said.
“We believe we are safe and ready to go. We have a lot of golfers who believe they are safe and ready to go.”
While Fielder is understanding and fully cooperating with the province's current ban on golf, he feels the sport can play a crucial role in relieving some of the stresses of living in a pandemic.
“Hopefully, golf can open up sooner than later because it’s good for everybody to be outside rather than cooped up in their house,” he said.
Once the weather improves, every day that passes is a lost opportunity for the golf club, Fielder said.
At Lake St. George Golf Club in Washago, general manager Dustin Louth has his staff only doing the essential work; he does not have the course prepared to open anytime soon.
“We are at a standstill because nobody knows how this is going to go. I’m not really sure how, going forward, this is going to affect us,” Louth said.
In a pre-pandemic world, Louth says Lake St. George would have likely opened their links on May 1, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are projecting June 1 as an educated guess based on the PGA Tour announcing an early June return.
Like Bonaire and Couchiching Golf and Country Club, Lake St.George will also have special protocols in place for the 2020 season.
“We’ve talked about how we would limit one person to a cart, how we would have to put up some barriers like Home Hardware in Orillia with the plexiglass for check-in, we’ve even thought about maybe setting up a mobile check-in where you don’t even need to come into the clubhouse,” Louth said.
Lake St. George is even considering placing a pool noodle over the cups so the ball doesn’t go into the hole, stopping golfers from reaching in.
“We are just eliminating all of those points of contact which when you play golf there isn’t that much but there is still enough that you have to take it very seriously,” Louth explained.
Louth and his staff are disappointed the golf season may be delayed, however, they also see the big picture and understand there are more important matters at hand.
“It’s a great sport to get outside and get some exercise, but the health of people is more important than trying to make money at this point,” he said.
“Obviously there are a lot of other businesses who have have been affected for almost a month because of this and a lot of those people are customers, are members, are friends so we see what they are going through and take a step back and realize we aren’t at that point yet, and hopefully, we don’t get to that point and everything can open back up and be a normal world," said Louth.
Officials from Hawk Ridge Golf & Country Club in Orillia declined to comment.
However, a statement on their website says they are "highly committed to the health and safety of their customers, business partners, employees and the surrounding communities they serve." They have suspended operations until April 27 and will reassess the situation at that time.
