Covid -19 48 Hours notice and golf is back!

Hi All,

Well, what a week!

Great to see golf back 

On Sunday night Boris gave the word that some people could go back to work and some people couldn't. He said that people could travel and some people could go outside as much as they like for exercise. At this point most golfers in the country were celebrating thinking we are back but there was some confusion - did it mean exercise with someone from your household or on your own but then he added we could meet someone from outside your household as long as the maximum number was two and this was in a park or outside space.
At this juncture I didn't think we could open but the phone calls and messages started to come in as we tried to plan the next stages for us as a club.
Interestingly others from within the industry thought differently. After a few calls back and forth, England golf put up a short statement saying golf could go ahead but only in singles or with people from the same household. This was taken down fairly quickly as all the governing bodies from within the industry tried to contact the government for guidance and clarity. Late at night BIGGA and the R&A and GCMA tweeted that golf clubs in England could open from Wednesday 14th May. One thing I knew when I went to bed is that we would have 48 hrs to get ready for golf in some shape or form.

A lone golfer on the 17th 

Monday came and the R&A released an early statement that golf was back in singles or within the same household but at the same time Matt Hancock was on the radio 4 saying golf in twos would be permitted and meeting up with others allowed. By 11am the MC held a meeting again by Zoom, to finalise how we would open. For members, at that point it was singles and two tee starts. This changed again and again throughout the day. I think Nick Clayton got to version EIGHT as new things and permissions kept being released. You can now understand why the tee booking was left until midday on Tuesday. The MC worked so hard with Lawrence and Richard to get the procedures in place to keep people safe and to make sure the club is totally doing the right thing. Having been a part of all the meetings and processes, I can say that everyone came together to get this done.

Monday- weeds in bunkers 

We had a lot to get done. The bunkers hadn't been touched in a month in line with our guidelines but these needed to be addressed first thing Monday. Luckily the MC had decided to bring all the team back from Furlough as it was felt golf would be back within a couple of weeks and we needed to get things ready. So fully staffed, we hit all the bunkers, weeded them and pushed sand about. It's worth noting that we had sprayed them all with selective weed killer around the edges the week before and these would need to be left for a couple of weeks for that to really work. That's on the list for this week! Start strimming bunkers again.  
We also had no holes in the greens, this doesn't sound bad but this took one guy two days to sort as all the holes had sunk, so needed to be levelled up. All the signage and markers needed to be put back along with the pins and flags.

The Governing bodies also said all benches and patio furniture needed to removed and fountains covered up. Anything that could be touched needed to be gone, including the ball retrievers. The team managed this and had most of the cutting done before Wednesday morning.
Tuesday was a busy day getting golfer procedures in place and the final cuts, sprays and rolls on the greens so we were ready for Wednesday. We had to turn, our attentions from "turf health" and keeping the plant happy into playing surfaces for golf within 48 hours.

Putting green coned off into quarters to keep members safe

Opening day came and I must say it felt very weird, it felt like we were setting up for a major competition, a feeling of excitement in the team but also knowing this wasn't quite how we wanted to open. We just didn't have enough notice to go from minimum work to fully open. Somethings won't be perfect and will take time to catch up but generally I think we have done very well over the lockdown period. Especially getting major maintenance works and drainage done on the greens means we don't need to shut down in August and members can play golf. 

Our work schedules are still staggered to minimise contact, the team have different breaks and still have to spray everything before and after use. We are still in a lock down but with some easing of restrictions. Things won't be quite the same for some time but we are trying our best to keep these impacts to a minimum for you the members. 




Roughs 

Getting the first cuts in 

The one thing that was really apparent was the rough!! We were only allowed to cut rough every two weeks but the Ecology roughs were not allowed to be touched as it was felt clubs should be protecting staff and keeping the amount of time away from home to a minimum. Every May this happens and every May we end up cutting areas down. The combination of sitting wet all winter and then heat makes it very lush every May. We started working on these areas after Wednesday mornings set up. This will be on going until mid June when normally it's burnt off enough so we can let it grow back up.

For those of you who missed the latest video blog please find it here :-

https://youtu.be/6ahpEmeL1AQ

I even got a chance to be a starter in a mask to welcome some of you back 

Conclusion

It has been a very busy week, a strange week and golf is back. It might not be golf as we knew it before and it may take some time before we are back in the clubhouse for a cold drink after our rounds but to be honest any golf is better than no golf. Please keep following the rules and socially distancing.
We know we will get an inspection at some point as golf is under the spotlight for letting people back. Golf could be taken away as quickly as it came back and we know this as the governing bodies have told us. The one thing we do know, is golf is a sport that can be played during this situation as long as we all follow the rules. Golfers pride themselves on the honour and integrity of how the game is played and how they play it. Now more than ever do we need our integrity because we need golf in lives. It makes the days better for all of us.


Please enjoy being back and remember if the ball goes right it's a slice, if it goes left it's a hook and if it goes down the middle after seven weeks off it's a miracle!! Enjoy it

Good to have you back!

Matt