[ad_1]
There was great surprise and disappointment in the golf clubs of Ireland on Wednesday when news broke that they would be ordered to close for the next six weeks as part of Level 5 of the government’s Plan to live with Covid-19.
Golf was one of the first sports to resume when phase one of the Covid-19 exit strategy began on May 18 and the sport has seen a large increase in participation levels in the last five months. With the new Level 5 restrictions coming into effect from midnight Wednesday, the GUI and ILGU had been in discussions with Sport Ireland about whether the courses could remain open or not.
Initially, the feeling was that golf would be allowed to continue, potentially restricted to members who only lived within 5km of the course, as was the case in May. However, news began to emerge Wednesday that all but elite-level sports would be shutting down during the Level 5 restrictions.
Given the nature of golf that is played in open spaces without direct contact between players, the decision has been questioned.
At Co Sligo Golf Club in Rosses Point, general manager David O’Donovan says the news came as a surprise, particularly given that everything had gone so well at clubs across the country for the past five months.
“It really doesn’t make sense when soccer, GAA and rugby can still go on while golf is perfectly suited to social distancing. I thought members only within 5km, as we had done before, would be the way to go. It’s very disappointing. “He says.
“When you look at the composition of the people who make the decisions, I wonder if they know what they are deciding. No one minimizes the severity of daily deaths and the number of cases, but how many of them are related to golf and golf clubs? None. Well, you can say that the golf society went to Tullamore to some extent, but that was something different. That wasn’t a club member playing golf. The golf course was a place to go and people felt safe. “
O’Donovan says that Co Sligo has lost € 500,000 this year due to the absence of international visitors (the course would normally have a large volume of American tourists playing during the summer) and in the week Dublin moved to Level 3, restricting people traveling outside their county, the club lost € 34,600 in canceled bookings for that week alone.
After hearing the news Wednesday, he says his night will be spent “making layoffs.”
“These people are getting laid off now and we did this before for four weeks and it ended up being nine and now suddenly we are doing it again for six weeks, but it could be 12 weeks, it could be 10 weeks. These people have families and children to feed and that is where it is very, very difficult. “
At Galway Golf Club, one of the busiest courses in the country, just under 43,500 rounds were played on the course from its reopening in May to the end of September. For the same period last year, that number was 29,000. But despite that level of demand, manager Dave Kelly says everything has gone well.
“I have a full golf course here, albeit at 10-minute intervals, but it’s full from eight this morning until eight tonight,” he says. “Even so, there are only about 160 golfers at 10-minute intervals on a 100-acre site with only 70 or 80 on the course at a time, so it’s hard to reconcile how you can’t operate a 100-acre site, but you can have 30 guys chasing a ball on a football or pitching field.
“I’m not sure if the whole ‘Golfgate’ thing in the summer has been pitted against golf in general. I don’t think I should have done it because that was the irresponsibility of a small number of people that golf has just swept away. Certainly what I understand from dealing with other club directors across the country is that I have not heard of any outbreaks at any club. It’s hard to understand. “
After the fields reopened on May 18, Water Rock in Co Cork and Castle Barna in Co Offaly closed permanently, while Killorglin and Castleisland in Kerry were merged into one. Recently, the owners of the Charlesland Golf Club in Co Wicklow announced that the club will close at the end of the year. Last year, Dunmurry Springs and Hollystown closed their doors. With clubs now facing temporary layoffs and closures for at least six weeks, with a long winter ahead, the question is how many more could be left on the road?
[ad_2]