Tuesday 12 May 2020 16:49, UK
England Golf are confident that the vast majority of their 1,800 courses will be open on Wednesday despite the short time frame to prepare.
Jeremy Tomlinson, the chief executive officer for England Golf, assured Sky Sports News that most courses in the country would have the required new protocols in place to be able to welcome back members, but he admitted many clubs are still "creaking under the financial strain" and will have no income during the initial reopening period.
The government announced on Sunday that golf courses had been given permission to reopen, subject to following strict social distancing guidelines, although the sport's authorities are still waiting for further clarification on a number of issues.
Tomlinson insisted the government have been listening and acting on advice regarding the return to golf, and celebrated the "game changer" announcement on Monday that golfers could play alongside one member from a different household.
"Once the PM had made his speech, we were then trying to make sure we could provide the best guidance to all golf clubs, and golfers," said Tomlinson. "It's been manic, and it was huge to golf that you could only play alone or with one member of your household.
"There was an understanding from government that the principles were too broad. I had my one-to-ones with them and put that across and just asked them to clarify this without singling out golf as a special case.
"They listened and they acted and we are really grateful for that. It is a game-changer for us, we can get more two-balls out and get more people out there enjoying the wonderful physical and mental benefits of golf.
"There's no doubt that, like a lot of people around the country, we were clambering for definitiveness and clarification. But, to be fair to the government and the PM, he was trying to deal with all outdoor sports and provide a broad set of principles.
"It was tough on us, and trying to provide clarification for the golfing fraternity was difficult. But, to be fair, the government have been great. They listened and then acted appropriately to at least give us that footing stone with regard to playing with someone from another household.
"There are still parts of the guidance we need help on, but in the short time frame that has been allowed, we will need to rely on the incredible operational teams at the clubs; the pros, the general managers, the greenkeeping staff, to work with us and with a sense of responsibility around the guidelines that have been provided."
Tomlinson admitted that many courses will reap no financial benefits from the initial reopening process, with clubhouses and pro shops remaining closed until the latter stages of the lockdown recovery plan.
"We have around 1,800 golf courses in England and, without exception, they have been exemplary throughout this time, but the majority of them are creaking under the financial strain," he added. "They have furloughed staff, they've carried out essential maintenance, the general managers and clubs pros have worked together and worked with us in trying to make sure golf courses could reopen at any point.
"To be honest, we did ask for longer [to prepare] and would have preferred longer, but golf courses are going to be ready and everyone is working their backsides off to make sure we are ready in some form. It wasn't ideal, but we are so excited that we can start again back on the journey.
"To the best of my knowledge, the majority of those 1,800 golf courses will be open on Wednesday. I don't know what the exact percentage will be, but I think it will be very high. Golf clubs, no matter what their size, will want to get back on the journey to financial stability, and to some sort of normality.
"And, of course, there is golfer pressure, and not just from the 640,000 golf club members, but there's another two million who play golf avidly who want to get back to playing. So there's a great incentive for golf clubs to reopen in that safe way.
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"But it is a dilemma because it's the first step and, in our industry, this could be the beginning of trying to work out how financially stable some golf clubs are. They're reopening, but with no other income streams, and they are bringing staff back.
"So they're expenditure just grew and it's a tough decision for them. But I believe they will all make good decisions and the right ones for them, and they will understand that if we can get this first phase right, we can prove to people that golf can be a shining light on its return."
