Albertans, dust off your golf clubs.
As part of a staged economic relaunch strategy, Premier Jason Kenney announced Thursday that courses across the province will be allowed to open — with safety restrictions — “as soon as this weekend.”
The divot-digging had been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Clubhouses and pro shops will, for now, remain closed.
“It was about 15 seconds (after the announcement) that we had the first phone call asking to book a tee time,” said Matt Kirlin, the director of golf at Lynx Ridge. “People are just so excited to get that first tee in the ground. And it’s really cool to see — as golf-industry operators, we’ve worked very hard to get this decision, and it makes it all worth it when you hear the excitement of Alberta golfers.”
Soon, you’ll be hearing shouts of ‘Fore!’
Alberta’s golf industry has been pushing to prove that it’s possible to launch drives and drain putts while still flattening the curve, submitting a 30-page document to government officials to detail the safety precautions they are willing to implement.
On Thursday, they received the green light to proceed.
Many course operators were watching as Kenney rolled out the relaunch plan. (Although there was some confusion as a government release stated that Monday would be opening day, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, later confirmed on Twitter that there can be action on the links as soon as Saturday.)
“Yeah, I was hooting and hollering. I was excited, maybe a little emotional even,” said Barry Ehlert, who oversees five area layouts — including the much-anticipated Mickelson National — as managing partner for Windmill Golf Group.
“This is something we’ve been fighting hard for. We have been cooped up for six weeks or something like that, and for at least five of those weeks, I feel like I’ve had a tremendous amount of time, effort and energy spent on articulating what we believe we can do in our industry in order to create a safe and healthy environment for people during COVID-19. So this certainly is very exciting.”
Golf will look a little different during the pandemic.
As part of the park-and-play model, you’ll be encouraged to pre-pay your green fee so you can head straight to the first tee. There will be no high-fives or post-round handshakes, with an emphasis on always maintaining two metres of personal space.
Bunker rakes, ball washers and other potential touch points will be removed and golf carts will be single rider, unless both players are from the same household.
It will be mandatory to leave the pin in, with a variety of new methods so that a ball can be safely retrieved from the hole.
At both Lynx Ridge and neighbouring Valley Ridge, for example, they’ll stuff part of a pool noodle in the cup to ensure your lucky Titleist barely drops below ground level when you sink your putt.
“We have a colleague in Singapore that sent us a picture of how slick and safely that works,” said Curtis Robertson, director of golf at Valley Ridge. “We have been gathering information for quite some time from courses around the world that have been open and doing it safely. We’ve just been awaiting this news so we could apply all this information.”
Added Jason Stanier, the general manager and executive professional at Inglewood: “We’re confident we can create a safe and enjoyable experience for our members, for guests, for the public, and that we can maintain social distancing. We’re going to spread out tee times a little from what we would normally do. We’re not going to allow people to check in until 10 minutes before their time and not be on the first tee until it’s your turn. So we have some new protocols in place, and we’re just excited now to be able to use them and implement them.”
Of course, there will also be an onus on members of the bogey brigade — whether they’re playing at a private club or a public facility — to follow the regulations to a … er … tee.
“The general excitement is so high that I don’t think anyone is willing to risk losing this great privilege in these times,” Kirlin said. “We’re very lucky that our leisure sport allows for social distancing. There are very few things you can do outdoors with your friends or family at this moment that allow you to be socially distant, so my message to my members was, ‘We’re working as hard as we can to implement whatever we need to, but without the full support of you, we’re going to lose this privilege, and then it’s going to be twice as hard to get it back.’ ”
CHIP SHOTS: The 2020 DC Bank Glencoe Invitational has been cancelled due to the current health crisis. Considered one of Canada’s top amateur golf events, and with plans to debut a female division this year, the tournament was scheduled for June 18-20 on Glencoe’s Forest Course.
wgilbertson@postmedia.com
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