North West Golf Club captain expresses dismay at golf course closures

Golf clubs were informed on Wednesday evening following a statement from the Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI) and the Irish Ladies Golf Union (ILGU) declaring they were to close by midnight and remain shut, potentially for the next six weeks.

“Following intensive engagement over the past 48 hours, we have been informed this afternoon by Sport Ireland that, very regrettably, golf clubs must close under the new level 5 restrictions,” read the statement issued at 4.45p.m on Wednesday last.

“Essential course maintenance is permitted to continue under level 5. We have sought clarity on the issue as to whether ranges/practice facilities can remain open for exempted activities. We will update clubs on this as soon as possible.”

That announcement came as a major shock to Mr O’Hea who has been a member of the Lisfannon Links club for almost 40 years.

The Cashelmore Park man believes the decision will have devastating financial implications for the Inishowen club.

And he finds it difficult to see a reasonable justification for the full closure of clubs having demonstrated golf could be played with stringent measures in place and in a controlled environment in recent months.

“It came out of the blue,” he said. “I can’t believe it and I can’t see the justification for it either - that’s the hardest part.

“We’ve been sticking religiously to all the guidelines from the first lockdown in the middle of March until the middle of June. And yet it’s getting harder and harder to find a justification for it.”

Indeed, North West Golf Club have invested heavily in Putt Buddys which ensure golfers don’t have to touch the pin as well as having other safety protocols in place to combat the spread of Covid-19.

That has come at a cost for the local club and Mr O’Hea believes the situation could have been handled in a better way.

“We have all our risk assessments done for inside and outside,” he explained. “The clubhouse has been closed with the exception of the toilets and the pro shop for registration and track and trace.

“We have all the signage up, we’ve installed new hand sanitisers all around the course and clubhouse. The tee-times have all been spaced out so people aren’t arriving at the one time and they change in their cars. We’ve invested in Putt Buddys so they don’t have to touch the flags at all.

“All the rakes are out of the bunkers and we have signage up around the course, so I don’t know what else we can do.”

The club experienced a boost in memberships and visitors back in May when restrictions were gradually relaxed, however, a full closure will have serious financial ramifications, according to the North West skipper.

“There was a bit of a boom when we opened up again after the first lockdown. We had a lot of visitors but when we went to Level 3 we took the decision to stop visitors coming because we thought it was the right thing to do.

“We stopped taking bookings for societies and casual visitors. That wasn’t part of the restrictions but we decided we would take that action.

“And now with the club closing it will have big financial implications for the club. Our financial year ends at the end of this month and we will have no revenue outside of competition revenue which is minimal because we don’t have visitors.

“That’s what we have until we start getting our fees in again in February. Our sponsorship is down because obviously there’s nothing to sponsor. We would normally have a fundraising draw at Christmas but that’s all fallen by the wayside too.

“It’s so frustrating. We have everything in place and I don’t know what else we can do.

“You look at level 5 protocols and there’s absolutely nothing specific to golf closing - not a single thing and yet we’re told we have to close.

“It’s the frustration of putting everything in place, getting the course ready and then at the last minute they shut it down.

“It’s hard to get your head around this one.”

Northern Ireland’s golf clubs and courses remain open. That was in spite of strengthened regulations announced by the Stormont Executive last week.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said on Monday night that the new Level 5 rules would be in place until December 1st although the GUI statement on Wednesday did not specify the duration of the golf shutdown.

While Mr O’Hea understands the need for stricter measures and the greater public health risk, he hopes the decision to close golf courses will be reviewed sooner rather than later.

“I know there’s several petitions going around the country at the minute but whether that has any effect at all I don’t know.

“I suppose it might come across as selfish because we all want to get out and play golf and we do have to keep in our mind that there is a pandemic.

“People are getting ill and people are dying. We know golf is not the most important thing in the world but there’s absolutely no reason for stopping it.”