COCHRANE— Swinging into the summer season, Cochrane golf courses were able to open their links for eager golfers as soon as the provincial government gave the go ahead.
Alberta premier Jason Kenney announced Thursday (April 30) that golf courses in the province would be allowed to begin opening as part of the Alberta Economic Relaunch Strategy.
As soon as the announcement was made Cochrane Golf Club was ready to open the greens said Brad Walz Canadian Professional Golfers Association golf operations manager.
The course has been planning for an opening he said, explaining that staff was only waiting for permission from the province to welcome golfers onto the greens.
The key, Walz said, will be ensuring golfers and courses follow the public health measures that have been put in place to help limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. He added that physical distancing will be critical.
“All the golf courses are counting on each together that everything is being followed because we were gifted the gift of golf,” Walz said. “If a few golf courses aren’t following there’s an opportunity that everybody is going to be shut down again and that is not a good thing economically or for the golfers that want to play.”
The announcement came as a pleasant surprise, he said, because he was expecting to be open for the season in mid-May.
Walz said the soonest Canmore Golf Club could have opened without the health measures would have been April 24. He added he was grateful because the club was able to open early and only lose about a week of golf.
As soon as the golf courses were allowed to open, Walz said the phones at Cochrane Golf Club “lit up.” Since then the course has been fairly active with golfers, but the grim weather early in the week did slow demand.
“Saturday (May 2) ended up being a pretty busy day because the weather was good and it ran amazingly smooth,” Walz said. “With COVID everybody is so well conditioned with understanding what a lot of the [health] protocols are.”
The course has made adjustments to ensure the safety of golfers during the pandemic, he said, including sending out fewer players each hour.
“We’re adopting a ‘don’t touch that’ mentality,” Walz said. Anything that would typically be touched by golfers on the course has been removed. For the pins on the green, the course will have a lever mechanism attached to the flagstick that can be activated by a putter to pop a golf ball from the hole.
Cochrane Golf Club has a list COVID-19 policies, procedures and protocols available on its website, Walz said, explaining that golfers are encouraged to read these before they arrive and check-in at the course.
“It explains what their expectations are right from when they arrive at the golf course, how they check in to when they’re on the golf course to when they leave,” Walz said. “Everything’s just mapped out for them.”
When golfers arrive at the course they will be greeted by a safety ambassador who will monitor the staging area and ensure social distancing is maintained by having one person in the golf shop at a time.
Those that fail to adhere to these policies will receive a warning and repeat offenders will be asked to leave the course, Walz said.
He noted that the mini-golf and warm-up nets at the club have not been opened and will remain closed until there is an easement in social distancing. There are also no food or beverage services available at this time.
Since opening on Saturday The Links of GlenEagles general manager and COO for Play Golf Calgary Slade King said he has been impressed with golfers' ability to adhere to the public health measures in place.
GlenEagles was able to hit the ground running and open soon after the announcement, Slade said, because the course has been planning for its opening for a month.
He said it was a bit of shock hearing the announcement because he was expecting the go ahead from the province to come around May 14.
GlenEagles had all its COVID-19 signage, supplies, policies and safety protocols to ensure golfers could visit safely.
“Once they made the announcement it was a bit of a mad dash for a couple of days and then we were good to go,” King said. “A lot of work goes into but we’ve planned it for a long time.”
For those visiting GlenEagles it will be a new experience, King said, explaining that it will be more similar to “traditional golf.”
The course has embraced a “park and play” model where golfers can arrive no more than 15 minutes ahead of their scheduled tee time. He added sanitized power carts available for golfers who can ride alone or with a member from the same household.
There are no items to touch on the course, he added, and the club has developed a mechanism for pins that allow for the removal of golf balls from a hole by using a putter.
“Golf courses have done an excellent job preparing and outlining protocols so golfers really just have to follow and maybe educate themselves a bit on what the expectations are and follow those expectations,” King said. He added that the critical mandate from the province is to ensure that physical distancing is practised during golf games.
“That really the key to the whole puzzle,” King said. “Golfers are really excited and can’t wait to get outside and have an activity— Golf is a great sport that can be played in an incredibly safe way.”
