Coronavirus: Golf clubs poised for rough ride as pandemic hits

Less than a month after it had been praised by Martin Slumbers, the R&A chief executive, for being constantly busy, the owner of the Wellsgreen Golf Centre in Fife has expressed fears it could be forced into temporary  closure by the pandemic.

“The past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind,” Stewart Whiteford, who runs the family facility between Kirkcaldy and Leven, told The Scotsman. “Signage going up, risk assessments put into place and staff on hand trying to keep themselves and their surroundings as clean as realistically possible. It’s all happened so quickly!

“We have had a number of staff members call in sick, which has caused real organisational problems already. I have cancelled forward orders from some suppliers and moved others later in the year.”

During a media briefing last month, Slumbers used Wellsgreen as an example of a successful golf centre when he spoke about the sport  having to come up with a product people want to buy. “Go there on any day of the week, they’re full,” he said in trying to highlight how he feels clubs need to change how they operate to arrest declining  membership.

However, Whiteford, a former Scottish Boys champion, is now fearing the worst for Wellsgreen in the short term as the coronavirus starts to take its grip. “The upcoming days, weeks and months are deeply concerning for all small businesses and full of more questions than answers,” he added.

“My hope is that we can stay open and somehow keep the business ticking over throughout. However, that is looking increasingly unlikely. The health of our customers and staff is, of course, the most important issue and we will do whatever is necessary to help with this.”

According to Robert Arkley, who runs another successful  family-owned golf centre at Kingsfield in Linlithgow, the weather had already been proving enough of a headache before the coronavirus hit. “It’s another hardship for golf clubs that they probably didn’t need, to be honest,” he said. “Golf clubs have had a really difficult spell, bearing in mind it started raining last August and it has hardly stopped since. We are definitely a bit quieter, but it’s hard to tell if that is down to the conditions or the  coronavirus.”

Helped, admittedly, by some decent weather, club golfers have been playing as normal on the St Andrews Links Trust courses over the past few days. “Since the outbreak of COVID-19, we have been monitoring closely the advice and guidance  provided by government,” said a spokesperson. “At present, all seven courses and facilities are currently operating as normal with many  golfers continuing to play on a daily basis.

“As we continue to evaluate this unfolding situation, we have taken a number of additional precautionary measures, including placing hand sanitiser in all public areas and increasing the frequency of cleaning.

“In order to minimise touch points, we have also re-positioned scanners so that Links ticket holders can swipe their cards themselves at any of the starter’s boxes prior to play.”

At Stirling, where the club marked its 150th anniversary last year, has just welcomed 50 new members for this season and is gearing up to open a new academy short course, there was no sign at the weekend of the coronavirus scaring away golfers.

“Saturday was our busiest day of the year so far with lots of members going out to play and Sunday was very good as well,” reported the club’s PGA professional, Kenny Monaghan, pictured left. “I think that was down to people being keen to get out to play in a bit of decent weather after a bad winter.

“But I think it is going to get worse before it gets better. We had a contingency meeting on Saturday about the possible impact of the coronavirus and came up with lots of protocol and potential scenarios that might arise. We are trying to stay one step ahead, but, if one person falls ill, then all your plans go out the window, and I don’t think the scare has really come yet.

“We’ve seen the pinch a wee bit. A couple of visiting groups have pulled out. They were due to come in the next couple of weeks, but they have all re-booked for later on in the year.”

Even those courses at St Andrews will be light on numbers over the coming months as foreign visitors are unable to make the pilgrimage to the home of golf. “We welcome a significant number of travelling golfers from around the world each year,” added the Links Trust spokeperson.

“At the moment, many golfers are facing significant disruption or cancellation to their travel plans and our reservations team is working tirelessly to assist golfers, travel partners and authorised providers with up-to-the-minute information.”

It is being reported that every Briton above the age of 70 will be told “within the coming weeks” to stay at home for an extended period to protect themselves from the virus. Golf courses all over Scotland, especially during the week, will become deserted if that happens, but Monaghan hopes everyone sees the benefit of being out in the fresh air on a golf course for the time being.

“The last thing people want is to be stuck in the house and, being smart about things at the same time, they can still get out and play golf,” he  added.