Why staying local makes sense for Scottish golfers during Covid times

Pondering this column has felt like standing at the edge of a minefield deciding whether or not to progress, and it would have been easy to have opted not to venture forth when you know that an opinion piece is going to make you unpopular.

Edinburgh-based members are not permitted to play on any of the three Gullane courses under the new Covid-19 restrictions

I wouldn’t be doing my job, though, if I didn’t deliver a take on how the new Covid-19 restrictions are going to affect golf in Scotland over the next few weeks, so here goes and, believe me, I have given this a fair bit of thought over the last few days.

First and foremost, we should be thankful as a nation that all our golf courses remain open at a time when that is not the case in either England or the Republic of Ireland.

When it was announced last week by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon that a large swathe of the Central Belt was being placed into Level 4, there was genuine concern that courses in those areas would be part of the lockdown.

That wasn’t the case, though, and credit where credit is due to both Scottish Golf and sportscotland for getting the message across to the Scottish Government about how golf is contributing to the physical and mental health of thousands of people in these difficult times.

That very same message fell on deaf ears with Boris Johnson in England, where no golf whatsoever has been permitted now for three weeks, with at least one more week of inactivity to come, so let’s all bear that in mind at the moment.

At the vast majority of the clubs in those Level 4 areas, fourballs can still be made up of people from more than just two households, so, again, that is something that the Scottish golfing public can feel pleased about in comparison to others.

Is there anything that people can actually be moaning about, I hear you ask, and the answer to that is likely to depend on whether or not you are going to be affected by East Lothian moving to a Level 2 area along with Midlothian while the City of Edinburgh stays in Level 3.

When people were being advised by the Scottish Government as we came out of the national lockdown earlier in the year to only travel “around five miles” for physical exercise, it was no secret that members based in and around Edinburgh were making the journey down to East Lothian for their game of golf and that has continued to be the case over the last six months.

There has been no evidence that has directly caused any Covid cases on Scotland’s Golf Coast, which is also the case in other popular golfing areas like Ayrshire, Fife, Angus, Aberdeenshire and so on.

However, the new restrictions, in particular the threat of fines for people in Levels 3 and 4 over travel breaches, have forced clubs to adopt a totally different approach in terms of who can actually play over the coming weeks.

That has meant Edinburgh-based members of the likes of Gullane, North Berwick, Luffness and Muirfield, for example, having been informed that they are not permitted to use the course or club facilities for the time being and, as you might imagine, that has not been met with a resounding chorus of approval.

As has also been the case over the other side of the Firth of Forth at Crail. “Over two-thirds of our members live outwith Fife and we are really pleased that the overwhelming majority of members have rigidly stuck to the rules,” said managing secretary David Rory.

“A very small number of members have taken umbrage with their committee for enforcing the travel restriction, which I suppose is to be expected, although it is still disappointing.”

That will give some of those Edinburgh golfers, for example, a small window of opportunity at courses around the city bypass, but this is a time when the bigger picture needs to be viewed, even if that means disappointment for some.

Scotland’s golfers have done their country proud so far in terms of the restrictions they’ve faced, so, with that in mind, my take is that golf for the time being for the vast majority should indeed be within your local authority area.

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