Scottish golf courses like Carluke will reopen tomorrow after over two months shut by virus

Having been closed to members since mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our private clubs are back open for play tomorrow (Friday), subject to social distancing measures.

“For the membership it’s been really hard without golf for over two months,” Carluke Golf Club secretary Gavin White told the Carluke and Lanark Gazette.

“Because most of our members are very active and play a lot.

“So to suddenly go one day from thinking: ‘Well at least I’ll be able to play with one other person’ to the very next morning Michael Gove turned round and closed every golf course.

“But the membership have coped OK and they’ve kept very positive.”

Although two members of the Carluke GC greenkeeping staff have been furloughed during lockdown, a further two have been working on the course in recent weeks.

“The course is in excellent condition,” Gavin said.

“I had a good walk round the other day and it is looking great.

“Obviously it’s not in gthe kind of pristine condition that you would expect as the staff have been limited in what they could do by the government and by Scottish Golf.

“It’s really been basic maintenance, in other words cutting grass.

“It’s in really good nick considering all the circumstances.

“In fact Andy Cowan our course manager has had to water the greens because it’s been so dry recently.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today ratified golf’s return as part of phase one of coronavirus lockdown easing.

And Gavin expects there to be a plethora of Carluke members scrambling to book online tee times after abstaining from playing the sport since mid March.

The rigid conditions modified for 2m social distancing measures will include players having to turn up no more than 10 minutes before a tee time, changing shoes in the car park, reporting to the starter, avoiding handshakes and not touching anybody else’s equipment or the flagsticks.

The holes will be modified in some way so players are not touching them to pick out their golf balls.

In the early stages of play restarting, the clubhouse will remain locked and only bounce games will be played, with no medal competitions taking place.

Provisionally, major competitions at Carluke like the club championship have been pencilled in for August and competitive play in 2020 has been extended until the end of October.