Here’s some brilliant stories about what the golf industry has been doing during the pandemic
By Alistair
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Here’s a round-up of some heartening stories involving golf clubs, their members and their suppliers, and how they have gone the extra mile in the last month, and in doing so have ensured we can look to this industry with pride.
Trefloyne Golf Club in Pembrokeshire has prepared more than 1,000 free meals for NHS staff and offered hotel rooms for free use also for healthcare workers who cannot get to their own homes, while two members of Ferndown Golf Club in Dorset, one an orthopaedic surgeon and the other a builder, ensured that tens of thousands of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was given to the NHS for staff to deal with Covid-19. Their discussion and subsequent work led to Home Builders’ Federation launching the PPE4NHS campaign.
Members and staff at Trefloyne Golf Club, supplying free meals to healthcare workers
Brookmans Park Golf Club in Hertfordshire provided a shopping service for both members and anyone else in the village who is unable to get to the shops for essential food and supplies.
The Belfry Hotel & Resort in Warwickshire stated it will donate its entire green fee income on its first day of reopening to a number of UK charities, while Golspie Golf Club in Sutherland said that, in spite of the financial troubles the golf industry faces due to coronavirus, it will donate 50 per cent of its online bookings for 2021 to the NHS. The club also ensured its furloughed staff received 100 per cent of their salaries.
On a similar note, many clubs, including Trefloyne, have offered free memberships to NHS staff. These include Cowdenbeath and Auchterderran in Fife.
Some clubs, such as Haydock Park in Lancashire, which has also offered free golf for NHS staff, have come up with initiatives to get more members to renew their subscriptions. It said it would pay the interest on direct debit subscriptions for all members who renewed their annual policy by mid-April.
Sticking with financial matters, and proof of how much clubs are loved by their members, Brora Golf Club in Sutherland found a series of initiatives it launched to raise money brought in a life-saving total of £70,000 in one week.
They included platinum life membership and international lifetime membership categories on its website to purchase, along with the ability to, for example, buy merchandise from the pro shop, sponsor holes, get a lesson from the club pro and buy green fees that can be redeemed in the future.
Brora Golf Club
Many clubs also set up crowdfunding pages online, and found hundreds and even thousands of pounds had been donated to them, such as Peebles Golf Club in Peeblesshire, which received more than £6,500 in less than a week.
Golfers have also played their part with, for example, the revelation that European Tour golfer Steve Tiley has been spending the lockdown working in a factory producing hand sanitiser for key workers.
Golf club suppliers have also worked hard to help the industry.
For example, Club Systems announced its customers could receive online tee time booking software at no extra cost until at least the end of this year and Tacit Golf introduced a flag and clip that ensures golfers do not need to touch the hole or flag when they retrieve their ball, maximising safety.
By Alistair
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