If we work together, we can help our clubs survive this crisis

We must all dig deep if club golf as we know it is to continue in this country after the coronavirus shutdown

- Fergus Bisset 

It’s very clear now that life has changed, and will continue to be changed, significantly by the coronavirus. Quite what the world will look like after this unprecedented period is difficult to predict, but we all have to accept we are facing a long road to a return towards anything approaching the ‘normality’ we lived in until just a month ago.

At the start of March, many of us were looking forward to the golf season, to The Masters, to spring and to course conditions starting to improve.

Now we are in the midst of a complete break from golf. None on TV and none to be played for the foreseeable future. Can golf clubs as we know them in this country survive the enforced break? At Golf Monthly, we believe they can, but for that to be the case, everybody who can must do their bit – both golf club members and the clubs themselves.

Golf has been played on our islands for 550 years and it will continue after this crisis, but we don’t want it to become something that is marginalised and only open to the elite.

We are fortunate to have many smaller clubs that provide hubs in local communities, allowing people from many different walks of life to experience the sport, to mix across the social demographic, to enjoy healthy fresh air and to exercise together.