Social golf bounces back at local clubs, with rules aplenty

Singapore

IT was 30 minutes before my tee-off at the Orchid Country Club early this month. Suddenly, the stop-play siren sounded, and thunder and lightning transformed the perfect mid-day weather into a pall of gloom as rain drenched the course.

An array of buggies raced back to the clubhouse and the cafeteria turned crowded with many frustrated golfers left with only standing room because of a reduced number of tables.

Within 15 minutes, the freak weather showed its kind side as the sun reappeared and the sky turned blue with shades of white.

The smiles returned to everyone's faces, and we were soon about to trudge along to the buggy area for what we thought would be a great day of golf.

But no. The club officials stated that play was suspended for the day. The new rules for the resumption of golf - after the 10-week halt because of Covid-19 - required that, as a health and safety precaution, play had to be suspended to avoid crowding at the club premises, especially at the cafeterias.

This imposition was one of many introduced by the Covid-19 Task Force, under the recommendation of the Singapore Golf Association (SGA), before the government lifted the circuit breaker and eventually welcomed Phase Two on June 19 to restore some sanity to golfers.

Among the other major rules were compulsory wearing of masks at all times unless involved in strenuous activities, or when eating and drinking; Safe Entry check-in and check-out, body temperature scans; and safe distancing of at least two metres between players.

Golfers are also to refrain from gathering in groups of more than five at any one time in the club and each golfer should only play with members of his or her flight.

The SGA advises all users of club facilities to adopt the "Use and Leave" and "Play Golf and Go Home" concepts which encourage all golfers to head home after their game is over.

The clubs must also make hand sanitisers readily available and no cash transactions are allowed.

Discouraged from using changing rooms

Golfers are discouraged from using the changing rooms because the maximum capacity has been limited to between 40 and 50 people, according to their gross floor area based on 10 square metres per person.

On the course, all touchable surfaces such as bunker rakes, water coolers, ball retrievers and ball washers have been removed. Golfers are told to leave flagsticks in the hole and utilise implants to prevent the ball from dropping into the cup.

It is encouraging to note that after a month of allowing golf to be resumed under Phase Two, golfers have exercised discipline and there has been no case of infection at any of the 12 local clubs so far.

After the initial flurry of flight bookings, things have settled down and players have been enjoying their rounds despite the many restrictions.

But while social golf has bounced back, competitive golf has taken a bad hit with all tournaments - both club and international - being cancelled mainly because many borders remain closed and travel has been restricted.

This has left the Singapore national teams somewhat in a limbo, although the SGA has been keeping them busy with instructional and educational webinars via Zoom.

Two weeks ago, about 40 members of the national and development squads enjoyed such a webinar with Singapore Olympic gold medallist swimmer Joseph Schooling (also a single-handicapper at golf), whose motivational talk centred on the importance of diet, sleep, mental focus and hard training to be a champion.