If you weren’t a fan of having to putt into a pool noodle at your favorite golf course, there’s good news.
Golf Saskatchewan has announced the provincial government is lifting all remaining restrictions on golf courses, including elevated cups, the ability to remove the flag stick, and putting rakes back into sand traps to fix divots.
Moments ago from the Business Response Team.
~ Flagsticks can be removed, raised cups, pool noodles etc. can be removed
~ Rakes, ball washers, benches, scorecards, pencils, etc. can all be returned to courses
~ *More details to come— Golf Saskatchewan (@GolfSK) June 21, 2021
Spokesperson Clark Stork says one restriction remaining in place for now involves out-of-province golfers competing in tournaments, which is something he believes will be lifted soon.
“The one this is our amateur championship — our biggest event, which is at Swift Current’s Elmwood Golf Club — is actually July 6-9, so it does fall under the July 11 date,” Stork said. “We want to get final clarification on that, but right now, we are taking registrations from out-of-province players and other players that are coming from across the province to play.”
Stork says golf was never really impacted by COVID-19 this year or last year thanks to it’s socially distanced nature.
“It’s more of a preference than anything, and a lot of people — including the golf clubs — they probably (noticed) the pace of play has really picked up,” Stork said. “With no rakes, a lot of people not even think about it if you’re more of a casual golfer, but it takes 90 seconds to a couple of minutes — depending on how fresh the bunker is with sand and what-not — to rake it smooth for the group behind you and the players coming after you, and it speeds it up if you don’t have to do that.”
Stork says golf courses could be busy in the next few days making the necessary adjustments to their courses to ensure things are back to normal.
