Just when you thought you were lucky because golf was considered an individual sport with all its COVID-19 perks, it gets closed again for some dumb reason.
COVID-19 strikes back and we’re in the middle of the second wave; no question that we have to take some serious precautios measures.
Germany dealt pretty well with the crisis in the past months. People for the vast majority have been using masks and protected themselves and others. As a consequence the numbers went down. Then after the holiday season and due to some stupid behavior of certain people, it went up again.
As a consequence the government had to come up with measures that will bring the numbers back down again and maybe get us to a situation that we’re going to be able to have a rather normal Christmas this year.
Fortunately there wasn’t and there won’t be a lockdown as we know it from Spain and France. Germans are asked to limit personal contact to others to a minimum but luckily we’re able to get outdoors and spend as much time outside as we want.
There are other limitations now however: Restaurants will be closed, cinemas will be closed, so are bars and sports facilities.
Is a golf course a sports facility? In some ways it is. In other ways, it’s more comparable to a walk in the park than to a gym or any other indoor or even outdoor sport.
What happened next was, golf was considered an individual sport and was granted exceptional rights in a sense that two-balls were allowed. So clubs adjusted, changed their booking schedule to two-balls, asked people to play 9 holes instead of 18 in order to make it fair for everybody. And there were some other adjustments, too.
But then, two days later, it was announced in Hesse, the federal state where I live, and that’s true for others as well, that golf courses are now forced to close down for the month. No golf whatsoever. No open course, no open range.
Out of nowhere, after many courses put quite some effort into quickly making the new rules bearable for everybody, were surprised by a new order to roll back and close it altogether.
That’s the current situation. My season 2020 is over. Fingers crossed the 2021 season will be much better and much longer.
Stay save everybody!