I am hoping that the courses will be able to open. It is really not much different than going for a walk in the park. We just need to be responsible individuals and maintain our safe distancing ! We shall see. I would not be surprised if it is allowed at the beginning. We just have to hope that people do not start breaking their social distancing. One complaint to the ministry would be all it takes to have them issue an edict. So - No sharing carts, leave the flag stick in, no high fives, stay 6 feet away from each other, and set a good example !

I too would love to have courses open, and agree, it is not much different than taking a walk if people are conscious and respectful of what they are doing.
I saw on the net that some courses have placed the cups upside down so the ball cannot go in, not having people touching the cup.
I believe that an issue they may have with opening up courses is protecting the staff that checks you in upon arrival.
If they can leave car dealerships open, they can certainly figure out how to keep a golf course open.

I’m in Scotland and we are all closed. ‍♂️

In Trail, British Columbia the closing of the local courses because of Covid19 could permanently close the courses because of bankruptcy. Birchbank is on it's last legs and Redstone has been for sale for at least 4 years.

Not a good time to be in the golf course industry if you are a public course owner.

To be truthful, there is never really a good time to own a golf course. The failure rate is as high as restaurants and gas stations.

i fear that forced closures will be the end for many courses. i'm in Alberta and we have a short enough season to begin with.

if they force the courses closed and don't even let the staff do the required maintenance, courses will quickly slip away. they require constant maintenance and if left with zero maintenance for months on end i fear that many will be unrecoverable.

this could be VERY VERY bad. makes a guy sad.

Our course was open for a week but the weather was never really nice enough to get out. Can’t wait for the van to be lifted so we can get out and play again.

The GCOAA in Alberta has sent a lobbyist to the government to ensure that courses can open. As stated above, mandated closures would, in effect, be a death sentence for many golf courses. The GM of the the Ft. McMurray Golf Club, Dave Callum, discusses the actions that the GCOAA (he's on the board) and his club are taking to ensure they can open. Have a listen: www.buzzsprout.com/.../3325633

TREVOR... I really hope that they do something similar in Ontario. It appears they will be extending the state of emergency for another 28 days which would put us well into the month of May before the courses could open unless they get an exemption. I am in the vulnerable group, but I truly do believe we can take the proper precautions and stay safe while getting some exercise. Walking the course is great for your health both physical and mental.

I had a call from our super yesterday just to keep me in the loop about the lobbying of the Alberta gov.
Good thing is we still have to much snow to work right now so the members aren't freaking out just yet.
The owner's are thinking if it does open it will be with members only no guests (I hope this still means employees can play). Our ownership and membership is quite old so more vulnerable.
I guess we will just have to wait and see.