Golfers appear in a stock image. (Submitted/Rollings Greens Fairways)

By Josh Ryan

Opening with reservations

Lloydminster remains shutdown, but nearby golf courses opening

May 4, 2020 | 6:51 PM

A province-wide plan to re-open select businesses this month remains on pause in Lloydminster. Meanwhile golf courses outside city limits will begin to cautiously allow players.

The province has delayed phase one of it reopen plan in Lloydminster and La Loche to help curb outbreaks of COVID-19 in the communities. Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers said nothing within city limits will function, but courses outside the city are not under their purview.

“A local golf course is opening in Lashburn and there’s golf courses on the Alberta side, west of the city that are opening, but we’ll just be a little bit longer,” Aalbers told battlefordsNOW. “The important thing is we need to deal with the challenge and the cluster of patients.”

Aalbers said he recognizes people’s frustration with having to adhere to rules from another province when other communities are opening, but stressed the City has to make regulations consistent for all of its residents.

“We try to ensure that the city is one and there’s no difference from one side of the border to the other as [best] we can,” he said.

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One of the courses west of Lloydminster, Rolling Greens Fairways, is set to open on May 7. General Manager Heather Walker said they are excited to open, but are taking several precautions, including having minimal staff and requiring each employee take their temperature prior to working.

“There’s one person in the kitchen and no one can access that person,” Walker said. “So, we’re doing everything we can to keep our staff safe. Love to get [people] to come out here and get that mental break from things, without putting people at a huge risk.”

Course procedures have also drastically shifted. Rolling Greens Fairways is taking half the tee times they normally do and limiting them to online purchases only.

“Even if we have room on the course, if someone walks up and doesn’t have a tee time, we have to turn them away,” Walker said.

Meanwhile Aalbers said they are closely monitoring the situation at the hospital, and will move forward once the province allows.

“We wait for the daily update from the Chief Health Officer for Saskatchewan to enlighten us where we’re at,” he explained.

Similarly, golf course managers will watch to ensure safety regulations are strictly adhered to, while doing their best to ensure responsible behavior from golfers. They have a vested interest in seeing conditions improve, rather than taking a step back.

“It’s a learning curve for us and it’s also going to be us needing to educate our customers,” Walker said. “So that we can keep everyone golfing and not have the government shut it down, because people aren’t following those restrictions.”

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josh.ryan@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports