HLSGC Play Safe Stay Safe – Latest Update 01/07/20
Reminder for All Members
Please can all our members be reminded that all existing PLAY SAFE STAY SAFE rules are still in operation.
Particularly members are respectively asked not to enter the locker rooms without prior authorisation. Golf clubs and equipment must be removed and taken home.
Also, can members, on the completion of their rounds please return directly to their vehicles, change, and leave immediately. Social gatherings, no matter how short, are not permitted.
When paying any fees in the shop please do so in one transaction for your group and avoid cash payment wherever possible. The passing of scorecards between players remains prohibited.
Latest Update 01/07/20
On the 23rd June 2020, the Prime Minister announced further changes to the lockdown rules which are significant to many and includes Houghton le Spring Golf Club. The most significant change being that as from Saturday 4th July 2020 pubs and restaurants will be allowed to re-open subject to demonstrating they are ‘Covid 19 safe’.
The Covid 19 Sub Committee met on Friday 26th June 2020 to consider these changes and discuss how we could re-open our bar and restaurant to our members and visitors and in a ‘Covid 19 safe’ way.
Following these discussions, with valued input from Judith Atkinson (Bar Manager), the club are confident we can open our bar to our playing members and visitors once more. Therefore, our bar will be opening on Sunday 5th July 2020. Weekly opening times are published separately as part of this post.
Mulligan’s restaurant will be making its own arrangements to publish dates and details of their reopening plans. Mulligan’s takeaway service will continue with a new system for collection in place. Again, details will be published by Mulligan’s.
However, because of current social distancing rules the capacity of the bar and restaurant will be significantly reduced. Indeed, the bar will only be able to seat a maximum of 32 people set out on 8 tables with 4 people at each table only. The restaurant will be managed by Dave Stockton and his team and on a booking only basis.
Because of the limited capacity in the bar the committee had to consider, with its current staff and volunteer resources, how it could implement and maintain a ‘Covid 19 safe’ environment during the periods of opening, while at the same time trying to maximise the opportunity for all its members and visitors wishing to access the bar an equal opportunity to do so.
The committee will be introducing a two-system policy initially. System 1 will cover Saturday and Sunday opening only while System 2 will cover weekdays only.
System 1 (Saturday and Sunday)
As Saturdays and Sundays have been traditionally our busiest days, and because of the limited bar capacity, bar access time will be linked to each playing group dependent on their pre-booked tee time. Please see the separate chart and table plan below which will be in operation on Sunday 5th July. Each group will be limited to up-to 70 minutes bar time. The committee does understand however that there will need to be some flexibility in this approach and to its timings due to differing factors which may affect the pace of play.
System 2 (Tuesday to Friday)
During the week bar time will be accessible to all golfers with a pre-booked tee time only and on a first come first served basis, with no limited stay and subject to a table being free.
New Drink Safe Stay Safe rules and procedures to be implemented in and around the bar, restaurant and clubhouse will be published separately and will be subject to change.
The successful opening of the bar, although with current limitations, is another important step in ensuring the medium, and long-term future of the club. While the committee appreciates these initial systems may not suit everyone’s individual or group social preferences, the committee encourage all members to support the club and its staff as much as they can during this next difficult stage of progressing to normality.
Links to the Provisional Opening Hours & the Table Plan are found at the end of this message,
As during the Play Safe Stay Safe planning period, the committee will continue to monitor and review its plans and procedures weekly and make any necessary changes required which will ensure the safety and wellbeing of our staff, members and visitors.
Further to the above, the club’s last update posted on the 14th June 2020 covered the club’s policy on extending the opportunity for our members to invite their guests. This was another positive change in a long line of changes designed to give our members, their guests, and visitors access to our golf course in a safely managed and fair way.
This has been crucial in kick starting our ‘business as usual’ operations. Also, it has enabled the officers and the committee to carefully consider its approach in drawing up its post lockdown financial plan.
The club’s revenue streams, from its guest and visitor green fees, new memberships, Opens, golf societies etc, being vital to introducing considered steps in returning the club back to its pre-lockdown position. The club’s financial strategy has always been to secure the clubs long term future and that of its valued staff.
These revenue streams were re-opened by the club on 1st June 2020, after some 91 days of lockdown and playing restrictions being in force and following the relaxations by the Government and England Golf. The committee has been encouraged by the level of support we have received from our members bringing guests, visitor numbers and the fact we as a club, and with the help of our excellent volunteers, have been able ensure our planned Open competitions have been able to take place and safely. Thank you to all of you who have been supporting the club in every way you can. Long may this continue.
All this, along with other financial support from government and successful grant applications, has set a welcomed financial foundation for the club, which in turn has given the committee confidence that the club is once again moving forward and with much optimism for the future.
If our current ‘good start’ continues, and with the potential income from a well-supported bar, the committee will be able to take more measured financial decisions in returning the club to somewhere near its position pre-lockdown. Its priority being the return of all our valued staff currently on furlough be it on a part- or full-time basis to serve our great club once again. The committee has and will continue to consult with our staff during this important stage on when and how this will take place.
The committee hopes this information reassures any members who may have had misinformation from uninformed sources recently or any concerns regarding the club’s future.
Let us hope the current slow, but welcomed, relaxations on lockdown which are affecting all of our lives are not impeded in any way, and we can all progress individually, as families and as a club for many years to come.
Keep safe and thank you all,
John Walvin (Chairman) on behalf of The Committee.