And just like that we were open late Friday afternoon, GolfRSA informed the Golf Clubs of South Africa that once their Certificate of Compliance had been submitted, golf clubs could open. Well, the St Cathryn’s golfers were ready to play the June 2020 Farmers Agri-care Monthly mug the very next day.

It took the 10 golfers 1055 shots to get around the 18 holes of St Cathryn’s on Saturday 13/6/2020, the first official round of golf for everyone since the course closed for lockdown on March the 26th. Long haired golfers showed rust in their game as they have not seen a hairdresser, and they had very dusty golf clubs – but the excitement showed when they arrived at the club, all arriving very early for the 10:30 tee off time. Severe frost was the reason for the later then normal tee off time.

The greens were brown, very fast and tricky to read. On the rest of the course – a few extra meters were achieved on the golfers drives off the tee box, the rough was tamed by the frost and the dam now 100% full swallowed a few balls.

In the past, golfers would enjoy a cup of coffee before tee off and be greeted by our friendly manager- Gary. However this time golfers walked into a “Compliance officer”, checking everyone’s temp and checking if they were wearing a mask. Social distancing in the club was kept,then golfers were sent off to play. All these impersonal formalities were instituted so that we can enjoy the game we love. Rules and protocols were sent by GolfRSA and Friday afternoon saw a rush to implement the protocols and complete the necessary paperwork before the course could open.
From now on until Lockdown is over, golfers are not allowed to arrive and play golf without prior booking, temperature screened, have their own hand sanitiser and then to open the golf round on their phone app.
After the Farmers Agri-care round of golf, the cards are sanitised and the results were checked. The were no rounds of drinks taken as is the norm, but golfers played and left. Due to the liquor laws in place, no alcoholic beverages were served, in fact the alcohol was removed from the clubhouse, as bars and restaurants are still closed for on-site consumption, and liquor may only be sold “take-away” from Monday to Thursday.

Results:
1st Andre Liddemore nett 75
2nd Marius Muller nett 82
3rd Ryan Kimber nett 84
4th Dieter Meyer nett 85 o.c.o
5th Josh Meyer
Captains Putter: Fritz Volker
Nearest to Pin 9/18: Tienie Muller
Best Greytown Golfer:  Steven vd Merwe.
 
We still need to catch up the Farmers Agri-care Monthly Mugs missed – April and May 2020, the committee will help to decide when we can play these.

As stated golfers need to make a booking before they will be allowed to play – so please contact Piet 083 269 1661 or the Club 082 555 2661 – call or WhatsApp – as we need to ensure that Gary is on duty to fulfil all the compliance requirements. We look forward to welcoming you all back even if it means keeping our 2m distance.