Ready, set, WAIT – Ontario government tells courses to prepare to open

A message from Golf Ontario

May 4, 2020: In light of the recent announcements by Premier Ford, we wanted to give you a quick update on what we have been doing to continue to push for the re-opening of golf courses.

Further to the announcement by Premier Ford of the ‘Framework for Reopening Our Province’, an announcement came out today allowing select seasonal businesses and some essential construction projects to open on May 4. Golf courses, although not yet able to open, were included with the following statement … “Golf courses may prepare their courses for the upcoming season, but not open to the public”. This is encouraging and we hope is an indication that the ability to open is coming soon.

Ontario’s We Are Golf partners (Golf Ontario, the NGCOA, PGA of Ontario, OGSA, and CSCM-ON) have continued to work very closely together to communicate a clear plan for golf’s return within a safe and healthy environment. Golf is naturally aligned to the principles of safe social distancing, and this is why, along with today’s announcement, we remain very hopeful that the opening of golf courses is coming very soon.

Two weeks ago, Ontario’s We Are Golf partners submitted a letter to Premier Doug Ford, and each member of the Ontario Jobs and Recovery Committee. A follow up letter went out today, and both letters outlined what a clear path to safe golf could look like for Ontario, and that we strongly recommend that golf courses be one of the first industries to open for business.

We are excited about the announcement from the government asking courses to prepare to get ready. Please be assured that Ontario’s We Are Golf partners are working in a unified fashion to help get golf courses open on behalf of the entire golf industry.