Evening all, This has been a particularly busy week for me since re opening the shop on Monday and I am certainly not complaining and I am extremely grateful for all your tremendous support/loyalty/friendship/patience and whatever else I can think of to call it but it is truly awesome. Next week Andy will be back so I might even have a day off. We continue to ease our Lockdown along with government guidelines and from Monday 18 Holes will be available all the time, this does not mean however that everything is back to normal, so we must continue with all the safety measures in place. We are looking to re start competitions and I know some are more keen than others to do this which is why we have been asking you to familiarise yourselves with the IG App so that we can run competitions and input the scores in this way. It really is simple and if you need any help at all please call in to the shop and I will help. I have played competitive Golf on a Professional stage for most of my life and have actually been quite good at it, but today I have had an email from the PGA explaining why they are currently not running competitions so I thought I would share this with you as it resonates with a lot of the same issues we are finding as a club. Please give it a read and let me know your thoughts. Dear PGA North Members, You may be aware of pockets of negative comments with regards to The PGA not resuming tournament activity whilst other bodies are choosing to run tournaments for professionals in the North region and beyond. You may also be aware that several European Tour events are scheduled to take place. These European Tour events have received specific sanction from the Government’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Department having complied with rigorous controls including but not limited to; · COVID-19 testing prior to and during the event for all competitors, staff and spectators · Participants must pass temperature test before being allowed on site · COVID-19 tests may need to be conducted every five days · To have medical and security teams in attendance · Rigorous health screening questionnaires for all This level of control and the costs associated with such compliance are clearly prohibitive to the running of our smaller PGA events. The Association is tirelessly lobbying government through the All Party Parliamentary Group for Golf (APPGG), to receive permission to deliver PGA Regional and County events without having to comply with the depth of conditions and controls previously stated. Currently we do not have this approval and therefore we are unable to run PGA events. You will also be aware of certain restrictions in place for our members in North Wales and we must also take this into consideration with regards events and current travel restrictions imposed on those in the North. You will, I am sure, appreciate that the guidelines set by Government are in place to protect the health of the general public. The fact that professional events are currently not collectively sanctioned, provides an indication that the Government believe that they are not safe and risk the spread of the virus. Those flouting the government regulations (ie Golf Clubs and the organisers of such events) are exposing themselves to potential Government enforcement measures whilst also presenting significant reputational risk to the safe and speedy return to professional golf. We will continue to work on golf’s behalf to gain approval for these small localised events. In the meantime, we would ask you to carefully consider competing in professional events and be content that the appropriate levels of infection control, social distancing and risk assessment are in place.
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