Roscommon Golf Club is delighted to be open once again for our members to enjoy the delights and challenges of our beautiful 18-hole parkland golf course. Covid-19 has presented many challenges to all aspects of our society; including health, the economy, and sport, but we are very fortunate that golf is one sport that can be played safely by all ages, and the return of golf since 18th of May has been a huge boost to both our many existing and new members who have taken advantage of good golfing weather to return to the fairways in large numbers, whilst adhering to the national and GUI/ILGU protocols.
Secretary of Roscommon Golf Club, Paula Connaughton, confirmed that the Club’s Management Committee and the Mens’ and Ladies’ Committees all worked collaboratively to prepare for the club’s re-opening and to ensure that all HSE guidelines were fully complied with.
Speaking to the Roscommon People, Paula said: “We kept in touch regularly with members during the closure period, conscious of the need to offer support and solidarity in a deeply unsettling time for all, in particular our older members, whilst also informing members of preparations for our safe return”.
Pre-booked timesheets for contract tracing, new signage, the availability of hand sanitisers, the removal of bins and rakes from the course and the new Putt Buddy mechanism which allows ball retrieval without touching the flagstick, are some of the key measures introduced to allow members to play golf safely.
Club President Tresina Smyth was delighted to welcome many members back in recent weeks, all of whom have responded very positively to the new measures and are continuing to adhere to the protocols.
The pandemic has had a significant impact on the clubs finances with Liam Byrne, Treasurer confirming the closure affected income from competitions, societies, green fees and the club’s successful annual fundraising classic, but he is hopeful much of this income can be recovered during the remainder of the year.
Charlie Farrell, club registrar, states that in common with other golf clubs, “the silver lining for Roscommon Golf Club has been the notable increase in the intake of new members, many from different sporting codes, covering a wide range of categories including beginner, student, university and junior, lapsed members returning to golf, as well as full memberships”.
Charlie can be contacted at 087-9159650 for details of all membership offers and rates.
The club continues to focus on the development of the course under the guidance of Ian Gannon, Course Manager, and our staff who as essential workers, continued to keep our course maintained during the closure period and had it in great condition on our return. The club were also successful in our application for a new rough mower under the Sports Capital Programme, which we took delivery of recently and which will allow our course to continue to be maintained and presented to a very high standard for our members.
At the moment we are preparing for Phase 2 protocols. We look forward to welcoming back our members who haven’t been able to come back as yet due to the travel restrictions, or due to working on the front line and this phase also allows for competitions and both the Mens’ and Ladies’ Committees are working behind the scenes to prepare for this.
As Tom Grealy, Mens’ Captain and Sandra Black Kelly, Ladies’ Captain explained: “Competitions are the lifeblood of the club for all our members. Golfers of all ages and abilities can compete against each other regularly. The restrictions due to the pandemic mean that the club are currently exploring new systems for competition, payment and scoring and we look forward to rolling out these changes for Phase 2”.
