Kilsyth Lennox golfers thrilled to return but tough times still lie ahead

Golf, along with bowls, tennis and angling, were the first sports to get the green light to resume, albeit with strict social distancing and health guidelines in place.

And, helped by the glorious weather, that meant a busy course from Friday onwards as clubs were dusted off after 10 weeks of inactivity.

“They were delighted, they had all been itching for it, waiting and waiting to get the go-ahead,” said club manager Andrew Green.

“The greenkeepers had done a great job during the lockdown and the course was fantastic, in great nick.

“The clubhouse is all geared up with signage to remind them to stay socially distant on the course, only one person on the tee at any one time, don’t touch flags or any course furniture, there’s no rakes so they just have to smooth down the sand as best they can.

“And it’s just two balls at the moment for two reasons. It’s much easier to social distance and it gets them round the course quicker so they’re not backing up.”

But while the action may be back on the course, like many others Kilsyth Lennox has been hit hard in financial terms by coronavirus.

“The financial impact is obviously quite significant because a lot of our revenue came from functions in the bar [which remains closed].

“But the members have been very, very loyal. We’ve not lost any members due to this and we offered them a discount in their direct debits for May and June and a number of them said not to take the discount but to take the full amount off.

“We’ve taken every available funding to get us through and to be fair the Government, the Scottish and the UK Government, we’ve done OK. But it’s going to be a tough year.

“There are no visitors because the members want to use their course, which is another income we’ve lost for the foreseeable future. Having said that we put on a couple of really good, post-lockdown offers which have really taken off and our membership has increased by over 30.”