Nicer weather has arrived and people are itching to do more outdoor activities. Local golfers and boaters will soon be able to get back into the swing of things with Thursday’s announcement by the Province of Ontario easing coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
The prep work continues at the Landings Golf Course and Teaching Centre in Kingston, whether it’s some last-minute trimming of grass or washing golf carts. Now that the province has given the green-light, it’s time to tee-off.
“Our goal here is to make things as safe as possible to create confidence not only in our customers but in our staff,” says Chris Barber, owner-operator of the Landings.
Barber says there will be a few rule-changes due to COVID-19 safety measures, now it’s just a matter of putting them into play.
“The rules will be different from the standpoint of interaction with staff, with customers, with members, but on the golf course — it is the perfect sport for social distancing.
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“With the exception of more spread-apart tee times and some devices that we’ve installed on the pin flags, the reality is that golf will stay the same,” Barber said, adding that they’ll need everyone adhering to the new rules in order to make it work.
Private marinas can also open this weekend. Lori Buzzi is the owner/operator of the Collins Bay Marina.
“Typically we bring our crew back in April, this year we had to wait until May 4 and as of yesterday (Wednesday) we got permission to let our customers on-site to prepare for the season.”
It was fairly quiet at the marina on Thursday but that will soon change as a big crane that puts boats in the water will swing into operation.
Like golf courses, marinas also have new coronavirus safety rules to follow, and Buzzi says Collins Bay is no exception.
“There’s a lot of new protocols coming into play. The first difference for our marina is the customer won’t be involved with the crew helping them launch the boat. So our crew will completely take that over and do it without the customer — they can watch but they can not be part of that. There’s a lot of disinfecting that will be happening by our crew.”
Buzzi says it’ll be Tuesday before the first boats will be launched, at least at her facility.