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Westlake Golf Club (Photo by Shaun Roy/Sunshine Ladies Tour/Gallo Images) |
Professional non-contact sport will be allowed in Level 3 of South Africa’s national lockdown, but there is confusion over what this means for the country’s golf courses.
With sports like golf, cricket, tennis, athletics and swimming all getting the green light to continue at a professional level from Monday, the South African golfing community has been seeking clarity through GolfRSA in terms of what the new regulations will mean for club members around the country.
In a briefing on Saturday, the sports ministry stressed that the new guidelines were for professional sports people only.
“At this stage we are talking about professional,” director general of the department of sport,” Vusumuzi Mkhize said.
When asked a question relating specifically to the opening of golf courses to paying members and how many people would be allowed on a golf course at a time, Mkhize said more clarity would be provided later.
“We will provide further directions on this matter in clarifying golf,” he said.
“Golf is one of the core sports that is allowed to take place in Level 3 as a non-contact sport.”
On Friday, GolfRSA revealed in a statement that social golf would not be taking place under Level 3.
“In a video conference meeting with the Director General of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture and his team earlier today, it was confirmed that as things currently stand, golf courses will not will not be allowed to open under the Alert Level 3 regulations,” the statement read.
– Compiled by Lloyd Burnard
