Message From the Professional Staff,
I’m not sure that it’s a good thing that we are getting so familiar with closing and re-opening the golf course at a moment’s notice :) With that said, we couldn’t be happier to welcome you all back to the club again this Saturday, May 22nd. We are sure there are many questions, and we will do our best to answer everything we can over the next few days and weeks. We also want to avoid sending out massive amounts of information all at once to avoid the potential of missing key pieces that we need you to know. The key message is this - we will be proceeding ahead in the short term following the same protocols and procedures we did when we opened for play in April. You can find our previous newsletters in earlier blog posts as well as in your past emails. In preparation for Saturday’s opening there are a couple of things we need to share. If you have not done so, please ensure that you read Dan Greenwood’s Operational Update email which was sent out Thursday evening. In that email there is a Cart Policy waiver that ALL members must fill out prior to arriving at the first tee. If you are unable to fill it out online we will have paper copies available in the Golf Shop and with our Starter.
With regards to our tee sheet and the lottery. The next 6 days (Saturday, May 22nd to Friday, May 28th) will be drawn tonight and you will start to receive email notifications of your tee time(s). After we have had a chance to update our software overnight to reimplement our lottery windows we will begin to open up lottery bookings 10 days in advance. As was the case in April, we will have a daily lottery to start the season and the lottery will be drawn on the following days:
Mondays - for the following Saturday, Sunday & Monday
Wednesdays - for the following Tuesday & Wednesday
Friday - for the following Thursday & Friday
On behalf of the Professional Staff,
Dan Roud
PGA of Canada
Lookout Point Country Club
WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW BEFORE COMING TO THE CLUB?
For those members who were with us in 2020, our protocols will mirror how we started last season. With our Golf Shop closed for in person retail shopping and our Food & Beverage indoor & outdoor dining restricted, there really is no reason to be at the club for any amount of time before and/or after your round. Social gatherings are not permitted and the optics of groups of more than 4 individuals gathering before their tee times is something that we need to avoid at all times. The most notable addition to our 2020 protocols are the new masking in cart guidelines introduced by the province of Ontario (Click Here to Read)
WHAT IS OPEN?
The clubhouse is essentially closed until Step 1 of the new phased approached to re-opening is realized. Washrooms by the putting green will be available for members to use prior to their round. The 19th hole is open for take out & grab and go, and the Golf Shop is open for curbside pickup. Locker rooms and other amenities will remain closed until the government allows us to open them. In respect to Golf Retail, we are able to open at 15% capacity once stage/phase 1 begins. What that means for us right now is the Golf Shop is closed to individuals who are solely hoping to visit for shopping & browsing purposes. The Golf Shop will be open for individuals who have a tee time and are needing to pick up their last minute essential curbside items or pop in to sign a chit, pick up an online order or grab a take out item (drink & snacks).
RANGE BOOKINGS
In 2021, we will again begin the year with Practice Range bookings by appointment. Appointments can be booked up to 7 days in advance. If you are using the practice facility to “warm-up” prior to a booked tee time you DO NOT need to book a practice facility appointment. Spots will be reserved for individuals 20 mins prior to their tee time.
To start, we ask members to limit their practice appointments to once per day (maximum of 1 hour).
Range bookings are available under the Member Central section of the website under the heading “Practice Range Appointments”
Please note that with the holiday Monday, the practice facility will be closed at 5:00pm on Monday evening to facilitate a clean pick of the range. The practice facility will reopen on Tuesday, May 25th at 12:00 pm (noon).
ON COURSE NOTICE
There are two main topics that you should be aware of on the golf course. With the recent tree removal our grounds department have begun to repair those areas where trees were removed with fresh sod. The sod is easily noticed due to it’s darker colour. That said, these areas have also been outlined with “green stakes” (see images below). Please treat these areas as GROUND UNDER REPAIR the same as you would were they painted or have white stakes. Do NOT drive your golf carts over these areas - please take the point of closest relief no nearer the hole and play from there.
You will also notice that the cart path on #13 has been freshly resurfaced. The new section is closed until the surface has had a chance to cure.
GUEST ACCESS & GUEST PLAY
Good news! We will be allowing guests again as we reopen the golf course. That said, we want to ensure that every category of membership has access to booking a tee time based on their restrictions prior to opening the tee sheets for Guest play. The following rules will be in place to start the season:
Guest booking are not allowed in the member lottery
Guest bookings must be made at maximum 3 days in advance
Guest bookings must be made over the phone (not online) so that we can gather contact information for covid-19 tracing purposes.
One Guest per member is permitted Monday - Friday before noon. Up to 3 guests per member after noon on those days. On Weekends & Holiday, guests are permitted after 2:00 pm only.
We will continue to monitor how busy the tee sheet is and restrict or open guest access accordingly.