Lockdown is a massive frustration for local golfers but it does give greenkeepers an opportunity to work on course maintenance and improvements.
At Sidmouth Golf Club, plans are in place to use this enforced break as a window to make some upgrades to the course.
While there is nothing like being out on the course and playing proper golf, lockdown can be used as a time to sharpen up the short game, which is often an area of golf that can suffer the most during a spell away from the sport.
“I’m probably not the best person to advise on golfing tips but one area I plan to work on is my putting technique on the carpet because nothing goes quicker than your putting touch,” said Sidmouth Golf Club manager Tim Aggett.
“We are advising our members to keep themselves fit and, if you’ve got the room to put up a golf net, take advantage because hitting a golf ball works so many muscles in the body.
“Chipping is another area of the game that can be worked on during the lockdown. My plan is to place an old doormat on the patio and pitching into a bucket, just to keep that feel for chipping going.
“When it comes to Sidmouth Golf Course, we will use this time as an opportunity to work on projects for improving our facilities.
“We’ve redone the drainage on the 4th and 6th greens, and we’ve got a project ongoing to restructure a small bank on the 7th hole. We’ve piped the ditch and changing the bank to make it mower-friendly.
“We are looking at some banks that partially obscure the 12th green from the tee. If the weather is kind to us, we will also be doing a sizeable drainage project on our 3rd green.
“We plan to take as much advantage as we possibly can during this downtime period.
“While the weather is on our side, we will keep the greens team working hard to get the course ready for next season because we are all looking forward to the spring and hopefully a safe return to golf.”