Tim Lobb, principal of Lobb + Partners, speaks with GCA about how the coronavirus pandemic has affected his firm and an initiative to help the golf design industry stay connected.

“We were fortunate enough to sign some amazing new projects in January, February and March across three continents, prior to the full onset of Covid-19 in Europe,” said Lobb. “Quite sensibly, our clients have put a pause on the various projects to ensure their staff and families are safe and sound during this critical point of this global crisis.

“We fully support their decisions and we are using our time to help our communities where possible, recently becoming an NHS volunteer responder through the GoodSam app in the UK.”

With projects on hold for now and social distancing measures in place, Lobb has tried to remain connected with others in the golf design industry through technological means.

“We have created a ‘Virtual Pub’ night on a Friday at 4pm [GMT] to chat with fellow colleagues via Zoom across the world, keep in touch and see some smiles,” he said. “Last week we had golf design industry folk from the US, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Vietnam and the Philippines online and chatting. Hopefully it will continue to grow further. We send the link via our social media outlets: Tim’s Virtual Pub.”

Looking to the future, Lobb remains upbeat that work will return to normal.

“We fully expect our projects to move forward later this year as they are solidly funded and long-term visions,” he said. “Many of our travel plans have been postponed, but nothing has been cancelled at present so that is a real positive.

“It is looking like September onwards will be a very busy travelling period with these rescheduled events. It is a very uncertain time with this health pandemic and the subsequent economic and social adjustments to follow. We wish all our friends and colleagues in the business a safe passage through this period.”