Golf Course Architecture - Issue 65, July 2021

50 POST-COV I D DES IGN consequently, golf was typically one of the first leisure activities to restart. And, almost from the minute courses were allowed to open, across the golfing world they have been packed. Andrew Martin, writing in the Financial Times late last year, put it well. “I like to think that my abiding memory of this summer will not be any moment of Covid fraughtness,” he wrote. “It will be the image of my lonely golf ball casting a shadow longer than itself on the last green of the links at Southwold, Suffolk. The sun is setting; gulls are wheeling overhead; my car is the last one in the car park beyond. I was apparently one of many who turned to golf as a corrective to stress. England Golf, the amateur governing body, reports that the number of rounds played in June and July was 60 per cent up on the same period last year. This is attributed partly to furloughed people having the time to play. But the figure may also ref lect a new view of golf. Not so much the sport of backslapping chief executives, nineteenth-hole dealmakers or blazered Blimps obsessed with the definition of ‘smart-casual’, but a game played in wide-open spaces by widely spaced and perhaps meditative individuals. Golf is a naturally socially distanced sport, especially the way that I and my most regular partner play it, since he tends to hook while I slice. Golf ’s aptness for a pandemic caused it to be released early from restrictions last time around and explains the delay and confusion over whether it would be a part of the new purdah.” The reason for this boom is quite simple, according to Rob Day of land planners WATG: it is a new awareness of the value of time outside. “Gyms and everything indoors have been closed. People want to be outdoors, in nature. It’s one of few sports or exercise options that is available,” he says. “That was already happening, but it has been accelerated.” Day, who is based in Singapore, adds that the effect is all over the world: “Here, as everywhere else, they are totally packed.” In the US, golf ’s biggest market, the situation is similar. The number crunchers at Golf Datatech, an industry research company, have quantified what any recreational golfer in America could have told them: 2020 was a very busy year for golf courses. American golfers logged 13.9 per cent more rounds in 2020 than in 2019, according to Golf Datatech. Play rose significantly for the year in every state except for Hawaii, Nevada and South Carolina, which are heavily dependent upon tourism traffic, which has been curtailed during the pandemic. The question that everyone in golf is asking is ‘will it last’? Rob Day says he believes it will. “It is an easy sport to enjoy, and it is a continuation of the trend towards experiences rather than consumption,” he explains. “The whole travel, adventure sports and so forth is very popular. Going shopping or sitting on a beach is out of fashion. Healthiness is in, and thus golf fits nicely, especially with the work from home trend. You can still be a regular golfer without having to play on a weekend anymore. That would be a very good trend for the golf industry, as it may help even out numbers. Life will be cheaper and healthier.” Golf architects are asking a second question: will there be a consequent building boom? About this, Day is more cautious. “I’m not so sure about a boom in new developments,” he says. “They still have the same difficulties with land acquisition that they have always had. But we might see some changes. I think we will see larger outdoor spaces around clubhouses because people want to be outdoors. In golf communities, you’ll see a transition – as people work from anywhere, they can move to them permanently and full time. They’ll need more cafes and that sort of thing. Maybe golf clubs become more community facilities. Municipal courses – can they become social hubs? They are big open spaces that are pretty much underused. Golf communities will need to provide different amenities, as people living The pandemic has heightened people’s appreciation of outdoor activity, and golf is naturally socially distanced