Market Harborough Golf Club welcomes back golfers after lockdown restrictions are eased

The chairman of Market Harborough Golf Club is telling our readers – we are back and we are playing again after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Excited Steve Winder said it was “great news” that they have got men, women and youngsters back out on the historic Northampton Road course after eight weeks of enforced inactivity.

He said the seven irons and the putters were finally plucked back out of bags on Wednesday May 13 as relieved golf clubs reopened all over England.

And now Steve’s sending out a crystal clear message to the people of Harborough – please come and join us.

“I want to appeal to everyone through the Harborough Mail to zip along and have a look at us.

“I am sure that you will love it,” said the enthused local golf club stalwart.

“We currently have about 500 members.

“And we are all hoping that we will be able to recruit many more over the next few weeks and months.”

Steve said it was a “huge relief” to get back to walking the perfectly-manicured fairways and greens on Wednesday.

“We shut down as soon as the Government’s coronavirus lockdown was imposed on Monday March 23.

“We all understood why we had to act,” he told the Mail.

“But it’s been frustrating to be closed down for so long.

“Golf is clearly not a contact team sport like football or rugby.

“We are still only playing in twos rather than threes and fours.

“It’s relatively easy to keep our social distance while playing.

“We are telling our members to wash their hands and use their common sense to stay safe.

“So we can’t work out why it’s taken so long to allow us to re-open, enabling people to play this venerable old game of ours once again.”

Extolling the many virtues of taking up golf, Steve said: “It’s more vital than ever that we are all as fit as we can be to stay well and healthy.

“Playing golf is fantastic exercise.

“You’ll be out on the course for about four hours, notching up up to three or four miles strolling through magnificent countryside.

“It’s also widely accepted that being out in the Great Outdoors close to nature and wildlife is brilliant for you mentally as well as physically.

“Golf’s also great socially, generating amazing camaraderie.

“We all feel as if we have just been released after weeks effectively locked up in this extraordinary time.

“Market Harborough Golf Club is 122 years old – we’ve been around since 1898.

“But we have never known an unprecedented crisis here like this over all those decades.”

He’s urging people to nip along and talk to him and fellow officers about joining up.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to work out just the deal for you.

“We have got prices for everyone.

“We’ve had a bad winter after loose horses battered our course last December, weeks of torrential rain and now this Covid-19 pandemic.

“But now we are ready to come roaring back.

“We are hoping to welcome a real surge in visitors and new members over the next few weeks.

“So please pop along and come and chat to us, we’ll be delighted to see you.”

If you would like to talk to Steve or his colleagues and have a closer look at Market Harborough Golf Club you can find out more here: https://www.mhgolf.co.uk/