New Brunswickers prepare for tee-off as golf courses reopen

New Brunswickers prepare to tee it up Golf courses opening is a test of the province's strategy to get back to some sense of normalcy. Mike Cameron reports.

GRAND BAY-WESTFIELD, N.B. — Anyone looking for a sign of life getting a little closer to normal, need look no further than a New Brunswick golf course.

This is opening week on many greens and fairways, but it's also a test of New Brunswick’s reopening strategy.

Barry Freeze is getting ready for the golf season, though he is a little surprised that there will be a golf season.

"It's funny, because I just bought a couple of new clubs at Christmas time and, a couple of months ago, I thought, 'I'm not going to get to use them,'" Freeze said. "But now I can."

Golf courses are getting ready to reopen -- in some cases earlier than last year.

Everywhere, though, there are reminders that all is not the same.

Golfers will be required to keep their distance and tee times will be harder to come by.

"Our one reminder to the members, when they have to practise social distancing, they have to wait every 20 minutes for a tee time, is hey, if those measures weren't in place, we wouldn't be golfing right now," says Craig Bird of Westfield Golf & Country Club.

Even golf carts will be regulated.

"Carts are going to be single-rider carts, unless you are in a single-bubble household, like husband and wife, family members," says Jim Pearson of Rockwood Park Golf Club.

Restaurants and bars will not be open, but golfers seem OK with the new rules.

"We go out golfing every Wednesday," says Chuck Edison. "It's our favorite thing to do and we were worried that we weren't going to be able to do it this year, but it looks good now."

Things aren't looking so good for Nova Scotia golf courses. They remain closed with an opening date yet to be determined.

For now, golfers there have to make do at the driving range.

Among sporting activities, golf is a rare exception during the pandemic and this reopening will be closely watched.

"We do feel a little bit of that weight," says Pearson. "A little pressure from the outside that we need to do things properly -- we need to do things well."

While a gradual reopening of the economy continues, the New Brunswick government has warned that industries will be forced to close again if outbreaks are traced back to those newly reopened businesses.

On Thursday morning, the tarps will be coming off a lot of golf courses around New Brunswick to kick off a season that a lot of people thought would never happen, although it will be a season that will be unlike any other.