Scottish Golf wishes to make all affiliated clubs aware of new changes made to the Scottish Government’s regulations for hospitality settings. Effective immediately, it is now mandatory for hospitality venues to collect contact details of visitors to their premises in support of Test and Protect. The new regulations apply to all restaurants, cafes, pubs and hotels in which food or drink are sold for consumption on the premises. Businesses must now record the name and contact number of an individual – or lead member of each household in a group – that visits the premises. They must also record the date of visit, the time of arrival, and where possible the departure time.

For golfers checking in for food or drink in clubhouses before play, they should check out when they take to the course, and back in again should they visit the clubhouse following their round. The new regulations include customers, staff working on a particular day and visitors such as delivery drivers or cleaners. Premises must store the information for 21 days and share it when requested to do so by public health officers within 24 hours. New statutory guidance for the hospitality sector has been published which explains how to keep a record of customer and visitor contact details securely ensuring data protection principles are upheld. 

The Scottish Government has also published updated guidance for hospitality customers to reinforce key safety measures. For more details on the new regulations please click here.

You will be aware that Scottish Golf has announced that ‘Open Competitions’ are now able to be played. Consequently the Glasgow Golf Union confirm that they continue to be committed to the playing of The Glasgow Seniors Autumn Meeting at Haggs Castle Golf Club on the 3rd of September. The closing date for the event is the 24th of August, however, as expected, this inaugural event will not attract the same level of support as the Spring event consequently the draw will be compressed somewhat to allow an orderly event to take place.

The draw will be published immediately after the closing date. An update on the relevant Covid regulations for the day will be published nearer the time as, at the present time, they are in a state of flux.

You will be aware that Scottish Golf has announced that ‘Open Competitions’ are now able to be played. Consequently the Glasgow Golf Union confirm that they continue to be committed to the playing of The Glasgow Open at Pollok Golf Club on the 6th of September.The closing date for the event is the 24th of August but the competition is already oversubscribed and a ballot will have to take place, this will be done on the usual basis for such events. The ballot will be published on the 26/27th of August and published on the GGU website . Those players who do not make it through the ballot will automatically fill any spaces vacated prior to the 6th of September.

Any entrant who is balloted out and who fails to play in the Glasgow Open will have his entry fee returned.

Competitors should remember that The Glasgow Open, this year, will act as the qualifier for The Matchplay Championship which will be held at Sandyhills Golf Cub with the quarter final being played circa1600 on Friday the 11th of September and the semi and final being played on Sunday the 13th at the same venue. The first 8 players from clubs affiliated to The Glasgow Golf Union are eligible. The draw will be made on the 7th of September and published on the website the following day.

An update on the relevant Covid regulations for the day will be published nearer the time as, at the present time, they are in a state of flux.

Since COVID-19 impacted us all back in March, we have worked tirelessly to protect our affiliated clubs, doing everything we could to ensure that all of our clubs survived this terrible crisis. Scottish Golf has remained in regular dialogue with the Scottish Government and has participated in the debate with a constant concern for public health and wellbeing, as well as expressing concern of the economic impact the pandemic is having on member clubs.

Our financial relief package has provided clubs with £570,000 worth of affiliation fee rebates and once our assessment process is complete, we will have delivered an additional £685,000 of funding to our affiliated clubs through the R&A club relief fund and COVID-19 fixed costs funds. As previously outlined, we made early decisions around our events and performance plans for 2020 to make these financial provisions.

As stated last week, we lobbied Government in the strongest possible way to resolve the contradictory guidelines in relation to Open Competitions. As has been the case throughout the last few months, through positive dialogue, the Government has taken onboard our representation and we are extremely pleased to advise that our affiliated clubs are now able to host qualifying Open Competitions. More information on this may be found here on Scottish Golf.

The GGU Matchplay Championship - notwithstanding the massive impact of Covid 19, the Glasgow Golf Union is committed to running as many of its long-standing competitions as possible. To this end the forthcoming Glasgow Amateur Open Championship will act as a qualifier for the Matchplay Championship. The details of the Matchplay Event are as follows -
The top 8 players from the Glasgow Open, who are members of GGU clubs, will qualify to play in the Matchplay Competition. On check-in for the Glasgow Open, GGU players will be asked of their availability for the Matchplay Championship.

The draw for the matchplay will take place immediately following the Glasgow Open Amateur Championship and posted on the GGU website and Facebook page on Monday the 31st of August.

Venue - Sandyhills Golf Club for all ties Dates.

Quarter final ties to be played from 1600 on Friday the 11th of September.
Semi-final ties to played on Sunday 13th of September from 0830.
The final will commence at 1245 on the 13th of September.

The Glasgow Open Amateur Championship - The Glasgow Golf Union is committed to running this long-standing and prestigious event. However all potential competitors will be aware that it is an ‘Open Event’. At the time of writing these type of events are still not allowed under Government and Scottish Golf advice, so despite our best efforts the event may have to be cancelled, perhaps at short notice. If so all entry monies will be returned.

In addition please be advised that there is significant demand for places at the event which will mean that in the event of over-subscription we will operate a ballot, starting with the higher handicapped players, until we get down to maximum players able to play. The Glasgow Golf Union will also operate a Waiting List so that any player unsuccessful in the ballot may be able to play if there are any call-offs.

Following the First Minister’s update on Thursday 9 July, Scottish Golf is now in a position to provide all Clubs with Phase 3 Guidance for all golf clubs and golfers as Scotland continues to transition through its route map out of lockdown. The Scottish Golf guidance document has been updated and reviewed by appropriate Scottish Government channels and we would again ask that all clubs familiarise themselves with the information outlined in the below Phase 3 Guidance. 

2 key items in the update are:

a) The return of 4 ball play and

b) Club competitions may now resume

You can access Scottish Golf's Phase 3 Guidance here . 

In anticipation of the wider re-opening of indoor hospitality on Wednesday 15 July, we have updated our readiness guide to assist you with preparing your clubhouse for re-opening. The document is prepared based on the latest information we currently have. This could be subject to further change or additional measures that will require implementation. Scottish Golf has produced a readiness document to support you in reopening your clubhouse which can be accessed here. As with all of Scottish Golf’s guidance, this is subject to change.

For full details on all the Phase 3 changes please click here

Following the First Minister’s update on Thursday 2 July, Scottish Golf is now in a position to provide all Clubs with updated Phase 2 Guidance as Scotland continues to transition through its route map out of lockdown. The Scottish Golf guidance document has been updated and reviewed by appropriate Scottish Government channels and we would again ask that all clubs familiarise themselves with the key dates outlined in our updated Phase 2 Guidance. In anticipation of the wider re-opening of indoor hospitality venues, we have prepared a readiness guide to assist you with preparing your clubhouse for re-opening. The document is prepared based on the latest information we currently have. This could be subject to further change or additional measures that will require implementation. At this time it is our understanding that a target date of 15 July remains. As with all of Scottish Golf’s guidance, this is subject to change and will require final sign off from Government. This will not happen until nearer the time and we will continue to keep our clubs updated as and when we have further information available on this aspect. Get more details on this announcement at Scottish Golf