HAVING feared for their survival at the start of lockdown, clubs across the county are still reporting high demand more than three months after courses reopened.

It reflects the picture nationwide, with golf benefitting from being one of the first sports to come out of the coronavirus lockdown.

A surge in interest could have been predicted in May given the lack of alternatives available for leisure time.

But even with some patchy weather in the past fortnight, bookings for tee times have been busier than normal.

North Oxford have seen an increase in membership of about 12 per cent since lockdown was eased.

Golfers aged 18-35 and families have been big factors in the strong increase in participation.

Philip Morley, the club’s general manager, said: “I’ve been in golf all my life and I haven’t seen a spike like this at all in 50 years.

“It’s been such a quick increase.

“In the last 20 years there has been a steady decline and erosion of the sport.

“People have drifted off to other things, so this is really good to see.

“The key is to keep people enjoying it.”

The sudden increase comes at a time when the club’s future is uncertain, with the land designated for housing.

“I think it’s certainly something we can flag up,” Morley said.

“If there’s going to be an increase in population then sport facilities like this will be needed in the future.

“We are a community facility, a lot more goes on here than golf.”

While many clubs restricted access to non-members to start with in May, Hinksey Heights opted to open their doors to visitors immediately.

The result has seen the club’s membership jump by 20 per cent and the deficits from the seven-week closure have now been made up.

And arguably the biggest positive for the future has been a change in how they are viewed.

Director David Milne said: “It was very dark in March and April and most clubs were thinking ‘can we survive?’

“There are only two of us on the management team, so we can make decisions very quickly.

“Opening straight away was the best move we could have made.

“The other major contributing factor was a lot of people hadn’t played here for many years.

“They’ve seen the condition of the course compared to how it used to be.

“We have got over that reputation.

“We’re finding that people are coming back and bringing their friends with them.”

The picture is different at Burford, which has a 150-strong waiting list.

With the membership providing their core income, the prospects did not look as bleak in the spring.

They have taken a hit over the loss of society bookings, but members are still packing out the course.

General manager Andrew Lawrence does though believe it will be some time before the club is back to normal.

He said: “A lot of members for quite a long time were working from home or on furlough, so we were in peak demand.

“We were full from 7am to 7pm most days.

“We have taken some societies back now, but it’s quite low-key.

“That’s impacted us quite hard because of the restrictions on catering.

“We are being cautious because we’re not out of the woods yet.

“We’re not looking at it as everything’s perfect.

“We are probably not going to be back to normal until next April.”

CLUB RESULTS

Oxford Ladies

Cowley Cup Strokeplay: 1 J Tavinor (12) 72 nett, 2 C Fox (13) 73, 3 S Sadler (23) 76.

Allin Cup & Par: 1 J Tavinor (12) 0 (cb), 2 S Sadler (23) 0, 3 G Howard (21) -2.

Charity Stableford: 1 M Hewlett 36pts, 2 M Edwards 32 (cb), 3 S Sadler 32.

Hinksey Heights

Lidstone Trophy: 1 J Scott 73-11=62, 2 G Wheeler 86-14=72, 3 O Warner 91-17=74.