At least three golf courses in the Kelowna area will be open Wednesday, including Shannon Lake which is taking its second swing at it, since the onset of the global pandemic.

"We just felt that it wasn't safe at that time," said Shannon Lake manager John Jacoby, referring to his decision to close back down after a few days open in March. Since then, there have been a lot of discussions between different golf courses.

Photo credit: NowMediaJohn Jacoby

As a result, it sounds like more than just a few golf courses will soon be open. "We've all come into an agreement on some seriously strict protocols," explained Jacoby, "that we will be all implementing over the next few weeks as the courses slowly start to re-open."

Photo Credit: NowMedia

The local health authority is not prohibiting the re-opening of golf courses, but the statement they provided to KelownaNow certainly doesn't come across like an endorsement. 

"Interior Health continues to join the provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, in our strong recommendation to people to stay home and avoid any non-essential services," reads the statement. "However golf courses are not specifically closed."

The statement goes on to say that businesses, including golf courses, can continue to operate provided that they can follow the provincial direction to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Jacoby said there has been criticism about his decision to re-open, but that was to be expected. "There will be some negativity," he acknowledged, "but overwhelmingly the response has been quite positive."

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"We believe that golf is an excellent activity that we can perform safely," he said, "that we can be safe and do all the social distancing and do all of the requirements that the public health officials have suggested and make it a fun, safe activity."

At Shannon Lake, one of the protocols is to discourage the use of carts, except for people with medical reasons to use one. "We are going to let carts out," Jacoby explained, "but it's going to be one person per cart unless they're in a household together."

Other differences golfers are going to notice are closed putting greens, closed hitting cage, no ball washers, and people are being discouraged from showing up until 15 minutes before their tee time. "And as soon as they're done, we want them off the property," he added, "we don't want them loitering around."

Other golf courses opening Wednesday include Kelowna Springs and Shadow Ridge with more expected to follow.