For the first time in its over 100-year history the Tamworth Golf Club has shut its doors after golf became the latest domino to fall as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
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One of the last sporting pursuits remaining, following tighter restrictions on outdoor gatherings and self-isolation of the elderly, the national and state body advised all clubs to close until further notice.
In a statement Golf NSW said: "We all understand the health benefits, both mental and physical our game provides, however the government has listed the four reasons in which you may leave your home; for work, exercise, food, and for medical reasons".
"Sadly, under the current restrictions, sport is considered non-essential and therefore not exempt."
Posting on social media, the Tamworth Golf Club said "it is with a heavy heart that effective immediately the Tamworth Golf Club will be closed until further notice."
The Longyard expressed similar sentiments posting "It is with great sadness that we are going to have to temporarily close the Longyard Golf Course due to COVID-19 restrictions".
The recommendation to stop all golfing activity comes after both clubs were forced to close their clubhouses and restaurants last week.
TGC CEO Andrew Graham said he had been expecting that, but was a bit surprised in respect to the sport itself.
"Mainly due to the fact that there's plenty of measures you can put in place to keep people apart," he said.
The club had introduced a raft of measures to adhere to the safety recommendations including all competition cards to be scored by the players, modifications to the holes to ensure there is no touching of either the pin or the holes, removing rakes from bunkers, extending tee times and limiting carts to one person per cart.
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"We did everything we thought we could, obviously because we wanted people to have an outlet to continue to be able to pursue," Graham said.
"It's disappointing, but we're also part of a community and if that's what they feel we're going to have to do then we have to do that."
But it is unprecedented.
"We've never been shut in 127 years, except for the time we moved from our previous premises down here," Graham said.
He expressed concern about the financial impact the closure will have.
"We've had some hard financial times, we've finally got back on a steady footing and last week I had to stand down 20 staff and the majority of the rest of them today (Tuesday)," he said.
"Some of the government measures have obviously been great and they will certainly help but it is still a fair way off down the track when you're paying 15 staff, to get to those government measures."
The hardest part is the costs don't just go away because the club is shut down.
"It's not as simple as just shutting the doors, turning the lights off and coming back in whatever period of time it is," Graham said.
"You've still got all sorts of other different bits and pieces and costs that come along with maintaining a golf course, and that's not to the standard of play, because we'd certainly scale it back from there."
"[But] You can't just let the grass grow and then mow it down when it's time to start again."
But he believes they will be okay, and looking at the positive said the course will get a bit of a break to recover from the drought.
