As you know, last Thursday the Ontario Government announced that the province would remain locked down under the stay-at-home order until June 2.

 

The entire golf industry was extremely disappointed to hear this news and frustrated to hear the Premier’s comments characterizing golfers as irresponsible. We all know that golfers are law-abiding Ontarians who follow the rules and understand the need to protect this province’s health care capacity. Medical experts broadly agree that outdoor activities like golf are safe. In fact, there is no known example of transmission of COVID-19 that has been traced back to golf.

 

Beyond that, we know that mental and physical health are declining in Ontario. Our advocacy efforts to the government have been focused on and reinforcing the message that golf is safe and an obvious solution to help Ontarians during the current crisis.

 

It is critical right now for Ontarians to get our golf courses open. Recently, a collaboration of key golf industry stakeholders have come forward to build on initial advocacy efforts with a new campaign running alongside our current efforts to convince the government to change course on this decision immediately. This campaign will be oriented around these key messages:

 

This campaign will involve government relations, using third-party experts to raise the profile of this issue, and speaking with media outlets about the importance of getting golf opened. In fact, on Friday, Golf Ontario made several appearances on different media outlets to highlight this issue and call for golf to be reopened as soon as possible. We will continue to elevate our message and are planning several tactics to draw even more attention to this problem early next week.

 

There are several ways you will be able to help – we will reach out to you shortly with an update outlining the ways you, golfers and supporters can help to convince the government to follow the science and open up the outdoors for the health of Ontarians.

Ontarians must come together and advocate for evidence-based opening of our outdoors – for our health. If you would like to lend your support, we encourage you to call your local Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP).

Click here for MPP contact information .

You may find that some MPP’s are supportive of reopening golf and all outdoor recreational activities. We encourage you to be respectful and constructive with your conversations.