Margin Call: NSW golf courses to reopen after virus ban confusion

Some NSW golfers were teed off at news of an apparent ban.

“Fore!” NSW golfers will be back on courses from today, so anyone else out exercising ought be warned of wayward balls.

Golf courses are set to reopen starting from Wednesday after 2GB broadcaster, and keen golfer, Ray Hadley inquired with authorities as to just how the ban came into force.

It emerged the ban arose from a “miscommunication”.

On Tuesday night NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller and the Premier Gladys Berejiklian advised Hadley the ban was to be lifted from Wednesday by Sports Minister Geoff Lee.

The ban was announced on Monday, followed by a confusing 24 hours for players who had hoped to play through the coronavirus crisis.

There had been a message between the Department of Sport in NSW and Golf NSW saying “you should stop playing golf”.

“The Premier knew nothing about it (the ban), the (acting) sports minister Geoff Lee knew even less about it,” Hadley found.

“The Police Commissioner and the Premier view it as exercise,” he said.

“They are putting it all right,” Hadley said.

“It is really big news because there had been a lot of drama over the last 24 hours about golf clubs being closed when they were observing the rules already.

“It appears among all the drama we’ve gone through there was a miscommunication from the Department of Sport, the Golf NSW which caused golf clubs to panic, now the Premier, the Police Commissioner and the Minister for Sport have put it all right,” Hadley told 2GB.

Golfers will be required to observe social distancing which will involve playing groups of two, not four, along with separate carts.

Clubs will be asking members over 70 to stay at home in self-isolation.

Club houses will remain closed.

The decision could see Victorian residents cross the Murray River for their fix.