Dear Members,
By now it is assumed that the majority of you are aware of the Travel Restrictions relating to Non-Essential travel that were recently put in place by the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Mike Farnworth.
Initially, the BC-wide restrictions were to keep people within their own regional health authorities. However, on Friday it was made official that the Vancouver Coastal Health region (this is the region the SVGC falls within) and the Fraser Health region would be treated as one region during this non-essential travel ban. For more information re this order please refer to the following link:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/covid-19/travel/current
Following this announcement, the communities of Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, and the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) released a statement via the Mayor’s of each community asking that anyone from a community outside of the Sea to Sky postpone their leisure or recreational travel to Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, and the SLRD until after May 25th.
Karen Elliott, the Squamish Mayor stated that “We urge Lower Mainland and North Shore residents to not travel to the Sea to Sky region for recreation as we work our way back from being a COVID-19 hot spot and to prevent transmission between our communities. Like you, we want to get to the other side of these restrictions so that our local businesses and citizens can welcome you back with confidence and excitement. We ask you to help us get through this last push by making a selfless choice and staying close to home.” For full details please see the following link;
https://www.whistler.ca/media/news/essential-travel-only-sea-sky-communities-until-may-25
The Squamish Valley Golf Club leases the land we operate on from the District of Squamish and it behooves us to be community-minded in our operations. As such, effective as of Monday the 26th April we will not be taking Daily Green Fee bookings from golfers outside of the Sea to Sky Region for the period extending to the 25th of May. For purposes of clarity, the S2S region for us will be defined as Lions Bay to Pemberton. Bookings that are already in place for the week of the 26th April to the 2nd May will remain but an email will be sent each evening to the tee sheet on the following day to remind them of the non-essential travel restrictions and the wishes of the Local Governments of the S2S communities. During this period we will respect the decision of any golfer, whether they choose to play or cancel.
Our intentions behind the above-detailed actions are to assist our community in reducing the flow of non-essential travel to the S2S communities. Our three communities are small in number and Covid-19 cases have per capita, been high.
So what does this mean for you, our members?
We will not be preventing members in good standing with the Club from attending the Club for the purpose of golf. Our non-local membership attendance is insignificant in number compared to the Daily Green fee traffic that we receive. Temporarily ceasing bookings for daily green fee players that reside outside of the S2S will have a noticeable effect on attendance here at the Club. Applying the same restrictions to the minority number of our membership that resides outside of Squamish will not.
However, it is incumbent on the Club to remind all members of the following;
- Non-essential travel outside of your own community is currently not advised and the S2S Communities, via their Mayor’s, are actively requesting that people avoid the S2S area.
- Whatever your decision re golf at the Club in the period up to 25th May, it will be respected.
- During this period the Club will not permit member-guest play if the guests reside outside of the S2S region. This takes effect immediately. Bookings made on or before the 25th of April will be exempt from this.
The information above that pertains to Daily Green Fee play will be communicated on our website on the home page (via pop up), on the booking page, and in the email confirmation of booking as well as the booking reminder that is emailed 36 hours prior to play.
These decisions re our operations were not arrived at easily. The Board and Management deliberated over various options and scenarios and came to the conclusion that taking the above action would be effective, responsible and would demonstrate a proactive, community-minded approach in an unprecedented situation.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors of the Squamish Valley Golf Club,
Scott Wengi
General Manager
