The staff and management at Palmer Sea Reef were visited by the police and the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation on separate occasions over the past week to ensure that both the clubhouse and the golf course was following the recently implemented government guidelines surrounding COVID-19.

A full walk through of the clubhouse and review of on-course procedures was conducted by officers to get a complete understanding of what measures had been put into place just days after the guidelines were implemented. The officers reviewed all the signage as well as the explanations of the on-course precautions that were in place to protect both the staff and the golfers.

The staff were questioned regarding strategies that were used to enforce social distancing and discourage group gatherings property wide.

The Police and the officers from the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation were pleased with both the strategies that were implemented as well as the staff knowledge of what the changes meant. The workplace was given the green light to proceed with trading.

‘The safety of our staff and our guests is the highest priority for us under these exceptional circumstances’ says Ben Wood, General Manager Palmer Golf. ‘Promptly following the government announcements, we began rolling out strategies across all of the Palmer golf courses in line with the guidelines and focused on immediate training of all staff’.

These particular visits were not extended down to the golf course maintenance department, however, Course Superintendent Justin Mason had implemented several changes throughout his team in accordance with the guidelines. These included but were not limited to:

  • Staggered staff start times
  • Staggered staff breaks
  • Closure of the staff eating area
  • Group meetings replaced with one-on-one meetings

‘We are all facing daily unforeseen changes on a global level, we are trying to plan ahead but understand that things may change again tomorrow’ says Justin. ‘From Monday 30 March, I have split the maintenance team into two teams that will not cross paths. Each team will work four days on for 9.5 hours per day. With this strategy in place, it is my hope that if one team member gets unwell with the virus, we will be able to keep the course going with the second team’.

Over the past few weeks, Justin has tried to be mindful of the teams general well-being including their mental health. He has begun checking in with each team member daily to ask ‘Are you OK?’.

Mental health may be more important now than ever before. Check in with your teams too and remember, there are numerous tools out there which can be leaned on for support.

For further information and support visit:
https://www.ruok.org.au/
https://www.beyondblue.org.au/