May 7, 2020 by Hilary Jenison (photos courtesy of SSCC)
South Shore Country Club (SSCC) is quickly preparing to open with the hopes of opening the course to golfers this Saturday, May 9th. Governor Charlie Baker is expected to announce today that Massachusetts golf courses, both public and private, will be allowed to open on a limited basis. As the state continues to grapple with the coronavirus outbreak, restaurants and indoor areas will remain closed.
According to Kevin Whalen, Executive Director of SSCC, “We are working quickly to ensure we are in compliance with the new guidelines, we are finalizing our action plan with Town officials and hope to open by Saturday.”
The golf course is in great shape and ready for golfers to hit the links. However, there will be restrictions to ensure social distance is kept among golfers. For example, the clubhouse and bathrooms will be closed, golfers will be required to pre-pay, no carts will be allowed, and tee times will be 15-minutes apart. The full Massachusetts Golf re-opening guidelines can be found here.
Christine Smith, SSCC Management Committee Chair, “The course is in great shape due to the virtually non-existent winter, the great care of our crews and lack of use over the past seven weeks. We are excited to be able to re-open to the community.”
Whalen added, “Our crews have been taking every precaution over the past few weeks to keep social distance while maintaining our course – we did some repair work on the 6th hole and also added some new traps on the course thanks to some fundraising efforts we were able to secure last year. The course looks beautiful.”
Whalen joked, “Over the past few weeks, we’ve nicknamed the course ‘Hingham Arboretum’ with so many people out walking the course ... we're excited to get back to golfing."
The Greenside Grille at SSCC will remain open for take-out only.
The phones at SSCC have already been very busy, with everyone anxious to get out on the course. For more information on booking tee times, visit the SSCC website https://www.southshorecc.com.