Chris Van Der Merwe, Stellenbosch GC
around 8 million deaths – EVERY YEAR), for none of
which have we ever shut down the world’s economy.
The complex interconnectivity of human life and its
commercial activities has also been thrown into a very
clear focus. For one thing, it has proved that isolating
anything (especially government strategists) is a very
difficult goal to achieve.
We also need to remember that we are still largely
involved in what is little more than an educated guessing
game, in which our understanding of the virus at key levels
is still limited.
The rights and wrongs on the decisions made are highly
contentious. However, in this same context one is tempted
to ask that if HIV had chosen to step out onto the world
stage at this point in history, instead of in the early1980’s,
would the reaction have been to prohibit any form of
sexual contact and make everyone stay at home and shut
down all commercial activities?
All of this brings to mind a variation of a classic
conundrum in which you would play the role of the driver
of a train with 400 passengers. In this imaginary scenario,
you receive information that a terrorist group has tied
two people to the tracks and, in moments, you must
decide whether to derail the train and risk the lives of all
on board, or sacrifice those of the two souls on the tracks
and keep rolling.
In various governments’ thinking and in closing down their
economies, they have clearly chosen the first of these
options.
As a result, we now face a very serious problem in that
potentially millions of people could be left destitute or
starving through the lack of economic activity. There is
also the broader threat that the structural damage caused
by decisions made around the pandemic may well last for
generations.
However, all of the stats take on much stronger
resonances when seen in the context of something
personal and real.
In a feature for Business Day, Chris Van Der Merwe (GM at
Stellenbosch Golf Club) in his other role as the president
of CMASA (Club Managers’ Association South Africa)
commented to me as follows:
“Someone said that we are all in the same storm, albeit
in different boats.
“We approached the minister (of sport) because with
golf’s ‘boat’ we are confident that we can comply with
the regulatory requirements, at least as well as any
other sector that is open”.
“The real concern is that as so many clubs are NPOs,
they have quickly become marginal, to use your term,
and will close.
The following stats make for stark reading from a
recent survey of 180 clubs”:
11% of clubs cannot survive under current
circumstances
25% of clubs can survive for 1 month
41% of clubs can survive for 2-3 months
15% of clubs can survive for 4-6 months
2% of clubs can survive for 7-12 months
4% of clubs can survive for longer than 12 months”
Sobering numbers and the lockdown here lasted almost 70
days, but the actual damage done cannot be fully assessed
until the final casualty list has been submitted.
Clearly, not enough is understood about this virus, as
34 Destination Golf .TRAVEL