Fort Erie dad builds backyard golf for twin daughters amid club closure

Despite being identical twins, Rachel and Renee are different in a couple of ways.

Somehow, we ended up with one righty and one lefty," said Chris Chevalier as he watched his daughters tee up their shots.

While they may have mismatched handedness, one thing they definitely have in common is a shared love of golf.

Which meant they were doubly disappointed when the province ordered golf courses to close as part of the ongoing pandemic lockdown restrictions.

They love being out on the course, so when it shut down I thought maybe I could do something that would let them keep on swinging, so this is what I came up with," said Chevalier, who built a pint-sized par-3 for his daughters to use in lieu of a proper course. The makeshift course comes with tee boxes (made from overturned solo cups), a generous fairway and some unforgiving rough along the edges.

At first I didn't have a proper cup, and the girls said they wanted to be able to putt also, so I dug out a little hole and buried a flower put in the ground so now there's a cup for them to putt into as well," said Chris.

The backyard golf has been a hit with the twins. They'll spend about three hours a day out here swinging the clubs."

Like many other avid golfers, Chris and his girls were both disappointed and confused by the order to shutter golf courses.

Outdoor activities are important right now, and with golf, it was something that we always felt safe doing," said Chris.

According to the National Golf Course Owners Association, which represents golf courses across Canada, there were 20 million rounds of golf played last year amid the pandemic restrictions, and no reported cases of COVID-19 transmission or outbreaks traced back to any golf courses.

A Change.org petition to lobby the government to reopen golf courses has racked up nearly 36,000 signatures, but so far the province has shown no interest in reversing the closure as it did with outdoor playgrounds.

In the meantime, courses like Whisky Run Golf Club in Port Colborne will bide their time and continue to promote the game as a safe, reliable outlet for vital recreation during the otherwise strict lockdown measures.

We were somewhat surprised by the closure because we thought last year we proved that we had created a safe environment to allow people to get out and get active," said Luke Nieuwland, co-owner and manager of Whisky Run. A round of golf is not only good for your physical health, but for mental health also, and that's important right now."

Like every other course operator across the province, Nieuwland scrambled last year to rearrange how the club operates in order to create a safe space for golfers.

We did a lot of things, like switching to online prepaid tee-times only so that there were no lineups at the pro shop, and having extra sanitization on the carts. It was all about reducing touch points and reducing in-person interactions," said Nieuwland.

While golfers were disappointed about the shutdown, it also had a negative economic impact for the many people who work at clubs across Ontario.

We're down to a minimum staff, just five people still working to maintain the course and make sure it doesn't get overgrown," said Nieuwland, who noted the club had to cancel all the golf lessons that were booked through the end of April. We've got no one working at the pro shop, no beer cart girls, and no cart kids."

With no end in sight to the lockdown restrictions, rather than playing a round of golf, the Chevaliers and club operators like Nieuwland will be playing a significantly less fun game: the waiting game.

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: This week the Leader looked at the both the economic and health impacts of the golf course closure.