*England Golf instructed all golf clubs to close following Government restrictions imposed on March 23 after this article was written. See more here

UNLIKE the vast majority of sports in the Bradford district, golf is continuing for now - just not as we know it.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the shutdown of most sporting activity but, at the time of writing, golf courses in the area currently remain open to play.

However, the Bradford Union has had to cancel its Winter Alliance competition, with the event held at Branshaw Golf Club on Wednesday the last one of those.

Bradford Union secretary David Peat is hopeful that some league and knockout matchplay fixtures can still go ahead when the competitive summer season is due to start in May, though is less confident about strokeplay events with bigger fields.

And he is worried about the financial impact the virus will have on clubs not being able to hold social functions.

He said: "We've taken the decision to cancel all competitions until the end of April, which covers the rest of the Alliance season.

"At some of the bigger clubs, you can end up with a congregation of 140 or 150 people at those events.

"We've got three inter-district junior matches scheduled for Easter. They've only been postponed for now but I doubt they'll be played.

"There's been discussions within the Yorkshire Inter-District Union over the situation and we'll just have to keep tabs on it as we move into the summer.

"Obviously a lot of us are in the relevant age group too (over-70s who are most at risk from the coronavirus)."

While golf is still allowed out on the course, the game's authorities have issued guidelines to reduce the risk of infection.

They include maintaining a minimum of two metres between playing partners, playing in smaller groupings and removing rakes from the course. Flagsticks should be kept in the hole at all times when putting and not be touched, with some clubs having adapted hole cups to facilitate this.

With the Government having advised against social gatherings, golf club's are facing financial hits due to their clubhouses not being used.

Peat said: "Many clubs have had to cancel social events and a lot of them rely on that kind of thing, so there could be some long term financial implications for clubs.

"Even if things like Sunday lunches are curtailed, that will cause financial problems.

"We're trying to follow the Government, Public Health England and England Golf's advice, and having a big group of people in a clubhouse is very much against their guidelines."

With clubhouse activity set to be, at the very least, reduced over the coming months, what about competitions and matters on the course?

Peat said: "We could potentially run knockouts and league matches where the individuals just meet in the car park, play their matches one v one or two v two, then go home (without entering the clubhouse).

"That wouldn't make much difference I wouldn't have thought. After all, Professor Chris Whitty (Chief Medical Officer for England) has been saying that people need exercise, they're not banned from going outside.

"But I'm not holding out much hope for full competitions to be up and running by May. I'm an eternal optimist, so I will plan for it, and I have started doing sheets for the Amateur Strokeplay (usually held in early June).

"But if it's cancelled it's cancelled, we're not going to go against (Government) recommendations.

"We are looking at a few different alternatives, but we can't just say we'll run the back half of the scratch league for example, as we still might not be playing by July.

"The worst case scenario might be that we have to write the whole season off."

On a more positive note, Peat said: "It's only mid-March so there's still a long time to go until the end of the season, and we'll just hope things improve.

"It's a different scenario to say, the Tokyo Olympics, where they're planning for around 100,000 people.

"We're talking about a couple of hundred, so we can wait to make decisions."