Before the announcement was made that the NSW/Victoria border is closing tonight, the club received criticism about its decision to not allow Victorian players.
While recognising the decision has impacted other local business, Purtill said there was more important things to consider.
‘‘We’re losing big dollars on this decision as well,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve lost about $140,000 of revenue over the three months we have had to be closed.
‘‘The majority of our visitors come from Melbourne and various parts of Victoria, but we had to make the right decision.
‘‘We even looked at going off the postcodes, but it proved far to difficult to do when trying to guarantee safety for everyone.
‘‘We have about 70 country interstate members, but right now the health and safety of our club members is paramount.
‘‘As I see it, a financial issue is far less important than health issues at this time.’’
The Deniliquin Golf Club pulled the pin on having Victorians using the club facilities on Wednesday last week.
The decision was made due to the current outbreak of Coronavirus cases in the state, which lead to yesterday’s decision to close the NSW and Victorian border from 11.59pm tonight.
Purtill highlighted the decision was made based on guidance from governing body Golf NSW.
‘‘We are following Golf New South Wales directions and we need to protect ourselves,’’ he said.
‘‘The age demographic of our club volunteers ranges from mid-60s to late 80s, so we are quite vulnerable to the virus.
‘‘Rita Barnes is a local golfer who is 93 years-old and she said to us ‘thank you for keeping me safe’.
‘‘My main concern was people who are unknowingly carrying the virus spreading it through our town without realising.
‘‘In my eyes, nobody should be coming to Deni under these conditions, not until this is all over.
‘‘We’ve had no cases and we want to do what we can to make sure it stays that way.’’
19°C