There are uncertain times ahead for the sport, from the tours cancelling events to clubs across the world closing. But what’s it like to part of the golf equipment industry as the coronavirus crisis deepens? We sat down with Stephanie Zinser, UK managing partner at Lynx Golf, to get the insider’s perspective…
Overall as a business are you able to continue to offer your normal service?
So far, so good. We have a very dedicated team of Lynxsters here who are still manning the office and are able to make and dispatch all our orders, including custom fit. We will have to see what happens over the next few days and weeks as I am sure some are bound to become infected with Covid-19, but we are keeping our paws crossed that we can keep going for everyone’s benefit.
You mention custom fitting there. This is a time of year when many golfers have fittings booked. Will these be running as usual?
We will undoubtedly have been affected, although none of our custom fit bookings made until this point have cancelled to my knowledge. We are making sure that our custom fit team do not see anyone unless they are well, and they certainly wouldn’t see any customers if they aren’t 100 per cent to their knowledge either. We all have to be thoughtful and mature about things.
How will it affect your staff and are you taking any new measures with staff working arrangements?
We currently have a mix of working from home, distancing between those working at the office, and gloves and lots of hand washing. We are lucky that we have four premises, two in which we can scatter our staff around, so nobody is bumping into anyone really. The team has got their ‘war effort’ spirit going, and even though some of our pre-books have sadly, and understandably, had to delay, we are using our time to gear up so that we can really motor once we get the all-clear from the situation as regards the virus spread slowing down or ceasing.
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In terms of stock do you have enough in or will you have to start looking at new avenues to get parts in?