Inside Golf - September 2010

18
September 2010

www.insidegolf.com.au NEWS ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

A quick game’s a good game
DavidNewbery

AUSTRALIAN entrepreneur Greg Norman has suggested 12-hole golf courses could be the solution to solving slow play and player participation issues.

The Greg White Shark is the first to admit his idea is not original, but he believes it is worth consideration.

Of course, golfing traditionalists won’t even entertain the thought.

But the man who was world number one for 331 weeks in the 1980s and 1990s is adamant that slow play and the costs involved in playing golf is slowly suffocating the game, particularly in today’s economic climate.

“I think if we want more people playing golf we have got to figure out a way of speeding up the game of golf,” Norman said.

“The R&A is taking a proactive role on it right
now and it’s up to institutions like them and the
USGA to do that.”
The other burning issue is cost.

Norman said people are being far more cautious with disposable income following the economic downturn in 2008.

“It’s not across the board but there is only going to be a certain number of people who can afford to join high-end clubs, but there’s a higher percentage of people that would like to play the game but it’s just the cost,” Norman said.

“And people don’t have as much time as they used to.

“So, we have got to look at those issues and at speeding up the game.”

Inside Golf editor Richard Fellner, who attended this year’s Open Championship at St Andrews in Scotland, said slow play was a major concern for officials.

Fellner said fans grew restless as groups of players backed up on certain tee blocks throughout the tournament, most notably at the par- 3 11th.

The same thing happened at the US Masters, the US Women’s Open and numerous other tournaments.

Slow play is a concern at all levels of the game. Even the professionals – as was seen at the 11th hole at St Andrews – aren’t immune to its effects.

At the US Masters, commentators were critical of Tiger Woods, KJ Choi and Matt Kuchar, who took five hours and 45 minutes to complete a round.

Other groups were also put on the clock by the officials.

At the US Women’s Open, the last group in the third round teed off 20 minutes late and took 30 minutes to play the first hole.

The colourful Christina Kim, who played at this year’s Ladies Masters and likes a quick game, accused some players including Japanese golfer Sakura Yokomine of being slower than evolution.

Still, despite all the hand-wringing, strict policies and complaints it seems slow play has been the bane of the game since it started.

In 1870, Young Tom Morris, en-route to his third Open Championship title at Prestwick, took five hours to complete his round.

But he could argue the equipment he used was inferior and the golf course wasn’t as immaculately prepared as they are today.

And that brings us back to Norman who has suggested golf’s future could be golf courses with fewer holes.

The Shark and his golf design team recently designed a 12-hole golf course in Tijuana, Mexico.

“We have done that successfully at a beautiful location right on the Pacific Ocean.

“The developer wanted to maximise the value of the return for what the land value could give him.

“We had actually designed an 18-hole golf course, but we sat back and thought ‘why are people designing 18-hole golf courses’.

“Yes, we can do a nine-hole course, which very few people have done. We have done one in India, but very few people really want to do it.

“So we thought why not design a 12-hole golf course where you can get six and six.

“You are not going to have a (major) tournament there – it’s for the membership and the residential community.

“So why not do it that way? That way we can increase the speed of play, you are maximising the return on the guy’s investment because he is going to get more lots (blocks of land), more people coming in to buy and at the same time people can still play the game of golf in two and a half or three hours.

“So this guy did it and it turned out to be successful.

“It’s one of those things golf has to think about because the cost of building a golf course keeps going out and out.

“The cost of buying land keeps going out – development is always going to happen no matter where you are in the world because the population is growing.

“And besides, golf is an amenity they like.

“It’s always going to be there so we have to try and apply another option for a developer.

“We picked up on it [the idea] from someone else and nobody had really implemented it.

“It was done over 100 years ago, but it hasn’t been done today with modern technology.

“That is maximising a golf course in a limited area — so we are thinking outside of the box because you have to do that.

“But it has to be done in a proper fashion and a sustainable fashion.

“So, we have got to think about it and do things like 12-hole golf courses and other applications that work.

“Golfers have been hurt in a lot of ways by the economic crisis that started in 2007 and 2008, so we have to make sure how to reposition golf to a degree.”;

YOUR SAY

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