Golf in the Olympics - what format would work?

[badgermat]

Personally, I'd have gone for a 9-hole speed-golf tournament.

Each round would be 30 to 40 mins only, so they could easily fit qualifiers plus a proper medallist final into the schedule. It would be TV friendly too, and fairly athletic compared to the standard game.

Better yet, it's an entirely amateur branch of the sport so would likely be seen as a proper achievement by competitors. And it would leave the prissy pros to focus on the majors.

bm

 

[Garush34]

If they want to make it a team event they should do it like they do for the International Crown they play on the LPGA. Its match play but doesn't mean the big names go out straight away and has some drama throughout the three days. Would obviously need to be adapted slightly to allow for a bronze medal match. I can remember exactly how the International Crown played out after the round robin stage.

 

[calluma11]

Had a strange dream about this last night, in fact.

Whilst I know it's certainly not the time/place to try and get creative, or even make a new style of golf.. It seemed interesting.

Basically golfers play a knock out golf format, a bit like in the cycling elimination race, where the worst sprinter of a round is knocked out. The worst score on the first hole gets knocked out, and the worst score of the combined first two holes is then knocked out, then the worst score of the combined first three holes is knocked on.. So on and so forth..
Potential to see big names out early if they have a bad tee shot or penalty strokes.

However, the more I type down, the worse the idea seems. Golfers out first will have to watch (and play) not knowing where they stand, and the last golfers may only play a handful of holes. Guess that's why it was only a dream.

*slowly backs away to another thread*

EDIT: In fact this is just stupid... golf scores do not vary nearly enough to make this work hole by hole.. unless you wait until there's a dead cert last place and then they're eliminated

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

What he said. No matter how you package it and how many shot tracers you use, 72 hole strokeplay is a very boring game to watch for the vast majority of people.

To be fair, you could say that about lots of sports at the Olympics. Dressage, shooting, sailing etc hardly gets my pulse racing.

Also some very strange ideas on here, I'd love to know which forummer is selling the wacky baccy so I could "grass them up"

:rofl:

 

[Alucard]

The stroke play format is fine, those that do not watch golf will not watch anyway, I do not watch floor exercises or synchronised swimming etc and never will.
The only thing I would change is that amateurs should be playing for the medals and not the pros, the same goes for the Tennis.

 

[Region3]

I like the idea of entering as a team mentioned above. Pick your players for different events and make them a shorter format.

Having watched a fair bit of it it was better than I thought it would be, helped by the top 3 being being amongst those that thought the Olympics were special rather than just another tournament.

 

[Hacker Khan]

To be fair, you could say that about lots of sports at the Olympics. Dressage, shooting, sailing etc hardly gets my pulse racing.

Also some very strange ideas on here, I'd love to know which forummer is selling the wacky baccy so I could "grass them up"

:rofl:

Sailing then yes, it is not really a spectator sport in any way shape or form unless you are a sailor yourself. But at least with shooting and even dressage to an extent (along with most Olympic sports) you can watch it for an hour and understand what is going on, who is top, who will get eliminated, there is a narrative, a bit of tension as the scores get awarded and then it's over. With 4 days of stroke play it just kind of goes on and on and on.

 

[Norrin Radd]

Sailing then yes, it is not really a spectator sport in any way shape or form unless you are a sailor yourself. But at least with shooting and even dressage to an extent (along with most Olympic sports) you can watch it for an hour and understand what is going on, who is top, who will get eliminated, there is a narrative, a bit of tension as the scores get awarded and then it's over. With 4 days of stroke play it just kind of goes on and on and on.

i would rather watch 172 holes of golf than 2 seconds of dressage.

 

[USER1999]

Thing is, the format has to be attractive to the top pros, so that they turn up, and then it has to be attractive to the American TV market. Any format that's totally new and novel probably isn't going to work.

 

[Slab]

Sailing then yes, it is not really a spectator sport in any way shape or form unless you are a sailor yourself. But at least with shooting and even dressage to an extent (along with most Olympic sports) you can watch it for an hour and understand what is going on, who is top, who will get eliminated, there is a narrative, a bit of tension as the scores get awarded and then it's over. With 4 days of stroke play it just kind of goes on and on and on.

I think there's a danger of wrongly comparing day one of golf to the latter stages of other events in terms of tension etc

There's naff all tension or narrative in the early stages of the majority of sports on show even the commentator couldn't really be bothered with qualifying for womens track heats yesterday (didn't even announce one winner has she crossed the line)

 

[Tiger]

What's the best golf we get to watch? In my view its the Ryder Cup. Crowds a bit more partisan and golf a lot more exciting especially in a fourball. I agree with those who say 9 holes. Tennis is over 3 sets for the rounds up to the medal matches and it should be the same for golf.

It should be a team event. I want high fives, hugs and fist bumps. I want it to be better ball so we see more risky golf shots.

I also think there should be groups like hockey and the sevens. 8 groups of 4 teams top 2 qualify for knockout. 2 matches a day so by the end of day 3 you've got the contenders for the medal matches who play 18 holes on day 4 :thup:

 

[Deleted member 1147]

They could have several events over the course of a few days, each medal decided over 18 holes, and max'm 2 men & 2 women per team:

Men's individual
Men's 4BBB
Men's 4somes

Women's individual
Women's 4BBB
Women's 4somes

Mixed 4BBB
Mixed 4somes