Will 9 Holes become Golf's new 'Standard Round'

[2blue]

With social-distancing likely to be with us for some time & 2-ball tee times looking to be the norm, Clubs will need to find ways of giving all their Members opportunities to play.
The obvious answer would seem to be to allow play from 1st & 10th tee. Would also give everyone chance to get 'golf fit' again, if that will ever happen for some of us. hahaha
Separate Front-9 / Back-9 Comps could be played if combining them was felt to give one or the other an advantage, though it shouldn't do.
Thoughts please.........

 

[Wabinez]

Not all courses are set up for 2 loops of 9, so don’t think it’ll work.

i can see the reasoning behind it though

 

[2blue]

Not all courses are set up for 2 loops of 9, so don’t think it’ll work.

i can see the reasoning behind it though

Yeah, more tricky for some Clubs. Just need a safe way of getting to the 10th there & back..... not insurmountable if you want all members to get a chance to play.

 

[HankMarvin]

Would that mean they would give us half of our fees back ?

I think it would be a non starter for most clubs and wouldn't go down well with members

 

[ger147]

With social-distancing likely to be with us for some time & 2-ball tee times looking to be the norm, Clubs will need to find ways of giving all their Members opportunities to play.
The obvious answer would seem to be to allow play from 1st or 10th tee. Would also give everyone chance to get 'golf fit' again, if that will ever happen for some of us. hahaha
Separate Front-9 / Back-9 Comps could be played if combining them was felt to give one or the other an advantage, though it shouldn't do.
Thoughts please.........

No.

 

[2blue]

Would that mean they would give us half of our fees back ?

I think it would be a non starter for most clubs and wouldn't go down well with members

Maybe not half but could possibly be greatly reduced if theres a big influx from folk investigating golf as an alternative to their normal activities that may not start up for some time. Thinking of rugby, football, cricket, netball, tennis etc. Could be the way forward for golf with bigger memberships & lower annual Subs.
But YES.... some ingrained attitudes would need to change.
& howdody-do...... long time no see

 

[2blue]

Don't know what why people are trotting out this arbitrary "2" figure.

3 can easily play and keep distancing, 4 probably can too.

I think it's because 2 is the obvious number to offer up, if golf is to have a cat-in-hells chance of restarting in the near future. Could go to 3 if 2 is seen to work ok. Half a round of golf is a lot better than no golf at all.

 

[clubchamp98]

Don't know what why people are trotting out this arbitrary "2" figure.

3 can easily play and keep distancing, 4 probably can too.

Might be that government recommendations atm are no groups of more than two people unless you live together.
This might change in time.
I agree with you that we just need to be treated like adults.
I know some won’t ,but they will do that elsewhere not just golf.

 

[Imurg]

I think the theory behind just allowing 2 balls is that pace of play will be similar so less likely to have bunching at bottlenecks around the course.
With 2,3 and 4 balls on the course every group is going to move at different speeds and cause queuing - which is exactly what they don't want to cause...

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Maybe not half but could possibly be greatly reduced if theres a big influx from folk investigating golf as an alternative to their normal activities that may not start up for some time. Thinking of rugby, football, cricket, netball, tennis etc. Could be the way forward for golf with bigger memberships & lower annual Subs.
But YES.... some ingrained attitudes would need to change.
& howdody-do...... long time no see

If there is the big influx of beginners into clubs as you say then yes, 9 holes could become the new standard as it will still take 4 hours to get round. Especially on a course like mine where there is heather everywhere and it is very easy to lose balls if you go off the fairway.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Might be that government recommendations atm are no groups of more than two people unless you live together.
This might change in time.
I agree with you that we just need to be treated like adults.
I know some won’t ,but they will do that elsewhere not just golf.

I didn't realise the government had put a number on the size of groups. I thought it was no mixing with people outside of your own household.

 

[clubchamp98]

I think the theory behind just allowing 2 balls is that pace of play will be similar so less likely to have bunching at bottlenecks around the course.
With 2,3 and 4 balls on the course every group is going to move at different speeds and cause queuing - which is exactly what they don't want to cause...

Isn’t that just as true of 2balls though.
Some players are just slow and others are not.
You are right that there will be less people queuing.!

 

[Imurg]

Isn’t that just as true of 2balls though.
Some players are just slow and others are not.
You are right that there will be less people queuing.!

They are but you've got more chance of keeping things flowing with just 2 people in each group.
A slow 2 ball will still be vastly quicker than a slow 4 ball - and that will cause even more bunching.

 

[clubchamp98]

I didn't realise the government had put a number on the size of groups. I thought it was no mixing with people outside of your own household.

I might be wrong but am pretty sure they were the original recommendation.
Anyone know for sure.

 

[Imurg]

I didn't realise the government had put a number on the size of groups. I thought it was no mixing with people outside of your own household.

Going to be a lot of singles playing then.......

 

[clubchamp98]

They are but you've got more chance of keeping things flowing with just 2 people in each group.
A slow 2 ball will still be vastly quicker than a slow 4 ball - and that will cause even more bunching.

That depends who’s in the two ball!
We have some very slow guys who always want to play in the morning.
I have never played in a four where they were all slow it’s always one or two.
So if they hold up faster playing pairs I can see there being problems .
A fourball will usually slow quicker players down .
Swing and roundabouts I suppose.
Just be good to get out again.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Where are people getting this thing about playing in 2balls only? So far there has been nothing from the government about what will happen when the lockdown is lifted. It is just as easy for a 2 ball to get close to each other as it is for a 3 or 4 ball. People need to apply their own common sense (which sadly seems to be lacking) and if playing golf keep your distance! I'm hoping 4 balls will be allowed but will wait to see what happens in future announcements.

 

[pokerjoke]

This 2 ball rubbish is just nonsense
How can a 3 acre site like our Tesco have 200 people on it in various places but a 500 acre site can’t have 72 on it in various places.

 

[garyinderry]

We played the week before lockdown in 4 balls quite happily keeping our distance from each other. Touching elbows, no rakes, no touching flag.

We can easily go back to this. We paid for the comp by using contactless through the window. I'm sure we would all be happy to give up comps this year if we can just get back out on the grass.

4 ball golf can be a simple enough thing to work.

Book online
Arrive and meet at the door of shop.
Move to putting green.
Move to tee
Leave after the game.

You arrive and stay in your group while keeping a safe distance.
Dont mix with other groups.
If you bunch on the course. Stay 25yards from the tee till it clears.

 

[2blue]

This is all very easy for us to understand as golfer but you need to remember that these Polititians, as far as I know, are not golfers. They've struggled enough to understand that whole-scale testing was a good idea, so gonna be a tough one explaining how 3 or 4 folk can socially distance whilst heading for the same wee hole in a field. ??