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

[Liverbirdie]

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'm desparate to get out there again, even just for 9.

I'd even consider shacking up with StuC for a few months if you had "household tee times", it's that bad.

 

[Liverbirdie]

What difference will it make to the numbers on the course if playing 18 holes or two lots playing only nine?

Some courses are packed out from 7.30 tull 4.00 pm in summer when a comp on, so if it did go to two balls, there would be many that couldnt play, unless they were going to play right up until 10pm at night for the comp.

9 holes only would negate a lot of that, though.

Not all courses, BTW, but some are booked solid of a Saturday by members.

Given the choice of no golf, or 2 balls and 9 holes only, I'd be picking the latter.

 

[rosecott]

Some courses are packed out from 7.30 tull 4.00 pm in summer when a comp on, so if it did go to two balls, there would be many that couldnt play, unless they were going to play right up until 10pm at night for the comp.

9 holes only would negate a lot of that, though.

Not all courses, BTW, but some are booked solid of a Saturday by members.

Given the choice of no golf, or 2 balls and 9 holes only, I'd be picking the latter.

The advice being circulated suggests that there will be "no comps", social golf only until the advice changes.

 

[Reemul]

After 5 weeks I understand the reasons and thinking behind lock down but i find it hard to reconsile that I have been in work 6 days a week since the lock down was introduced in a company with over 150 people on site, I come home each night and take the dog out for a walk for 1 hour where i pass maybe another 60 - 70 people and then three times a week I go shopping where there are in excess of 100 people and very haphazard distancing taking place. And dispite all of this it is being suggested that I can not be trusted to play golf in a group of more than 2 people.

And yet for me and my family we have, my wife hasn't been away from the home for 5 weeks except walk to the fields near our house and the same for me, I have hardly come in to contact with anyone at all, food deliveries as well.

Now not everyone will be able to socially distance as much but a lot will and will need to continue to. We cannot go down the route of oh look because they can't or don't neither should we, there lies disaster.

 

[Liverbirdie]

The advice being circulated suggests that there will be "no comps", social golf only until the advice changes.

Even with social golf, there will be lots of people who still want to play of a Saturday, if that's their main or normal day - some people need permission from their spouses, even in this day and age.

 

[Grant85]

I think clubs just have to do what they can, when and if guidelines are issued.

On a wider point, I personally see 12 holes as being a pretty good happy medium to help golf participation generally.

12 holes should allow;
* a decent variety of golf
* reasonable time to play with a round targeting between 2 and 2.5 hours.
* tee off in competitions on midweek evenings after work up to about 1930 in the summer, rather than rushing to see off by 1800.
* 24 holes is a good number for a 2 round competition or finals day. Or for those who have the time to play longer.
* 24 holes would also be good for a day out to play 2 courses or have 2 rounds somewhere

And of course the main benefits of a 12 hole course - 1/3 less land required by golf clubs, 1/3 less golf course to maintain, fertilise, cut, water etc. So ultimately a less costly sport to play.

Clubs could sell off excess land or repurpose it.

Problem we have here is that a lot of courses in the UK are traditional out & back and won't lend themselves to being adapted to a 12 holer without a fair bit of re-routing. People also very attached to their home course that has probably been in place for 100 or more years so very few clubs going to sanction such a big change until it's too late and by then, you probably have very few options in terms of re-routing or making the most of the land you no longer need.

But I do think ruling bodies should at least open this up as an option and not insist on all competition rounds being 9 or 18 holes.

 

[GB72]

I think that, however unpalatable it may be, clubs may have to consider something like this. With people on furlough there is going to be more demand for tee times over the next few weeks. If, and this is a big if, the guidelines being touted around the internet are anywhere near correct, we are going to be looking at 2 balls with 10 minutes between groups. Just for ease of calculation, that means 120 golfers out in a day but many clubs have memberships of 500 or more. So, how do you be fair to everyone. OK not everyone is going to want to play every day but there will be more people looking to get out the house if they have been furloughed so how is that going to be dealt with. Do you limit the number of times each member can play in a week to stop those who are quick off the mark booking multiple times, do you limit rounds to 9 holes. Our club has 27 holes with 3 start points and so limiting it to 9 holes would allow 360 golfers out in a day which is probably everyone who wants to play. Do you do nothing and leave it to the members to book. How would it feel if, despite your best efforts, you could not get one of those 60 slots each day. Do some of your club's benefits for the captain, committee etc stand as I believe some clubs allow them to book tee times before everyone else (think that is just the captain at my club).

From my understanding, at my club it will be a free for all and we shall see how that pans out.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

I think that, however unpalatable it may be, clubs may have to consider something like this. With people on furlough there is going to be more demand for tee times over the next few weeks. If, and this is a big if, the guidelines being touted around the internet are anywhere near correct, we are going to be looking at 2 balls with 10 minutes between groups. Just for ease of calculation, that means 120 golfers out in a day but many clubs have memberships of 500 or more. So, how do you be fair to everyone. OK not everyone is going to want to play every day but there will be more people looking to get out the house if they have been furloughed so how is that going to be dealt with. Do you limit the number of times each member can play in a week to stop those who are quick off the mark booking multiple times, do you limit rounds to 9 holes. Our club has 27 holes with 3 start points and so limiting it to 9 holes would allow 360 golfers out in a day which is probably everyone who wants to play. Do you do nothing and leave it to the members to book. How would it feel if, despite your best efforts, you could not get one of those 60 slots each day. Do some of your club's benefits for the captain, committee etc stand as I believe some clubs allow them to book tee times before everyone else (think that is just the captain at my club).

From my understanding, at my club it will be a free for all and we shall see how that pans out.

This thing about 2 balls seems to be pure speculation as is the 10 minute tee times. Somebody somewhere must have mentioned it and it now seems to be taken as the rule. I have seen nothing from any official source about this and I think that if 4 people on a golf hole cannot keep social distancing rules then they should not be back on the course, period. Likewise if they get to the next tee and the group in front is still there, it's really not that difficult for people to stand a couple of metres apart.

 

[Liverbirdie]

I think clubs just have to do what they can, when and if guidelines are issued.

On a wider point, I personally see 12 holes as being a pretty good happy medium to help golf participation generally.

12 holes should allow;
* a decent variety of golf
* reasonable time to play with a round targeting between 2 and 2.5 hours.
* tee off in competitions on midweek evenings after work up to about 1930 in the summer, rather than rushing to see off by 1800.
* 24 holes is a good number for a 2 round competition or finals day. Or for those who have the time to play longer.
* 24 holes would also be good for a day out to play 2 courses or have 2 rounds somewhere

And of course the main benefits of a 12 hole course - 1/3 less land required by golf clubs, 1/3 less golf course to maintain, fertilise, cut, water etc. So ultimately a less costly sport to play.

Clubs could sell off excess land or repurpose it.

Problem we have here is that a lot of courses in the UK are traditional out & back and won't lend themselves to being adapted to a 12 holer without a fair bit of re-routing. People also very attached to their home course that has probably been in place for 100 or more years so very few clubs going to sanction such a big change until it's too late and by then, you probably have very few options in terms of re-routing or making the most of the land you no longer need.

But I do think ruling bodies should at least open this up as an option and not insist on all competition rounds being 9 or 18 holes.

Whoa, there fella.

Just because of one pandemic, we dont need to throw out the baby with the bath water.

Where's your Dunkirk spirit? Part of the process is to get back to normality, in whatever form it may take. As a temporary measure, not a bad idea, but sell off the land - a bit knee-jerk isnt it?

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

I think clubs just have to do what they can, when and if guidelines are issued.

On a wider point, I personally see 12 holes as being a pretty good happy medium to help golf participation generally.

12 holes should allow;
* a decent variety of golf
* reasonable time to play with a round targeting between 2 and 2.5 hours.
* tee off in competitions on midweek evenings after work up to about 1930 in the summer, rather than rushing to see off by 1800.
* 24 holes is a good number for a 2 round competition or finals day. Or for those who have the time to play longer.
* 24 holes would also be good for a day out to play 2 courses or have 2 rounds somewhere

And of course the main benefits of a 12 hole course - 1/3 less land required by golf clubs, 1/3 less golf course to maintain, fertilise, cut, water etc. So ultimately a less costly sport to play.

Clubs could sell off excess land or repurpose it.

Problem we have here is that a lot of courses in the UK are traditional out & back and won't lend themselves to being adapted to a 12 holer without a fair bit of re-routing. People also very attached to their home course that has probably been in place for 100 or more years so very few clubs going to sanction such a big change until it's too late and by then, you probably have very few options in terms of re-routing or making the most of the land you no longer need.

But I do think ruling bodies should at least open this up as an option and not insist on all competition rounds being 9 or 18 holes.

Seriously, courses reduced to 12 holes and land sold off?

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Seriously, courses reduced to 12 holes and land sold off?

What a ridiculous suggestion!

 

[rosecott]

Seriously, courses reduced to 12 holes and land sold off?

That would mean some people losing out on their 2-shot holes!

 

[CliveW]

People on furlough should not be allowed to play golf during working hours. If they are being paid by the tax payer to stay at home they should stay there and let those of us who have no supplementary income to play.

 

[Foxholer]

In response to the question posed in the thread title.....No!

Apart from a number of 'restrictions' such as social distancing and little 'afters' for a while, there'll be nothing different about post vs pre pandemic Golf!

Clubs have, generally, always tried to maximise availabity of Golf to members!

 

[NWJocko]

I don't know where the 2 ball thing originated from however isn't it simply a case of minimising the risk of an increase in rate of infection through reducing the number of people outside your household you come into contact with and also just generally reducing the number of people in one place at the same time?

I suspect, like across all areas of society, the reversion to "normal" will be achieved through a series of staged steps relaxing a little bit at a time as and when we can play again.

 

[Wabinez]

The advice being circulated suggests that there will be "no comps", social golf only until the advice changes.

we got a note today saying comps could still run, as Intelligent golf has an electronic scorecard feature, so can do it all ’online’

comps can also be closed off remotely, so no need to go to the clubhouse

 

[rosecott]

we got a note today saying comps could still run, as Intelligent golf has an electronic scorecard feature, so can do it all ’online’

comps can also be closed off remotely, so no need to go to the clubhouse

What happens to the - probably small in number - players who do not have a smartphone and no access to, knowledge of, or interest in computer technology. They do exist.

 

[Wabinez]

What happens to the - probably small in number - players who do not have a smartphone and no access to, knowledge of, or interest in computer technology. They do exist.

quite potentially...but thats the note we have received that competitions can still go ahead.

no time like the present to learn how to use such a device....and it may well only need one person per group to log the scores.

if you want to take part in competitions, you’ll learn

 

[jim8flog]

This thing about 2 balls seems to be pure speculation as is the 10 minute tee times. Somebody somewhere must have mentioned it and it now seems to be taken as the rule. I have seen nothing from any official source about this and I think that if 4 people on a golf hole cannot keep social distancing rules then they should not be back on the course, period. Likewise if they get to the next tee and the group in front is still there, it's really not that difficult for people to stand a couple of metres apart.

It was mentioned because that is what is now allowed in Denmark

 

[clubchamp98]

I'm desparate to get out there again, even just for 9.

I'd even consider shacking up with StuC for a few months if you had "household tee times", it's that bad.

In a word “yes”