Golf is getting easier.
At least that’s an emerging development around Australia as more clubs offer variations on their hardest course set-ups.
Golf Australia golf development director Cameron Wade said many clubs had begun to offer forward teeing ground alternatives from championship through to more friendly front markers.
“It effectively allows for a whole range of players to enjoy the same course – not allowing tough set-ups to determine enjoyment,” Wade said.
“For quite a while, many clubs tried to tweak their courses to become `Tiger-proof’ and play the back tees regularly.
“But by offering alternatives that shorten some courses dramatically, we’re finding that more people are able to enjoy their golf and not be daunted by playing holes that are simply too long to enjoy.”
Wade said clubs that offered easier pin placements and didn’t make their greens too fast and firm had also enhanced a user-friendly experience that would continue to attract return visits.
He also recommended clubs offer more nine-hole competitions to help attract potential players who simply didn’t have time for traditional 18-hole rounds.
“The USGA is actually having a `Play9’ day in July to promote it – it’s a great idea and we really commend it to our clubs, especially in the shorter light of the winter months,” Wade said.
Further to both issues, Inside Golf editor Richard Fellner recently penned a fascinating take on the trend away from courses being made too tough for the majority of golfers.
Fellner argues that “member-friendly” courses will “create more joy than misery”.
“I love a good challenge (every now and then) and each course certainly needs (its) own defence, whether it’s fast greens or narrow fairways,” he wrote.
“But keep in mind that a course’s defence is there to protect par, not to develop double-bogeys.”
Click on http://www.insidegolf.com.au/opinion/offensive-defence/ to read Fellner’s full editorial.