Can Alternative Rules Save Golf?

Real estate sales; an expanding economy; slope grooming, advances in ski and ski clothing technology and almost no new competition had more influence on saving the ski industry than snowboarding.

Recommendations for 'making golf more enjoyable"
-install more forward tees
-create a handicap system for winter rules
-widen fairways and green surrounds
-reduce height of roughs
-grass/sod bunkers that front greens
-remove trees planted within 30 feet of fairways unless branches do not inhibit swings
-brand name golf clubs for beginners
-I don't believe a completely new set of rules and regulations are necessary

I think there may be considerable merrit in a "recreational golf" set of rules (keep the current "tournament golf" rules as well). Either set of rules could be used on a given course simultaneously.
Recreational golf would be simple: 1. Lift, clear, and place within 12" anywhere on the course, including hazzards. At the cost of 1 stroke penalty, place your ball anywhere on the golf hole, not closer to the pin (e.g. if your in the trash with no shot, you can drop in the middle of the fairway with one stroke penalty). You can ground the club anywhere on the course. You can use any number or kind of clubs you wish (although, I suggest 10 clubs are more than enough). For those that have no interest in score, don't.

How about a larger hole for amateur play, ie 6"

As an operator of two struggling golf courses any game that resembles golf, uses clubs and balls, that puts more people on the first tee the better off the entire industry will be. 6" holes - yes alongside regulation holes met some resistance from regulars. Shorter tees - actual tee boxes designed at PGA Family Tee lengths.

Where the rules and tradtions of the game are hindering its growth and leaving tee times available is where there is an opportunity to bring more customers to the courses.

Maybe this is the way to save golf.

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Designing golf courses is a challenge, both in formal as in conceptual sense. Especially, because we look at it from two angles, as landscape architects on one hand, and as golfers on the otherm hand.
A golf course is a physical system, where a number of parameters are related to a complex whole. We believe that it is possible to create different, copyright courses, which are nonetheless playable, attractive and last, but not least well attended.
We believe that the courses all over the world are too similar; therefore we offer two alternative golf course designs. A more reserved one, where the golf course is more consistent with the space and takes into account local characteristics and landscape patterns, and a more daring one, where the courses are conceptually based theme parks.

You are welcome to visit our new website; www.brutogolf.com

Best regards
Matej Kucina, landscape architect
+386 41795309
www.bruto.si

Not sure where others play and who they play with. Except for the rare outing or tournament round, I cannot remember a round where the group played to the rules of golf. Putts are given, balls are dropped near the out of bounds boundary or somewhere near where lost, and mulligans are rather commonplace. Golfers have already adapted their own accepted "rules" to deal with the difficulty of the game.

What about making the courses easier? That must be the answer. Well, I was at the TPC Sawgrass last week. Not an easy course yet packed. If you haven't played there, be prepared for a backup at 17. You see most players cannot hit the green with their first shot yet almost all will reload until they do. Seems people like a little challenge when they play a round of golf. That's part of what makes it so much fun to hit a great shot or make a great score. What's the hardest shot to make and the one most celebrated when achieved? Of course, it's the hole in one.

OK, it simply takes too much time to play. Well, most courses welcome 9 hole play and practice facilities are available for those who do not have 2 hours to play 9. I don't buy it that it takes too long as an excuse for not playing or playing more.

What about modifying the playing "field" like ski hills (moguls/snowboarding) and bowling (laser light bowling)? You know, put in bigger cups, build new tees to create a shorter distances, lessen the distances between greens and tees to make it easier to walk, remove trees, widen fairways, make the greens slower, etc., etc. Good course operators already set their courses up with their customers in mind. Some changes suggested would simply alienate the core players that enjoy the game as is so what would be the net change? Would the new golfers spend as much per round as the existing ones? Some courses have created events like night golf to appeal to the non-traditional golfers with great success. There are also courses that allow and encourage frisbee golf to be played side by side with traditional golfers. Set up a baskets near the green and you're in business.

For as long as I can remember, there have been facilities offering mini-golf, night driving range use for the younger demographic and indoor golf in urban areas that can support it.

The point is, the golf industry is evolving. It has always provided feeder activities like smacking a few range balls or putt-putt golf to get people interested in the real thing. Players have figured out how to create fun ways to play and fun games to play on the course to increase their enjoyment. Golf has challenges like most any other industry does. The fact that it is a totally discretionary experience and expenditure, and that it is doing so good, is attributable to the enduring appeal of the game that touches us so deeply once we are "bit by the golf bug."

Perhaps we do not have to fix the game. Maybe, we just need to tell the story better.

The 6" hole concept is intriguing, but difficult to integrate with simultaneous traditional use. Two pins per green? That might cause some rules issues for the traditional player. Maybe its best suited for multiple layout facilities where the big hole rotates on the various 9s or 18s.

How about eliminating "par" from the game. All par does is frustrate the casual player who can rarely achieve it. Plus, it dictates club choice (i.e. driver when it's not appropriate or necessary) for many on par 4s and 5s who often choose their club based on the rating of the hole (par) rather than the most apprpriate shot choice.

On another note, in this age of portable electronics, why haven't we integrated music more into the game? Music relaxes. Put it in carts... but keep a "governor" on the volume. Build mp3 docking stations into golf bags. Wouldn't life be grander if we could all have a soundtrack continually playing in the background?!?

If we make the changes that McNealey suggests, even if they became popular, it wouldn't be golf. It would be something else.

The initial attraction of the game for me was its challenge. I also enjoyed the beautiful venues. I've been playing the game for 45 years and even founded an association for avid golfers about 25 years ago which I have since sold. I can tell you, however, that if I were new to golf today I wouldn't be a golfer. It's too damned expensive, especially for a new golfer. The green fees are off the charts, even at the local muni's.

If we want the game to grow, we need to find ways to get the green fees down; way down in most cases. If some of the courses can't cover their costs, those courses will have to do the best they can in reducing their fees and managing their costs. but there are just far too many courses that are so profit driven that they don't want to leave a single dollar on the table. In some cases, it's pure greed. In those cases, the industry has nobody but themselves to blame. Many of our private clubs have learned that lesson the hard way during the current recession. Hopefully, they will remember the lesson learned when the economy improves.

That's my two cents.

Sure it's golf, just a modern quick play, affordable and less frustrating alternative version. Not intended for the narrowminded traditionalist golfer. In ten+ years this will be the game of choice with progressive golfers eventually taking over.

In playing the game for 47 years, have watched it's slow decline, which now has caused many to look in new alternative directions for golfing enjoyment. I'm one of them and left the standard golf game because of time, cost and frustration issues.

You wonder why the golf game is now losing golfers? They're not all leaving the golf game, many got smart and switched to a more enjoyable alternative.

Some accept the brilliance in change, some never do.

Yeh Let's take a wonderful game that has evolved over hundreds of years but kept a core set of principles intact, and totally screw it up. Another triumph for the quick fix , shortsighted modern north-american approach to everything.

Not everyone is a seasoned golfer, yes. Not everyone is only a recreational golfer, yes. But I think by doing only one, you cut out the other. There needs to be a place of middle ground. I think FREE sites like Golfzing.com are working in that direction. They are allowing people to grow their own groups, thus creating their own rules, and offering recreational tournaments with a more relaxed approach to tournaments. In addition, the courses that they utilize do their best to assist Golfzing members to save money!

I think that a lot more research needs to be done by people who complain, because there are a lot of places out there that they can utilize without paying crazy fees.

TRADITIONALIST GOLFERS KINDLY STEP ASIDE, PLEASE.

Alternative golf is just part of the natural evolution of the game. If enough people don't like it's present slow, costly and difficult form, they'll change it to their liking.

With the golf game now undergoing alteration, you can look for a new generation of alternative golf coming soon to a course near you.

Sure there will be diehard traditionalists holding on, they always do, but eventually their numbers will dwindle down to a precious few.

The folly of the standard golf game is evident, with fewer golfers playing, older golfers leaving and new golfers refusing to accept the status quo...the computer generated die is cast.

Compromising on the rules of any game to satisfy losers is never an answer. That is how our daily society became such a mess!

I play traditional golf and I enjoy it but the price to play is huge as a new golfer. That is why I also play off-course golf, its cheap/free and fun. As a new golfer, I hate playing with golf snobs. Look at this site http://offcoursegolfing.wordpress.com

-John