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12 Hole Golf Courses?


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http://www.worldgolf.com/column/12-hole-golf-courses-11475.htm

 

Golf courses with fewer holes could be the game's next wave

By Brandon Tucker,

Senior Writer

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In suburban Toronto, Derrydale Golf Club reopened in 2010 as a 12-hole course. (Courtesy of Derrydale G.C.)

With time and money a premium these days, more golf courses are turning to less-than-18-hole layouts. Courses such as Scotland's Shiskine Golf and Tennis Club and Toronto's Derrydale Golf Club are thriving with 12 holes.

The Old Course St. Andrews was once as long as 22 holes. The first British Open Championship was staged on a 12-hole Prestwick Golf Club.

Even Musselburgh's Opens in the years afterwards were nine-hole competition rounds.

 

But today, 18 holes is the universal norm for a round of golf. And chances are, unless you're on vacation or retired, you probably don't have the time for it -- at least not regularly.

 

The 18-hole-or-bust standard may very well be one of the main reasons golf is in a state of decline. It's no secret that the number of rounds played each year is declining, and new golf course projects have slowed to less than two dozen worldwide this year.

 

The threats to an 18-hole round these days are many. Pace of play creeps up to five hours at too many courses, and maintaining a course is getting more and more expensive. New modern golf equipment doesn't help, as courses need more length and wider playing corridors to accommodate them.

Design Workshop, a landscape and architecture firm, who partner with Hale Irwin Golf Services on golf projects, have begun aggressively promoting the benefits of less-than-18-hole layouts. The partnership between the two firms is unique because they can plan both the golf and non-golf components to a property. They've found that some golf courses faced with the threat of closing aren't even thinking about the option of closing a few holes and existing with just 12 or 14 holes, while developing the remaining acres for commercial or residential development.

"The course says, 'We're done; we're going to lock our doors,'" said Jeff Zimmerman, a principal at Design Workshop. "Instead, you could bring in a firm like ours, and we could look at taking out five-to-seven holes and make that land some other revenue-generating operation and leave some golf there."

"Imagine a 14-hole course, where you could have two seven-hole leagues after work," said Steve Irwin, son of Hale and president of Irwin Golf Services.

Golf course architect Tom Doak has seen two of his designs close: Beechtree near Baltimore closed in 2008 after just a decade to make room for a residential development -- and his first ever solo design at High Pointe near Traverse City, Mich., is currently closed with an uncertain future.

Doak agrees courses are closing entirely without looking at all their options first.

"When I hear of a golf course that is closing, there is no instant demand to develop 200 acres," Doak said. "They ought to keep some part of it going as a First Tee facility or a course aimed at beginners until they're ready to develop all of it."

Can 12 be the new 18 in golf?

Twelve-hole golf courses are becoming a hot topic, especially after Jack Nicklaus told Golf Digest in 2007: "We should consider the possibility of making 12 holes the standard round. ... Eventually it would be accepted because it makes sense in people's lives."

There are already some fantastic 12-hole golf courses in the world. On Scotland's Isle of Arran, Shiskine Golf and Tennis Club is a 19th century links gem that had 18 holes for a short time until World War II and has kept its current 12-hole route since. Just a few miles north from Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, the mysterious course Sheep Ranch, designed by Doak, boasts 12 holes that can be played in a variety of different routings.

Shiskine and Sheep Ranch are two of the world's best 12-hole designs, but they're also in the middle of nowhere. The 12-hole concept may work most effectively around larger cities, where land is at a higher premium but golf demand is high, too.

"A nine-hole course works great until you have about 100 golfers per day," noted Doak, who recently redesigned historic nine-hole Aetna Springs Golf Course in Napa Valley, Calif. "In a big city, you can hit that number pretty quickly."

A 12-hole routing offers more flexibility than nine-hole courses and can get more golfers around with the possibility of two or three starting tees, not just one. Get creative with the tee boxes, such as at Sheep Ranch, and you could easily create 18 different holes out of 12 holes worth of acreage and maintenance -- and keep golfers satisfied knowing the shot values will be as good as any 18-hole course.

"We've never assumed that because a course has fewer holes, it's not as good," said Zimmerman. "That doesn't matter in our minds. You could make some extremely good holes and almost dial the design up a bit."

Toronto's Derrydale Golf Club thrives with new 12-hole layout

One course that is experiencing a rebirth this summer as a 12-hole course is Derrydale Golf Club in Mississauga, Ontario.

A family-owned daily fee course open since 1970, they sold off 33 acres 2005 for development and went to a nine-hole design. They eventually realized they had three unused holes collecting dust and finally revealed a 12-hole golf this spring.

Halfway into its first season with the new 12-hole layout, the course is thriving.

"People love it," said Jim Holmes, owner of Derrydale. "Our green fees are up, and our number of rounds are up. The course fits people's time frame."

Holmes said it takes, at maximum, two hours and 45 minutes to play 2,541-yard Derrydale and books 240-260 rounds on busy days. The ninth hole finishes at the clubhouse, so groups can decide whether or not to play on.

It took Derrydale several golf seasons to realize what it had, and it's because golfers think in terms of nines, not a number that is best for the property. Design Workshop says that it's going to take some new thinking to make more courses open to the possibility of an abbreviated course, whether it's six, 12 or 14 holes. The group recently worked with the City of Portland on a plan that would've created a 12-hole golf course, Blue Lake Park, that was later shelved.

"We had three six-hole loops and could be played in reversible ways," said Todd Schoeder, a golf course designer with Design Workshop. "In the end, the advisory board couldn't buy into the concept."

But Design Workshop said that recently it has municipalities approach them and inquire about the possibility to try a similar project, and even the USGA has told the group they would consider rating 12-hole courses in the near future. Getting more of them off the ground starts with the traditional thinking that fewer than 18 holes means a lesser experience.

"With the right team involved, we can really help drive some new thinking and new ways

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Golf will always be 18 holes. I read the whole article and I disagree. While I would not turn down playing a 12 hole course if it were offered to me, it would be more a "novelty" than anything. The way most people will see it as "less holes means I should pay less to play", I completely agree with that statement. If sales go down proportionally to the number of holes you DONT have, then technically the cost of maintaining the course remains the same as if you still had 18 holes.

 

It makes very little sense to me. I would think, if anything, we should be looking into 27 hole courses. Courses wouldn't have to charge 50% more because they wouldn't be paying 50% more in overhead (it would maybe go up 25%). Instead of $30 for 18, you could pay $37-40 for 27. Both sides win.

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There is a 14 hole course near me. All the price of an 18 hole course, but 7/9 of the holes. Plus it's weird for handicap purposes. If you had an 18 hole course and wanted to build houses on some of it, why not just make it a 9 hole course?

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I have not heard of the discussion about it before, but I like the idea. I really like the time frame aspect of it, as it is getting more and more common to see 5 hour, or even longer, rounds. I play most of my golf after work, during the week, and there is no way I can get in 18 holes when I get to the course at 5 or so except right around June 21st (longest day). I do agree though that the cost should not remain the same as an 18 hole round.

•Never argue with an idiot. First, he will drag you down to his level. Then he will beat you with experience!•

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I'd love to have 12 hole courses around here. Because of the industry I work in, very rarely do I get 4 to 5 hours of time where I don't have to answer some sort of call/email which is espcially lame on a golf course, 2 to 3 hours is entirely do able. It's not about the cost for me, really. I won't pay the same as an 18 hole course, but 3/4's of the fee for 2/3rds the hole sounds perferctly fine to me. Plus fitting 12 course holes into Vancouver and the surrounding area's is going to be muuuuch better then trying to find land for 18 holes with the cost of real estate out here.

I laught at your claims to fight a zombie apocalypse when most of you can't stand up to a Spider

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I would like to see more Par 3 18 hole courses, or courses designed to be a challenge and under 5000 yards. I think time is the biggest factor in the decline of rounds. I have kids, golfing every weekend from door to door, about 6 hours, it's just not doable for me.

John Barry

Bring the Funk, Back to Golf

The Golfer's Trip

 

 

 

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My beef with this is that golf on a regular size 18 hole course shouldn't take more than 3.5 hours! We all know that is not the case, but its because of lax supervision and improper expectations that its become this way, not because of the length of the course or the number of holes. I remember years ago being asked to pick up and move when we were slow. Courses simply did not tolerate slow play. Now, courses advertise that thier goal for pace of play is 4 1/2 hours! As if that's something to BRAG about!

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