Power Play Golf - Celtic Manor

Hi all

Thought I would mention, that before Wales Open, which is at Celtic Manor this week, there is tournament of Power Play Golf, the first ever professional version played today.

There's 1 2player in field, including GMac, Poulter, Casey, Thongchai Jaidee, John Daly, Gary Player, Ian Woosnam, Paula Creamer and some others.

Theres old players, as well as females involved in the field.

I not too sure on the forma,t but I think there 2 holes/flags on every green (9 holes, par 3....) and one hole is 'easy' and one 'hard'. The hard one is the 'power play' hole, and you get extra points for going for that one or something.

It's on TV in Europe but unfortunately not here in Japan, or where you guy are in USA. But, even still should interesting to keep an eye on to see where this format goes in the future.

it is actually on in the US on the golf channel for anyone interested.

I'm watching now. It's stableford scoring, 9 holes. If you go for a power play (black flag) and score birdie or better, you get double points. You must go for 3 power plays in the first 8 holes, you must declare before you tee off. On the 9th hole, you can play it safe or go for a power play. If you choose power play and bogey or worse, you lose 3 points. Hope I didn't confuse anyone!

I caught the end of it yesterday evening and it looked like fun - loved Poulter going for the green on the last. almost 300 yards carry and stop the brute? Excellent!

However - one of the things it was supposed to be is fast, quickfire action. In that, it failed to deliver its promise...

John Daly did not look at all well. Obviously in pain, so it was good of him to turn up at all, but he may be overdoing that weight-loss thing.

I am undecided after watching this.

The idea is good and it made for good viewing golf wise, what I did not like was the on course and in studio commentary, each 3 ball had an on course with them and John Hawksworth in the studio, this ended up with them all talking over each other and almost made me mute the audio as it was at times painful, so this needs sorting out.

On the subject of John Hawksworth I think he was trying to be too funny and kept going over the top about "THIS IS POWERPLAY GOLF YEAH" and at one point he said "rub me down with a wet daily mail" over how good a shot was????

Having black flags in relatively easier pin positions on holes adds to the strategy of declaring power plays. We saw that yesterday on the eighth hole, when the front pin offered a better scoring opportunity, but some players already used all of their power plays. I do agree with the idea of losing points for bogeys or worse on power play holes. Par remains two points, but bogeys earn no points, and doubles or worse lose two.

Utterly awful format.

Tuned in for 15 minutes, came away scratching my head at the rules and laughing at the commentary.

Something similar was setup with tennis about 3-4 years ago - that failed badly and hopefully, so will this...

The format is borne out of an idea that the game must change in order to expand to new markets and audiences, one that is far more common outside of United States, more specifically within the British Commonwealth. Proponents of the format look at what the seven-man, fifteen-minute format of rugby has done to the popularity of that sport, as well as what the twenty-overs format of cricket has done for that game. Of course, purists of those sports lament that the popularity of the short-form versions is leading to the degradation of time-honored styles and traditions. You really do have to take the good with the bad, but I highly doubt that Power Play Golf will reach the prevalence of Rugby Sevens or Twenty20 cricket.

Yeah, man . .I agree with you 100%.  I think you made it about 10 minutes longer than me.

I don't know if I agree that the game of golf needs to change in order to attract newcomers but I would be interested in checking out some cool new variation of golf.  This wasn't cool at all, though.  This was convoluted and pointless.

I think I would like to see 2 groups start out on the same hole at the same time.  One group starts from the tee and the other from the green.  When the whistle blows they charge down field.  They can either drop a ball and hit it at the opposing team or just hit them with thier club .. ie . .when they get in close range.  First group to get all thier players to the opposite side wins.  That's the only way you're getting me to watch exhibition golf.  If Kenny G is on one of the teams I will Tivo it.

I caught the VERY END of this, they were interviewing the winner, Caroline Hedwall.  Did anyone catch her interview?  She was very confused that she won.  The guy asked her how much she was going to 'donate to charity' for winning and she answered (in a "is that enough" kind of way), "£50,000 pounds?".  At first it sounded like she didn't even know about any prize money.

Note: I checked the website, I guess she won £100,000 and was required (maybe) to donate 1/2 to charity.

Quote:

But how many markets are there globally where golf isn't played regularly (and by people who can afford to play it)?

I can think of one: Africa .

( can't say about the countries in South America , but my girlfriend is Brazilian and she says it's only played by the very rich or 'privileged')

Golf isn't economically viable in sub-Saharan Africa, with the obvious exception of South Africa. Any hope the game has to expand further in that continent is for a black South African player to reach global prominence. Golf is certainly underdeveloped in Brazil, which has the population, income, and climate to support it. The 2016 Olympics in Rio, where golf is making a debut as a competitive sport, is a huge opportunity to build the game there. It has a long way to go to catch up with their Argentinian neighbors, who have a very healthy golf climate, but that country was founded by the Spanish, populated by Italians, and holds British aspirations. People in the game also their eyes on India as a potentially lucrative market, but so do most sports; the majority of Indians seem indifferent to sports, besides cricket.

Looks like it could catch on - entertaining!