Six-Inch Holes and 12-Hole Courses

[ccotenj]

[QUOTE name="Duff McGee" url="/t/83950/six-inch-holes-and-12-hole-courses/18#post_1188113"] Ha that picture actually makes me more nervous than excited. I still see myself missing it somehow.[/QUOTE] think of it this way. Guy goes to get his ball, falls in. "Can someone get me a ladder?"

ooo... multiple infraction situation... :-D

[David in FL]

[URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/130250/] [/URL]

I could lip it out on the high side.....

[Patch]

Why not just change the hole to a 3' diameter bunker? Bunkers seem to be the easiest places to hit a ball into. Or, how about a smaller water hazard? Those critters are hard to miss too.

No, digging a bigger hole is not the answer. They could just as easily do that with a chalk circle around the existing hole. Say 2' or 3' in diameter. If the ball stops in, or even rolls through the chalk circle, the putt is considered holed. Think of how many chip/pitch shots that would be holed using the larger chalk circle. I have seen this used before for a tournament for youngsters. Worked just fine, and the youngster had a great time.

Fewer holes are not the answer because why would I want to pay the same price to play fewer holes? I don't think the course is going to charge less, just because there are fewer holes.

Yesterday I played 9 holes in the afternoon triple digit heat, and 20mph wind. Only cost me $8, and only took 1:45 , walking,  pushing my trolley. If I would have used a cart, it would have been $21 for those same 9 holes. My point is that any changes made to speed up the game, or draw more folks into playing the game, has to appeal the the course management, and the revenue (loss/gain) they will have to deal with. The "ROI" is the key factor of any changes made to the game. Heck, it's the #1 key factor in most things in life.

[Lihu]

There's a local par3 that has soccer golf as well. My son and I played those holes, and ended up with a lot of birdies. No aces, though. The holes were in thicker grass so we chipped all our shots. No putter. . .

[Cody Book]

Thought someone would have posted this artical by now. I thought it was a good read.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2014/04/15/10890/

[No Mulligans]

Thought someone would have posted this artical by now. I thought it was a good read.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2014/04/15/10890/

There is an executive course in the San Diego area, Lomas Santa Fe Executive course, that for over a year has had both the regular sized hole and an additional 15" hole towards the back of the greens.  I've played there maybe ten times while they have had both holes and have never seen anyone play to the 15" holes.  I spoke to an employee behind the counter in the pro shop and he said the 15" holes hardly get any use.

As a side note, my only 'hole in one' was to one of the 15" holes.  To bad I was trying to play to the regulation hole.

[JazzFatCat]

The course that I practice at has a frisbee sized hole on the practice green. It is infuriating because I'll miss that hole by as much as I miss the normal sized holes.

[HeGotGame]

A course within driving distance for me has an 8-inch hole tournament that seems to be very popular. It is a 4 man scramble though which is what makes me scratch my head. It is already a scramble so why increase it to an 8-inch cup for that? You already have 4 chances to make the putt. I like the 9/18 format and not sure I see any benefit to decreasing it from 18 holes. I regularly play in the morning at a course that is $18 to walk 9 or $20 to walk 18. Most days I just play 9 but when I want to play say 12 or 13 holes I just pay the $20 and quit after how many holes I want. I'm up in the air on a bigger cup. I think it comes down to a larger cup would make it too easy for the pros. I don't think our game (or rules) should be based around the pros performance but unfortunately it is.

Don't think the size of the holes should be changed for the pro's game! I'm just talking about for the weekend warrior like most ulof us on here! I think it would help create a little more interest in the game if people made a few more putts through out their rounds. Just my opinion.

[HeGotGame]

But with that said, I do agree, practice and working at the game to get better is the way to go! I just threw this out there as I had heard about this concept somewhere on the radio and was wondering what most would think. I agree. Leave the game the way it was meant to be played!

[Tee2Trees]

I'd think a course that offered 6-hole rounds would have some benefits.  I think #6, #12, and #18 would all have to finish near the clubhouse so course layout would have to take that into consideration.  Then you could play 6 holes or 12, and a slow group could be bypassed if you're willing to go a little out of order.

Using a bigger hole, on its own, seems a bit pointless.  If you care about putting and take any pride in it you want to use the regulation size hole and putt out all the short ones.  If you don't care that much about putting you give up after 3 putts and pick up your gimmes regardless of hole size.  A larger hole WILL NOT make anyone putt faster.  People will just spend more time reading longer putts they would otherwise guess on, or else not care about putting any more or less than they already do.

A bigger hole combined with a bigger ball however would do a lot to make the game faster/easier.  Increase both by 20% without changing ball weight and I think you can still use regular clubs.  The putting won't be easier, and distance will suffer, but everything else I think gets a lot easier mainly due to reduced turf interaction and less spin.

[Sticker]

In all honesty, my wife (been playing for about 5 months) could really benefit with 15"ers.  I personally would never use em, but her confidence could/would grow using em.

[beermeout]

maybe a  6 inch diameter hole from the 4.25? And how about instead of 18 hole courses, maybe have 12 or 13 hole courses?

 

Maybe the 6 inch diameter hole would allow people to enjoy making more putts and scoring a little better to enjoy the game.

 

And I personally love playing 18 holes, but think that maybe it would be more enjoyable playing a 12 or 13 hole round instead. I feel like 9 holes isn't enough, but I sometimes think 18 is to long as I do tend to get tired by the end, and when the pace of play is really slow it becomes dragged out and disinteresting to a point.

 

These are just my opinions and just throwing them out there to get an opinion on what others think about this.

Jack Nicklaus is doing loops of 12 and  6 holes on one course so that you can play 6 , 12 or 18 holes if you like.

I love the idea...

 

[inthehole]

maybe a  6 inch diameter hole from the 4.25? And how about instead of 18 hole courses, maybe have 12 or 13 hole courses?

 

Maybe the 6 inch diameter hole would allow people to enjoy making more putts and scoring a little better to enjoy the game.

 

And I personally love playing 18 holes, but think that maybe it would be more enjoyable playing a 12 or 13 hole round instead. I feel like 9 holes isn't enough, but I sometimes think 18 is to long as I do tend to get tired by the end, and when the pace of play is really slow it becomes dragged out and disinteresting to a point.

 

These are just my opinions and just throwing them out there to get an opinion on what others think about this.

never mind a 6 inch hole - could we imagine how much lower our hcps would be if they increased it from 4-1/4" to 4-1/2"  ?   The hundreds of lip outs we have every year that could have been avoided !!!!!