Less is More? Space saving courses

[RussUK]

As courses seem to be getting longer and longer i realised i have as much fun on smaller layouts as i do on the "full fat" 18 holers. I have a number of 9 holers near me but i used to live behind this course and its tiny.

Castlefields Golf Course, established 1903. 6 holes set in a natural bowl, 18 tee locations.

Has anyone else played on a layout this small (or smaller) and what were your thoughts?

Smaller they way forward?

[iacas]

That course looks like it can hold about 16 people before it's overly crowded.

[RussUK]

3 minutes ago, iacas said:

That course looks like it can hold about 16 people before it's overly crowded.

Yep, its tiny. Tough though as the greens are small. Its also lethal as on some holes you are hitting over guys im the bottom of the valley.

[Golfingdad]

Seems like construction helmets would be required to play there. ;)

If I was a super rich guy, though, this is the kind of thing that would be awesome to put in my backyard instead of just a practice area. :)

Edited December 5, 2017 by Golfingdad

[billchao]

7 hours ago, RussUK said:

Yep, its tiny. Tough though as the greens are small. Its also lethal as on some holes you are hitting over guys im the bottom of the valley.

Yea that doesn't sound fun at all. There are some weird long stretches of walking from one green to the next tee, too.

I can see building this as somebody's personal golf course, but the whole thing makes no sense to me as a public course.

[WUTiger]

11 hours ago, RussUK said:

Castlefields Golf Course, established 1903. 6 holes set in a natural bowl, 18 tee locations.

In an antique book store I saw some booklets on how to build a golf course with 6 greens and 18 tee boxes. I believe the publication date was in 1912.

Fast forward to today. A company called Six12 Golf builds six and 12-hole golf courses for senior communities where people might not want to play 18. Rounds are based upon six-hole loops.

A partner group called Harmony Links Golf provides synthetic turf for these shorter courses. Harmony turfed a 9-hole parks-and-recreation course in La Harpe, IL, which supposedly can be maintained by one person. (I guess the greenskeeper vacuums the greens daily.)

As some have suggested, the players would have to very disciplined and watchful. People obsessed with their cell phones between shots would prime candidates for beanballs.

[DeadMan]

Cool idea... for one group to play. It seems pretty dangerous if you're going to have a bunch of other people there. 

[RussUK]

10 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

Seems like construction helmets would be required to play there. ;)

If I was a super rich guy, though, this is the kind of thing that would be awesome to put in my backyard instead of just a practice area. :)

I played there twice when i lived behind it and it was fun and a challenge when it was quiet but if you got more than 3 groups at a time it got a bit dicey. You learned to shout FORE even on good shots.