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Would Golf be Better or Worse if 12 Holes Had Become the Standard?


iacas
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A 12-Hole Standard?  

77 members have voted

  1. 1. Would the game of golf be better or worse off now if 12 holes (3 par 3, 6 par 4, 3 par 5 = par 48) had become the standard?

    • Better off
      35
    • Worse off
      22
    • This fence is mighty comfortable!
      20


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I think the game would be better off. Not by a lot, but enough to notice.

  • Less land would be required.
  • Rounds would take about 2.5 hours.
  • Golf would cost less.
  • Golf would require less land.
  • The truly dedicated could still play 24 or 36 in a day.

I almost kinda wish it was 12 holes, really. Try to let go of your hold on 9 and 18… and imagine a world in which golf was 12 holes, and what that would mean.

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Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
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I'd be fully for this - I think it is a great idea. As much as I love it I think I'd rather devote a 5th rather than a quarter of my weekend to golf. The only drawback I can see IACAS is that a 6 hole round (the equivalent of a 9 hole round in 18 hole golf) would be a little too short to be satisfying.

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1 minute ago, alleztom said:

I'd be fully for this - I think it is a great idea. As much as I love it I think I'd rather devote a 5th rather than a quarter of my weekend to golf. The only drawback I can see IACAS is that a 6 hole round (the equivalent of a 9 hole round in 18 hole golf) would be a little too short to be satisfying.

Maybe the partial rounds would be eight holes instead of nine.

Try to picture a rethought world. Nine works in 18 not because it's "half" but maybe because something around nine is a decent number.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
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I say better off. I think a lot of sports would benefit from the “less is more” thought process. Golf especially. It is cool to think about...I think the land aspect in particular is one of the most thought provoking aspects of it. I wonder how many design decisions have been made because “well we don’t really have the area to do that” or how many more golf resorts destinations would pop up if a resort that holds two or three courses now could hold a third or fourth (or more?).  Another benefit is I think people would be more prone to walk if 12 holes was the standard. No way of knowing for sure, but it’s interesting to think about. 

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I am on the fence. If the game had been 12 instead of 18 holes, nothing would've changed. You would still have all the same issues, both good and bad. 

I would assume the 13th hole would still have cold beverages. 

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Interesting topic. I think it's a better number, for all the reasons given in the original post. 

More people would play - even half round s still work. 6 holes after work could be fit in as easily as a trip to the gym or a social 5 a side.

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12 would be ideal I think for many of the reasons stated above. I am currently reading Tom Coyne's A Course Called Scotland. In it, he discusses how they arrived at 18. It was not set at all and was between as little as 7 and as many as 25 holes IIRC.

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It would be 33% worse

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I'm on the fence.   I like the 12 hole idea for the time issue but I think the golf courses would still charge the same amount.     

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37 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

I'm on the fence.   I like the 12 hole idea for the time issue but I think the golf courses would still charge the same amount.     

This ^^^

I'd be more willing to walk 12 holes than I am 18 so I guess it would be better for me personally from a fitness standpoint.

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8 hours ago, Patch said:

I am on the fence. If the game had been 12 instead of 18 holes, nothing would've changed. You would still have all the same issues, both good and bad.

Seems like a silly assumption, don't you think? A round of golf wouldn't take five hours. Land usage would be lower. Etc. Several things would change or be different.

33 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

I'm on the fence.   I like the 12 hole idea for the time issue but I think the golf courses would still charge the same amount.     

There would be no "same amount" to charge. The concept of 18 holes would be foreign to the game of golf. And as I noted above, the golf courses would use less land, would take less time, etc. Some expenses would remain the same - the clubhouse might be the same size or only a little smaller, equipment might still cost the same (though you may need to buy fewer balls), etc. But the bigger expenses would be reduced. You wouldn't have as much land to tend, need as much water or fertilizer, etc.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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Knowing we play 18 and looking at it from that standpoint, I don't like the idea.

If we never knew about 18 it would be golf. 

I don't think much would change except for the land and maintenance cost/requirements.

At the place I use to play at, they had 3 9 hole courses so they would now be 3 6 hole courses and I could play all 3 to equal my 18!  :beer:

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I voted better though close to being undecided. But that is because it's hard to open my mind to the unknown, untried. Once I tried to think of reasons why 18 would be better than 12, though, I couldn't. The arguments for 12 are convincing. Plus I remember reading that fewer holes, basically whatever your group wanted to play or whatever was available, were more the norm in the origins of the game. Finally though only slightly related, one of our renovated courses has a short walking course that you can play for 6 or for 9. I'm going to see if my old legs will be up to that. As I play more 9 hole rounds, I'm thinking 6 would be good for me. Good topic. Best, -Marv

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Meh. Im actually more in favor of golf being a 9 hole game than doing something like 12. Going from 18 to 12 now wouldn't mean much to us except the same price for less product. Businesses don't really have a habit of passing their capital savings onto consumers. 

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22 minutes ago, iacas said:

There would be no "same amount" to charge. The concept of 18 holes would be foreign to the game of golf. And as I noted above, the golf courses would use less land, would take less time, etc. Some expenses would remain the same - the clubhouse might be the same size or only a little smaller, equipment might still cost the same (though you may need to buy fewer balls), etc. But the bigger expenses would be reduced. You wouldn't have as much land to tend, need as much water or fertilizer, etc.

I dont want to speak for him, but I think myself and @dennyjones might have been looking at this from the lens of golf being changed now from 18 holes to 12 holes, instead of golf starting and staying as 12 holes like the poll/title state.

"if 12 holes had become the standard" is what the poll states, and when I first read it, I read it as "if 12 holes becomes the standard" 

 

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11 minutes ago, klineka said:

I dont want to speak for him, but I think myself and @dennyjones might have been looking at this from the lens of golf being changed now from 18 holes to 12 holes, instead of golf starting and staying as 12 holes like the poll/title state.

"if 12 holes had become the standard" is what the poll states, and when I first read it, I read it as "if 12 holes becomes the standard"

Maybe. But yeah, it's about whether Prestwick's twelve-hole course had set the standard, basically, instead of the Old Course's 18.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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