I heard a discussing while watching the Aus open that they were bringing in 9 hole handicaps because of peoples busy life styles.Would anyone know if this is true or about to happen or not.

Golf Australia is trying to promote 9-hole golf as a way of helping “time-challenged” people get into the game. They are trying to get clubs to offer 9-hole competitions as part of this idea. In summer these competitions could even be offered as “twilight” events.

Parallel to this they are promoting the idea of clubs offering full Australian handicaps based on 9-hole competition scores. The player’s handicap will be calculated on the basis of extending the 9-hole score to an 18-hole score by doubling it i.e. 20 Stableford points for 9 holes is calculated as 40 Stableford points for 18 holes. This capacity already exists in the Australian handicapping system anyway … you can for instance extend a 12-hole score by adding 50%.

Golf Australia 9-hole website.

Not quite sure what they are trying to achieve with the whole 9 hole golf.

Maybe its another way of increasing the revenue for golf link. To get an official 9 hole golf handicap it will cost the clubs for the privilege.

Not quite sure what they are trying to achieve with the whole 9 hole golf.

Maybe its another way of increasing the revenue for golf link. To get an official 9 hole golf handicap it will cost the clubs for the privilege.

That’s a bit pesimistic, even for me.

It’s all good, as long as those people that have calculated the handicap from the 9 hole comps are not competing in the 18 hole comps as well, and also, if I opt to play the twighlight comps, that my handicap is not the same as it is for 18.

I regularly shoot 4 or 5 shots less from front nine to back nine, and I’m sure lots of others do also.

Other than that, yes of course it’s going to benifit revenue for clubs / Golf, and that’s why it’s happening.

Giddyup!

Would suit me . I regularly shoot better on the back (today 15 points front 20 points back)

Would suit me . I regularly shoot better on the back (today 15 points front 20 points back)

That sort of differential might be an issue, but a lot of players also score worse on the second nine as they tire.

Clubs would need to alternate their nines in the competition, especially where nines differ markedly in length, or holes where handicap strokes are given are weighted towards one nine over the other.

I prefer the idea of a 9 hole handicap & an 18 hole handicap . Ithink this would be much fairer for all

Its not about revenue, its about club membership, Ask around in Sydney, Melbourne or wherever, and anyone involved in running a golf club will tell you the same thing: Attracting and keeping members is a fight many clubs are losing. And the target generation that is the one they can ill afford to miss are probably guys like a lot of the readers here, Gen X’ers and Gen Ys’, computer literate and financially close enough to set.

Now, sure, this doesn’t apply across the board, I’m sure there are plenty of takers prepared to ‘fess up for membership at any of the Royals, the Aust, Lakes, NSW, Victoria, Kingston H, Metrop etc etc etc. However they are not representative of the average club golfer in this country.

‘The 21st century lifestyle’ is the argument that is thrown up more often than not about the decline in Membership.” People don’t have the time nowdays to dedicate 4 hours plus to one game from their time of leisure..” Sorry, but not quite true. Many would be quite happy to becomem involved in the game, however unfortunately along they way they get “Nuked” in many clubs from entenched attitudes to things like dress and attire, Ettiquette, ‘closed shop’ attitudes of long term members to Saturday timesheets, and staid entry requirements (vis a vis nominations) upon joing a club.

This is just to name a few things…You could add many others.. Old timers.. get rid of that snooker table and put in a pool table or two.. Have you checked out that anitquated Poker Machine room lately? X’ers and Ys’ worked out long ago that the things are SHITE and you are only donating to the clubs coffers, not to mention the State Governments..Put a couple of Golden Tee games in and watch what happens..( Sorry to offend the crustys there guys but yes they DO make some noise when they play em).

Heres Some others..

T shirts are fine when you’re charging $35 plus for a game.

Thongs on feet don’t offend anyone anymore. And while your mulling over this bit, why the need for shoes on the course in the first place? Shoes fine!! No Shoes? Just as fine ( and thanks for your money!!)

If its afternoon with no one else around and they want to, let em play in sixes.

Cut em some slack with sand buckets, Really!!! filling in a little hole with a handful sized pail of sand really does seem stupid..

Yes they will be loud and enjoy themselves, so don’t worry about the need for silence around your group..

Now as for the game.. And as for femmes being attracted to the game.. well I could start, but…..

While your at it lets do away with the rules completely!!! are you serious? , how can you expect to have people respect the game ,the club, & the game If there are no standards in place. it does not take a great deal of effort to dress in decent clothes & look respectable for a round of golf & n99 of people have no problem with that. It does take a lot of time x%x effort to maintain an 18 hole golf coursenot to mention lots of $$$. By all means chage the rules of membership , the handicapping system & the type of comps that are run . but we must keep some sort of behaviour & dress standerds or we will drive more people away from the game than we will attract

you missed the point… Im not talking about the GAME Im talking about making the places friendlier for a generation that thinks that golf clubs are fully of stuffy old pompous gits who cant wait to play the ego driven ‘importance’ game over you by enforcing ‘club rules’ ..you want to try that with this lot and guess what.. you’ll die bankrupt.. ( The ave age of a male golfer in this coutry is 46 and rising.. thats a dying age mate!!! Marketing 101 tells me situation is critical there) their money goes elsewhere..and do you want an example parallel to that? . have a look at the genteel sport of bowls and walk down to any local club..

Nowdays the smart bowls club embraces concepts like Barefoot Bowls.. The even put on loud rock music to help em out.. it gets em in its: Chic and cool, and above all else fun! guys in board shorts, girls in bikinis.. yeah really driving people away from that game..

Why do you think McNamee went with the concept of ‘Party Hole’ at no. 11 at the Australian Open?.. I’m sure by how you worded you responce it wasn’t for you.. but I tell you one thing, every face I saw there was young and enjoying themselves. Many I’m sure had never been to a golf tournament and most probably had only been on a course a few times in their life..

Golf is nearly at critical mass time in this country. no doubt declining memberships, lack of exposure, a piss weak pro tour, and entrenched attitudes/ resistance to change all contribute as to why…

I have no objection to change in fact I encourage it . I am a member of a club that tried relaxing the rules for a period of time. What you can do in the small area of a bowls club will not work on a golf course where certain yobbo,s think that as soon as they get out of sight of the club house any thing goes, for instance a few weeks ago a group of these idiots were lying on the green driving golf carts at & over each other ( no i,m not kidding ) & then when a couple of them took offence at each other ,literally assaulting each other with thier golf clubs. the police sorted that one out. this sort of behaviour does not help relations between the course & the residents round it.s boundary. As I said before make changes to attract younger people to the game . but dress & behaviour standards must remain in place if we wish these younger people to respect the game .In my experience most of these younger people do not object to these type of rules.One other point for you to ponder, many club members play on saturdays & during the week , what age group do you think would have the most free time to play then .I like many joined the golf fraternity when my children were grown up & looking after themselves & I had the time & money to let me play the game.

I have no objection to change in fact I encourage it . I am a member of a club that tried relaxing the rules for a period of time. What you can do in the small area of a bowls club will not work on a golf course where certain yobbo,s think that as soon as they get out of sight of the club house any thing goes, for instance a few weeks ago a group of these idiots were lying on the green driving golf carts at & over each other ( no i,m not kidding ) & then when a couple of them took offence at each other ,literally assaulting each other with thier golf clubs. the police sorted that one out. this sort of behaviour does not help relations between the course & the residents round it.s boundary. As I said before make changes to attract younger people to the game . but dress & behaviour standards must remain in place if we wish these younger people to respect the game .In my experience most of these younger people do not object to these type of rules.One other point for you to ponder, many club members play on saturdays & during the week , what age group do you think would have the most free time to play then .I like many joined the golf fraternity when my children were grown up & looking after themselves & I had the time & money to let me play the game.

What are you talking about? a user pays system? If thats the case then go ahead..retirees who join the game in thier later years and who play two, three, four times a week are getting a great deal as it is. And then most want to know what the seniors card discount membership rate is..(thankfully at my place we dont offer it until after 20 years of continuous full membership). They do not mean much financially to many clubs save for the fact that they think they can win on the engines ocasionally..

As for behaviour that is anti social, what goes as acceptable in public goes on the golf course IMO;- I agree with you there, but don’t decree that your saving yourself from any further acts because your dress regs are back in force.

Behaviour standards are one thing, but to think that your getting that through dress regs is not. Encourage ettiquette in the game by all means, however, to get to do this you have to encourage that ideal bracket of Xers and Y’s into the place in the first instance, tolerate how they come to your club in the first few instances, and go from there. Make the place comfortable for them, not for a band of rusted on members who have spent the last 20 years or so at the bar sniping and winging about the innocent misdemeanours of facines that are new to them,.

Scoop is right on the money with what he is saying.

In N Ireland, we have clubhouses that the age group of 20-40 barely use because of the stuffy attitude.

These places will go under, one of the clubs I’m a member of lost £70,000 last year. Guess what – the secretary manager got a bonus!!!!!!!!

How does that work?

Guys I’m 18, and I play golf as much as possible.
Maybe it’s because i can only afford to play at more of the chien-empreintes style courses, but the clubhouses are great places, none of this snobbery crap. all friendly.
But one thing places can change is the dress code, just slightly. Collared shirts no doubt should stay, every kid will own one so its not a problem.
But things like wearing white socks, even with shorts and your black shoes… It makes little difference to how respectable you look today, and kids just plain don’t wear white socks all the time, nor do they see why in hell it makes you look smarter.
Any place who is trying to get you to wear pants still is kidding themselves, this will make the game seem not only like an old person’s thing but an old person’s foreign thing. Who in their right mind lives in australia and plays sport in long pants? Again, you can look mighty respectable in this country wearing shorts.
The other is denim. For social games, if you want kids to play, maybe the denim rule most clubs have should be relaxed. So many kids I know just don’t own shorts that aren’t either denim or boardshorts. It’s been what? 50 years since James Dean I think we can give denim a bit more standing now. And Again, if your denim shorts aren’t frayed or torn there’s no reason why you won’t look like you’re respecting the game. Kids think: “If my mum tells me to put on my nice denim shorts to look nice for grandma or on christmas day. etc., then why don’t the golf people take that aswell?”

hw1989 I agree with most of your ideas, Some of the bigger & older clubs are fairly strict with there codes ,I think that if you wish to play at these places you have to bite the bullet & wear what they ask. In N.Q. where I live dress codes tend to be more lenient & that is how it should be in our climate.Denim shorts are classed as tailored shorts in most clubs up here,collared shirt ( they,re not that expensive , sports socks & shoes. several clubs also allow sandals in spike bars. As for scoops ideas of playing barefoot ,sorry thats not on & the suggestion of not filling your divots shows a total disregard for other players on the course, As I said before , clubs need dress & behaviour codes. By the way Scoop I am not A senior or a retiree. I work for a living & I play golf for recreation. I am happy to play by the rules, Every part of society has rules that we must abide by . Unfortunately there will always be a minority that object to rules & refuse to live by them.

To clarify one of my earlier posts, POM, by no shoes, I meant Golf Shoes. No one in their right mind would walk around a golf course barefoot..The barefoot you mention was from the lawnbowls example, which was as an example of a lateral change in thinking, aimed at addressing declining partication in the sport.. The barefoot there is as much geared to limit damage as it is to encourage wannabes to try it..Many places here still regard joggers or runners as unacceptable footwear.

Denim as HW suggested is still seen as unacceptable too, as are the white sports socks of certain length, (and make sure they don’t have stripes on them) Short/trousers not being tailored in style the same. And don’t even go near a pair that are draw string.. Why? And yet many clubs who can ill afford the loss of the $$$ of green fee players are still placing these restrictions in front of them..

The original point from my first statement flowed on about why the Nine Hole formula..’Twas about the claim from GA about lifestyle. My point was that there are many more reasons than the ‘busy lifestyle’ argument that was put forward, ‘Dress regulations’ is one of many that sit near the top of my list.. and another one that many don’t want to discuss is entrenched attitudes and the perception of a generation that all you’ll get there is wadfuls of last century regulation for little apparent reason.

Dress regulations are unfortunately the first, most immediately visual,and certainly the most responded to criticism of many who would consider playing that I know.

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i think you’ll find they are not doubling 1st 9 scores. they are not changing the current 9 hole handicap formula. they only double the scores for handicap purposes if you dont better par/square 18pts. if you do play better than 18 pts you get nett par for the 2nd 9 holes to work out for handicap purpose.

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i think you’ll find they are not doubling 1st 9 scores. they are not changing the current 9 hole handicap formula. they only double the scores for handicap purposes if you dont better par/square 18pts. if you do play better than 18 pts you get nett par for the 2nd 9 holes to work out for handicap purpose.

Yes, you’re right.

“9-hole (or more) competitions may be legitimately handicapped as outlined in the following excerpt from the Australian Handicapping System:

Any stipulated round of 9 holes or more may be used for handicapping purposes. The score shall be converted to an 18-hole score by the following method:

i) When the score is worse than nett par for a stipulated round of less than 18 holes, the score is extended to 18 holes on a pro-rata basis, e.g.
Stableford round over 12 holes – score of 20 points is extended to 30 points.
Par competition over 9 holes – score of -3 is extended to -6.
Stroke competition over 9 holes – score of 4 over par is extended to 8 over par.

ii) When the score is equal to or better than nett par for a round less than 18 holes, the score is extended to 18 holes by completing the card with nett par figures, e.g. Stableford round over 12 holes – score of 26 points is extended to 38 points (26 plus 12).
Par competition over 9 holes – score of + 3 is extended to +3 (+3 plus Square).
Stroke competition over 9 holes – score of nett 33 (par 36) is extended by adding the par of other 9 (say 35) = nett 68.

The extended scores are then utilised as in a normal 18-hole competition.”

That seems about the fairest way to do it.

OT but pom and scoop the great Sam Snead may disagree with you about wearing shoes on the course.

NO black snakes, taipans, funnel webs or crocs at Augusta though…...

Now theres a handicap for you , A croc on a golf course, have seen one but was only a freshie about 40cm long.