Altering golf rules: will it work?

April 21,2014: A recent report in the New York Times shares that golf courses across the United States are altering traditional rules of golf to stop people from quitting the game. Golf holes the size of pizzas, Soccer balls on the back nine. A mulligan on every hole are some of the new experiment introduced into golf.

Golf has been known for its standards and rich tradition. However, the perception is fast changing and nearly five million players in the last decade have opted out of golf.  According to the National Golf Foundation, almost 20 percent of the existing 25 million golfers opt to quit in the next few years.

Many people under 35 are rejecting the game, saying it takes too long to play, is too difficult to learn and has too many tiresome rules.

[highlight] A 15-inch hole could help junior golfers, beginning golfers and older golfers score better, play faster and like golf more, says Garcia [/highlight]

Golfing leaders are gradually realizing the need for new rules and radical changes to courses. They are working to alter the game’s reputation in order to recruit lapsed golfers and a younger demographic.

“We’ve got to stop scaring people away from golf by telling them that there is only one way to play the game and it includes these specific guidelines,” Ted Bishop, the president of the P.G.A. of America, who also owns a large Indiana golf complex said to NYTimes. “We’ve got to offer more forms of golf for people to try. We have to do something to get them into the fold, and then maybe they’ll have this idea it’s supposed to be fun.”

Recently a 15-inch-hole event was held at the Reynolds Plantation resort where top professional golfers Sergio García and Justin Rose, the defending United States Open champion participated. Garcia opined that such initiatives are encouraging for new golfers.

“A 15-inch hole could help junior golfers, beginning golfers and older golfers score better, play faster and like golf more,” García told NYTimes.

Justin Rose  shared that he too is planning to use an expanded hole to reintroduce the game to his 5-year-old son, who doesn’t seem any more interested  in the game  after repeated failures.

“Lately, I’ve been having a hard time getting him to pick up a club,” Rose said in the NYTimes report.

The other alternative being experimented is foot golf, in which players kick a soccer ball from the tee to an oversize hole, counting their kicks. Other changes relax the rules and allow do-over shots, or mulligans, once a hole; teeing up the ball for each shot; and throwing a ball out of a sand bunker once or twice a round.

However, these alterations do not appeal to some purists, who worry that the peaceful, fundamental golf experience will be lost by adapting these novice rules.

Source: nytimes.com