In a Hole, Golf Courses Experiment With 15-inch Holes 405
Hugh Pickens DOT Com (2995471) writes "According to the National Golf Foundation, golf has lost five million players in the last decade with 20 percent of the existing 25 million golfers apt to quit in the next few years. Now Bill Pennington writes that golf courses across the country are experimenting with 15 inch golf holes the size of pizzas to stop people from quitting the game. "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," says Ted Bishop, president of the PGA of America. "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." A 15-inch-hole event was held at the Reynolds Plantation resort last week featuring top professional golfers Sergio García and Justin Rose, the defending United States Open champion. "A 15-inch hole could help junior golfers, beginning golfers and older golfers score better, play faster and like golf more," says García, who shot a six-under-par 30 for nine holes in the exhibition. Another alternative is foot golf, in which players kick a soccer ball from the tee to an oversize hole, counting their kicks. Still it is no surprise that not everyone agrees with the burgeoning alternative movement to make golf more user-friendly. "I don't want to rig the game and cheapen it," says Curtis Strange, a two-time United States Open champion and an analyst for ESPN. "I don't like any of that stuff. And it's not going to happen either. It's all talk.""
...news for nerds.. (Score:5, Insightful)
How did this get posted? Golf??!
Re:...news for nerds.. (Score:5, Funny)
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yeah, but its outside directly under the sun......
Cue the sweaty fatbodies claiming golf is a "sport" and golfers are somehow "athletes".
You had to walk between holes, big whoop. Walking only seems hard when you're fat and have to waddle side to side, shuffling around like a fucked up duck.
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Re:...news for nerds.. (Score:4, Informative)
While putting does not require much strength, doesn't driving (i.e. long distance shots) require a lot of upper body strength equivalent to olympic sports like javelin and discus throw?
I don't golf much, but in my experience, no. It just requires leverage and precision. When I was at a big law firm, I would sometimes play in "scramble" golf tournaments, where bad golfers (like me) teamed up with good golfers (3 or 4 to a team), and you took everybody's best shot. In one of these tournaments, I won the overall prize for best drive (this was against a number of lawyers who golf a lot). I do not have any special upper body strength, and certainly no skill. I just happened, that one time, to strike the ball just right so it flew straight, and flew a long way. And it was a one-off thing. Most of the rest of my drives didn't even go the right way. I doubt you will ever see a noob accidentally make a one-off farthest discus or javelin throw.
LET'S REDUCE THE HOLE! (Score:4, Funny)
15 mm ought to do it. Then we can get 100% participation in the "existing 25 million golfers apt to quit in the next few years".
Re:...news for nerds.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:...news for nerds.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Also, in the PGA, they are not allowed golf carts. There was, as far as I'm aware, only a single golfer [wikipedia.org] allowed to use a golf cart, because he had a physical disability. So, although golf carts may be used by amateurs and weekend warriors, that doesn't really mean it's part of the game. Just as there are oversized clubs that once can use that aren't tournament legal. If players want to make up their own rules amongst themselves, nobody is going to stop them. In recreational golf, it's not uncommon for players to take a mulligan, or stop counting when they get more than a double bogey.
If anything people aren't leaving because the game is too hard, but because the game is just too expensive. People have found other things to spend their money on. I've heard that cycling is turning into the new golf. Sure you can spend tons of money on the equipment, just like golf, but it's free once you own the equipment. People see very little value in paying for country club memberships as many of the people who now have money are don't care about the whole socialization aspect of it.
Re:...news for nerds.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Darts is the weirdest thing to be honest. People will consider archery and shooting sports, but not darts. I think it's because it seems so random to a beginner, but when you get deeper into it, it becomes pretty clear that it's all about fine motor skill.
And maths and strategy. You're left with a score and need to get to zero with the last dart hitting a double, so you need to not only know what combinations will get you there, but also which ones will do the least amount of damage if you miss, and redo your strategy if you miss or a dart blocks your strike zone.
It's as much in your head as it is in your aim, arm and hand.
Skill vs sport (Score:3)
I consider games like golf and chess skills rather than sports. To me, sports rely more on athletic factors like speed and strength. Sports competitions are more likely to be divided by sexes (chess shouldn't be) and/or weight classes. Skills competitions shouldn't require divisions by sex or size.
It's a blurry line I have drawn for myself but, right or wrong, that is how I feel about it. I should probably duck now.
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And coordination. Golf doesn't require much of the first two (although it does take some upper body strength to hit those long drives) but requires the third in spades. Golf is a sport.
I think the line is fairly clear. Is there a physical component or is it purely mental? An easy to use, sensible guideline. Gol
Re:...news for nerds.. (Score:4, Interesting)
whats your definition of a sport?
A game in which the spectators are able to scream at the top of their lungs, throw cups of beer at the officials, blast air horns, toot vuvuzelas, and/or wave fun noodles while the contestants are trying to concentrate on scoring points. Golf, tennis, and bowling are examples of competitive games that could be considered sports if one or more of these elements were present.
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Re:...news for nerds.. (Score:4, Funny)
15 inch holes
Is goatse.cx the connection? It's goatse.cx isn't it?
A result of the new "gilded age" (Score:3)
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Golf, is a low impact sport, where you can get good exercise but not seem like a jock.
However I don't think it is the size of the hole is the major factor. That is why we have handicap levels.
But the following:
1. Cost of equipment. Paying more then $100 to start a sport, makes entry difficult.
2. Size of equipment. A golf bag, fills a significant portion of your cars trunk, or you need a place to store it off season.
3. Golf Greens, often require you to pre-plan a Tee time, often you may need to join a club
Re:...news for nerds.. (Score:4, Funny)
Golf is dying because it's boring and pointless.
As an avid fisherman I hope to see the popularity of golf grow.
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Wow, something even more boring and pointless than golf, I forgot all about fishing...
Except with fishing, at least you get to eat when you win.
Re:...news for nerds.. (Score:4, Funny)
With golf, you get to drink even when you lose!
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I think there are probably two main things keeping more people from trying golf.
1) The Image. Like you said, many people consider it to be boring and pointless. Other people consider it a game only for the elite (or those who consider themselves the elite) of society.
2) The Cost. Unlike mini-golf, you generally have to supply your own equipment that can get prohibitively expensive. A friend of mine wanted to try golf because his work was having a golf outing together. He had to shell out $80 for somebody el
Costs (Score:3, Insightful)
It's more likely the result of fees that are routinely over $100. And to really enjpy the game (be good enough not not get pissed all the time) you need to play at least three times a week.
Pretty pricey.
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I've played on tons of perfectly good courses for under $40. They're not as nice as the $100 courses, but they usually easier- which is good for non-experts.
To get decent, you just need to go to the driving range. That's a lot cheaper and quicker than playing full rounds.
Learning Golf While Young (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Learning Golf While Young (Score:5, Insightful)
Golf certainly is frustrating. That's quite deliberate, as it makes excelling very difficult and thus worthwhile. Think of it as like a Scottish martial art... taking years to become fairly proficient, and never being sure of reaching that elusive perfection.
But golf is also a spiritual discipline. It teaches you self-control, patience, and sportsmanship. Witness the far better behaviour of professional golfers, compared to soccer players and many other sportsmen.
Re:Learning Golf While Young (Score:5, Funny)
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'Teaches' doesn't mean teaching always sticks. You can lead a horse to water ...
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Hey, he kept his control on the golf area. Like some German soccer player said, regarding the fan riots, "Violence does not belong in sports. Leave it at home."
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In other words, it's okay if you beat your wife at home, as long as you sing nicely and smile during the game at the stadium.
Re:Learning Golf While Young (Score:5, Funny)
I have given much consideration to golf over the years. My experiences include; nearly having my windshield taken out driving down a city street and evolving my own golf game, played from my car, in which I wait till I see someone putting or driving and honk my car horn just in time to fuck up their shot.I went to a driving range once and put my back out of alignment on a bucket of balls. NO LOVE!
It has occurred to me that the sissy ass game of golf neednt waste so much real estate on a dying form. Merely create a hybrid sport to bring the masses in and make the greenskeeper earn his damn money. I propose ACTION GOLF: No clubs, instead, you are equipped with a potato gun and a can of hairspray. Helmets will be worn, FORE! will be shouted into a bullhorn, previous to any shot. Any discrepancies in score or disagreements will result in a round of fire based on the paintball sport. This is now a game for Vikings, not old men! Putters will be reminded that the hole already exists and creating your own through gunfire doesnt count.
PLAY GOLF!
Re:Learning Golf While Young (Score:4, Funny)
Nothing to do with hole size (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Nothing to do with hole size (Score:5, Insightful)
That being said, are we sure this is not some kind of joke or hoax? This reads like something from The Onion....
Re:Nothing to do with hole size (Score:5, Insightful)
For a while it was a middle class game, for a middle class with lots of leisure time. The current remaining middle class works far more than the old middle class.
Golf is returning to being an upper class game ... but that means much less players and thus less courses.
Re:Nothing to do with hole size (Score:5, Funny)
Ok, I'll say it if nobody else does:
There are already a certain kind of giant holes on the golf court. Though they're not in the ground, they're the ones playing.
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Question is... are they larger than 15 inch?
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While I could probably spend the hours, I just don't find the cost justified. I'd rather take some of the younger ones in our family to a putt-putt/minigolf.
I think it's also a bit of perception - most of the time you find a golf scene in a movie/TV show, it will generally be older people (read: men), often in business, more than well off, and generally not about the game itself but about the networking that happens while at the game. I'm inclined that it's that aspect that they're really trying to save,
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Re:Nothing to do with hole size (Score:5, Insightful)
Not to mention the horrible amount of water, fertilisers, pesticides, and land tracts golf courses require for their "prefect" greens. Heck, with so many people using golf carts, and caddies carrying golf bags, most people playing golf aren't even getting sufficient exercise.
Mini golf, and basically every other non-motorised sport, are by far much more environmentally friendly then golf.
In many places, it is known as the sport of the "white old mens club" (figure of speech) or the 1%, because of the restricted club memberships, expensive green fees, and huge variation in equipment costs, which can be in the thousands of dollars for a single decent club.
Re:Nothing to do with hole size (Score:4, Informative)
In many places, it is known as the sport of the "white old mens club" (figure of speech) or the 1%, because of the restricted club memberships, expensive green fees, and huge variation in equipment costs, which can be in the thousands of dollars for a single decent club.
Except most public course have fees that are $20 per person, maybe $30 if you get a cart, and a decent set of clubs will run you a couple hundred dollars retail. Sure, if you want to play at places like Pebble Beach or Augusta National it will cost a ton of money (if you even have the handicap to get in), but there are many golf courses out there that are very affordable.
Re:Nothing to do with hole size (Score:4, Insightful)
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I'd mod you up if I had points. Augusta National != Golf. The course down the road from me costs $9. Most of the others in the area range from $13 to $25. This is not an expensive hobby, compared to my other hobbies of home-brewing or motorcycling. My 'rich man' hobby is cheaper than my 'redneck' hobbies.
Re:Nothing to do with hole size (Score:5, Insightful)
Allow me to explain the idiocy of what you just said.
Cars are evil, because only the top 1% of the top 1% can afford a Lamborghini or a Ferrari.
Houses are evil because only the top 1% of the top 1% can afford lavish mansions.
Boats are evil because only a select few can afford giant yachts.
Restaurants are evil because not everybody can afford places which serve foie gras, caviar, and thousand dollar bottles of wine.
I'm a fairly avid golfer. I have neither the interest, skill, nor the money to play Augusta.
And do you know what that does in relation to where and when and how I actually do play golf? Not a damned thing.
Augusta is an extreme example, and while there are some places which are still the domain of rich old white men ... that has nothing at all to do with my ability to play at an affordable course whose price and skill level more closely matches what I can manage.
You can readily take up golf with $100 worth of used clubs, and play on courses which cost the $20-$30 the poster you replied to mentioned. I know someone who until a year or so ago played on the same clubs he'd gotten as a teenager.
I have no interest in playing Augusta or any of the crazy courses the pros play -- because they're way beyond my price range and my skill level.
That there exists examples of courses that the average player will never play on has nothing to do with the rest of golf. And for the rest of us, there's actually quite a lot of affordable golf in many communities.
For most of us, golf is a game, and a leisure activity. We ignore or are unaware of half of the rules. We play for fun and a little exercise, and to hang out with friends. We watch the pros to realize just how well the game can be played, and then we laugh and go about our business of playing it our way.
What your saying is akin to saying you shouldn't take up jogging because you'll never make it into the Olympics. The one has nothing at all to do with the other.
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If I could get a round in in 2-3 hours I would defiantly go more often.
If you tee off at 8 or 9 am, you can be off the course by noon assuming you don't play really slow. Also, for some reason courses are less crowded that time of day. It's even better in summer since you get off before the day gets too hot.
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Golf's not really much more expensive than other common recreational activities. More than some, less than most. Skiing, boating, hunting, fishing, tennis, RV-ing, etc. Golf doesn't require a large up-front investment nor travel. And as for the time spent playing it, I think you're not quite getting the whole recreation thing.
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I do get the recreation thing. I just don't get where golfing gets into the recreation thing.
Sorry, but hitting a ball and then spending the rest of the afternoon finding it again is not relaxing. It's somewhere between boring and frustrating, depending on how long it takes to find that little white thing again.
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The point of golfing is networking. That's it. And to that end, it's perfect.
Ponder this: In this ... well, let's say "sport" ... you usually spend literally hours walking about. From an "action" point of view it's even worse than baseball. You have like 10 seconds of hitting the ball, followed by at least 10-20 minutes walking down the range finding it again. And in those 10-20 minutes you do literally NOTHING but walk.
Do you know why people use an MP3 player when they're doing their jogging? Because your
Re:Nothing to do with hole size (Score:4, Insightful)
Then golf simply isn't for you, since the time spent on the course (and in the clubhouse afterwards) is what it's all about.
Really, do you think that the point of the game is to get a small white ball into a small hole several hundreds of yards away? That's the objective; the point is to spend a good time, basically going on an extended walk with other people (nice ones, hopefully), talking, and enjoying not worry about deadlines and performance metrics and the like for once.
How nice and romantic. It's a pity that joining a country club, paying the greens fees, and the expense of the clubs is the only possible way to do that.
Your :
going on an extended walk with other people (nice ones, hopefully)
Is true enough. Although is "nice" the metric? Everyone I know who is in a Golf country club is not there because the others are "nice" - they are there for the exclusivity, the companionship of others who value being better than other people. Some were nice people, some were definitely not.
I could have joined locally, but frankly golf is a game for people with a very high boredom threshold, I like being around interesting people, not ones who just happen to be wealthy, but are bores otherwise, and I had other venues in which to network.
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...and why no one watches the PGA Tour despite it being televised CONSTANTLY on network TV.
I don't generally reply to ACs, but a 7.8 share (about 22 million viewers) for the Master's on Sunday isn't bad at all (even though it was one of the lowest Master's Sundays in recent years) and the lower number this year was probably due to both Woods and Mickelson not being present (casual viewers are drawn to names that they recognize and "last day, back nine dramas").
Not a fan, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Golf is about getting your balls into the hole in as few strokes as possible. It's as simple as that.
I'm not a golf guy, but I can appreciate that the original game is fine the way it is. Seriously, 15-inch holes aren't going to magically enable you to get a hole-in-one. The challenge of hitting the traditional hole is something I respect; making it feel like I have training wheels on to pander to me is just going to alienate me further. I think most prefer things tight, not loose. You have to feel like you've succeeded.
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Yeah, pizza-hole golf is the equivalent to dumbing down school kids by eliminating cursive writing (common core). Birdies are going to become very common. A whole bunch of (possibly evil) idiots are ruining everything out there.
Yeah, abandoning cursive writing will doom this country. Cursive has been dead for years. In my own case, the last time I wrote cursive was in 4th grade back in the 1960's, when I took my last test in penmanship. Might as well say that no one can write any more since we abandoned typewriters. But your ability to equate cursive writing with 15 inch golf holes does show creativity on your part.
You can do better with that than make false equivalences.
Re:Not a fan, but... (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, pizza-hole golf is the equivalent to dumbing down school kids by eliminating cursive writing (common core).
Also, our precious bodily fluids. Don't forget the threat from dumbed-down golf and the Common Core to our precious bodily fluids.
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Golf is about getting your balls into the hole in as few strokes as possible. It's as simple as that.
You have got in one (pardon the pun).
One thing I like about golf is the fact that it can be played by people, male or female of all ages and you get a reasonable workout, especially if you play the full 18 holes. Of course the 19th hole is usually the more interesting :).
(FTA) “A 15-inch hole could help junior golfers, beginning golfers and older golfers score better, play faster and like golf more,”. What rubbish the whole idea of any game is to provide a challenge and this also includes vi
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Golf is about getting your balls into the hole in as few strokes as possible. It's as simple as that.
Now read this phrase from a sexual perspective, imagine the CEOs and the like actually doing it.
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So we're replacing the sport nobody wants to play with the sport nobody wants to watch?
Stop people from quitting (Score:2)
experimenting with 15 inch golf holes the size of pizzas to stop people from quitting the game.
Why not make the entire green the hole? People would never be able to quit.
Interest (Score:3)
Making an easy mode golf will surely bring people back to the expensive courses, like Reynolds Plantation resort! In fact, they should invent a throwing golf - Americans like throwing things - they could even use some sort of flattened plastic disc, to make it more aerodynamic. If only golf would be more innovative like that, people would flock to play golf!
Sarcasm aside, my friends and I never cared about how "hard" golf was. In fact, most of the charm of actually going out and playing was laughing about how bad we all were. We don't go back very often because most of us can think of 30 or 40 other things that we'd rather be doing for those 6 hour consecutive stretches on a weekend.
Because dumbing down the game... (Score:3, Funny)
Because "dumbing down the game" have worked SO well for Blizzard and World of Warcraft..
I'm being sarcastic.
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The sad part is that it DID work for WoW. What's even sadder is that as usual everyone feels the pressing urge to follow the herd leader (because you sure as fuck get everyone who quits WoW because they were fed up with "if you can breathe regularly and not fall asleep during the raid you get your prize" dungeons if you take that as an incentive to dumb down your dungeons as well).
By making everyone a winner, you make the winner a loser. Sadly, there are more losers than winners, and hence it works.
I see the disconnect. (Score:2)
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it used to be before the players all got lazy and now drive from hole to hole. real golfers walk and carry their bag, the lazy poesurs drive and have their caddy carry the bag from the cart to them and then back again.
Larger Holes... (Score:2)
Won't help much if the game is just boring to people and/or expensive. Now if you told everyone to wear protective body armor when going out on the green and start aiming at each other then maybe you'd get your numbers up.
The sport didn't use to be this big (Score:2)
and in the future it won't be this big... but it will continue to exist just as it did for hundreds of years.
Golf is fine... but its peaked as a sport and will now decline.
Expensive Middle Class Sport Losing Patrons (Score:5, Insightful)
Wonder why - the most expensive popular sport in existence is losing millions of players, right around the time that the income of the group most associated with playing golf is dipping dramatically...
Maybe if Sherlock were here he could figure out why?
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Cycling is a lot more expensive than golf, and seems to be the new wealthy middle-class beer belly sport.
I've been riding a bike for more than 30 years, and I can't tell how how different it looks at the parking lot today - middle-aged men, 20lbs or more overweight, showing up in $100,000 cars with $25,000 bikes that they haven't ridden since last week's group ride, and every kind of electronic bike gadget you can imagine dangling off of them. They're there to show off their affluence and to compete with ea
That whining noise isn't your bike. (Score:3)
I've been riding a bike for more than 30 years...
Since before it was cool? No doubt on a bike brand that we probably wouldn't have heard of?
...and I can't tell how how different it looks at the parking lot today - middle-aged men, 20lbs or more overweight, showing up in $100,000 cars with $25,000 bikes...
Leaving aside for a moment the complaints about people spending more money on their toys than you've spent on your car/house/whatever, are you seriously complaining that the middle-aged men with beer bellies are actually getting out and doing something active? Even if they're not very good at it? (And if they aren't, how are they going to get better at it, except through practice?)
It's easy enough to flip this around:
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I live on a rural road that attracts a lot of cycles. What is with the clothes the bikers wear? I understand in competition everything counts including clothes and gear but riding on the weekend is not a competition. If you are competing, wouldn't it make more sense to not be comfortable during practice?
Why is it that every time some douchebag wants to complain about cyclists, they bitch about the clothes? Why the fuck do you care what other people choose to wear? What does it have to do with anything at all?
For the record, cyclists wear spandex because it's more comfortable. Try riding 75 miles in cotton skivvies and see how your ass feels when you're done. Bright colors improve visibility. As for the stupid team logos? They're stupid. Get over it. Nobody cares what you think about it.
Fun? (Score:2)
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."
That's the real money quote right there. Golf is fun? Minigolf while drunk is fun. Standing in the sun playing one of the slowest and least exciting games of precision is a challenge open to the dedicated, it's a problem to be solved, it's done to prove something to someone. I have never considered this "sport" fun.
Mind you I also find fishing incredibly boring. Maybe I don't have the patience for slow games like this, but really there's better things I could be doing, and I'm not the only one who has this
The pace of life has changed (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm an avid sailor, and the same discussion is being had in the sport of sailing. The sport of sailing is in rapid decline, at least in the US. It's far less popular than it was 30 years ago. Most of the people who do it are baby boomers who will soon retire from it.
There is great consternation within the sport of sailing about what can be done to save it, but really, nothing can be done. The sport is not appropriate for the times.
It's not a matter of cost. Sports like golf, sailing, lawn bowling, and other sports which are in rapid decline can be done affordably. Sailing, for example, is cheaper than ever because more and more used sailboats are dumped on the market every year (fiberglass sailboats almost never wear out).
The pace of life has changed. That is the issue. Young people, who've been reared on dizzyingly fast-paced entertainment such as first-person shooter games, are not thrilled at the idea of racing at five miles per hour (or sometimes less) in a sailboat for four hours. Nor do they find it exciting to play shuffleboard or do golf. By the standards of today, those sports are boring.
Nothing should be done to make golf or sailing more interesting for younger people. It won't help to make golf holes bigger. The only way to make these sports more interesting is to make them drastically faster paced, which will ruin them for the people who enjoy them now. These sports should just accept unpopularity.
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There's a B.C. comic strip that says it all (Score:3)
Char 1: whatcha doin'?
Char 2: Playing golf.
Char 1: What's the object of the game?
Char 2: Get this little white ball in that hole over there.
Char 1: [picks up ball, walks over to hole, drops it in hole] Stupid game.
Softball (Score:5, Interesting)
15" holes seem pretty ridiculous, considering you still have to get to the green. Accurate drives and knowing how to deal with situational shots comprise at least half the difficulty of golf. Nobody takes a mulligan on a missed putt, they take them when they slice a shot onto the next fairway over or into a water hazard or whiff it entirely and launch a clump of divot instead of the ball.
But no one derides amateur softball players for not hitting 85 mph pitches or being able to throw out a runner at first with a bullet from 130' away. What might make golf more accessible is building smaller 9-hole courses heavy on par-threes with more forgiving hazards and flatter greens. Less of a time commitment, cheaper due to faster turnover... Change the name somewhat (Golf-lite? Softgolf?) so as to defuse objections from people who want to maintain “pure golf’s” identity as is.
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Well, when driving is so hard, maybe eliminate it altogether in the spirit of making the sport more accessible. Just down to putting. Maybe put a few funny obstacles between the point where you start playing and the hole, you know, just to make it fun.
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Great suggestions ludwig.
I've also found golf attracts anal retentives, making a round a chore rather than some fun. Not much you can do about them though.
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I seem to have the opposite experience. When I go golfing with people (rarely), hitting the green is pretty easy. Every one then get's 2 or 3 tries at the putt, then just gives up, picks up the ball. Frankly, I see no reason to change hole size, because we already treat it as two games. Hitting the green is golf. Trying to get the ball in the hole is a the other game of "@&#$ing stupid %#! son of a @*%@# get in the $%&#ing hole... awww ^*@& it, next fairway..."
The issue for me is spending
Others respond immediately. (Score:2)
Knowing the things that fail in the West make an aggressive move in the Asian markets, Cricket too announced pre emptive measures. It h
um... (Score:2)
A 15-inch-hole event was held at the Reynolds Plantation resort last week...
How about instead of screwing around with the size of the holes, you just stop naming your golf courses after something that's basically synonymous with the 200yr holocaust that was slavery? It doesn't help that if you're not white you have to call the course up ahead of time to make sure they'll let you in.
It surely wouldn't attract me to the game (Score:2)
What about disc golf? (Score:2)
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Disc golf has exploded in popularity around here.
well... (Score:2)
Replace hole with net (Score:2)
They could replace the hole with a net. Then instead of a golf ball, golfers could throw a plastic disc. They could call it, oh, wait, nevermind.
Personal Experience (Score:2)
My grandfather asked me to go golfing with him when I was about 7. There was some conversation among the adults concluding that, based on my age only, I was a hazard to the green and therefore would have to just watch. So I followed around old guys for an hour on grass that I was not worthy to putt on. I realize this is an antecdote. Fuck golf.
Change. (Score:2)
Spirit of JFK (Score:2)
"We choose to go to the moon, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
President Kennedy, announcing the goal of landing on the moon before the end of the 60's.
Even bigger holes? (Score:2)
But the usual golf player is already a gigantic ... oh, you mean in the ground.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
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is that it's played by republican douchebags in khakis. you know, the type of people who are against universal health care because f you they've got theirs.
I am not sure how President Obama fits into that description.
Re: (Score:2)
If you suck at a sport, pick another.
Or keep practicing until you get better.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Handicap.
Re: (Score:3)
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The golf course owners want people's money, because there's too many of them for the demand. So naturally they're going to try and make it easier so more people want to play.
Welcome to the free market in action.