Your typical weekend player can’t hit the ball 250 yards, and struggles to hit the green in regulation when the hole is 450 yards away. Bunkers and water hazards line the fairways, and the out-of-bounds stakes seem only a few feet into the rough.
Golf has become unnecessarily long and challenging, which can make the game more frustrating, difficult and time consuming than it needs to be. The whole point of playing golf for recreation is to have fun, and developing shorter golf courses helps to emphasize that.
Here are 6 benefits of playing on a short golf course.
1. Not Everybody Hits the Ball a Mile – Golf courses have become increasingly long in design. The longest hole on the original 9 at Fairfield Hills is only 320 yards, and the longest hole on the new 3 holes is only 400 yards, which also happens to be a par 5. Nobody wants to hit the ball ten times just to get to the green.
2. Make Better Scores – Building on the previous point, shorter golf holes create better scores. Hitting the ball more often simply increases your chances of hitting a poor shot, that may go in the water or out-of-bounds. Thus, fewer shots will only lead to even fewer shots. Not only that, but it just feels much better to write down a 5 on the scorecard as opposed to an 8, no matter what par is.
3. The Course is Your Practice Arena – Short golf courses create perfect environments to develop your golf skills with irons and around the greens. Practicing with these clubs helps the player gain confidence with the other irons as well. They also provide greater accuracy than the likes of a 3 iron or Driver. Even if the player hits a poor shot, the ball will still end up near the green as opposed to in the woods or in an awkward situation. This provides great chipping & putting practice!
4. Shorter Time to Play – The longer the golf course, the more shots that have to be hit to get the ball in the hole. The more shots that are hit, the greater the odds of poor shots or penalty strokes. More shots and especially more penalties add a significant amount of time to the round. Shorter, compact golf courses require a much shorter time commitment, allowing players to fit golf more easily into their schedule.
5. More Beginner & Junior Friendly – Long, difficult golf courses that require a long time commitment can really be a major turn-off with beginners. Time spent on the course is valuable for juniors, but too much can get boring and tiresome. Longer holes add more shots, and more bad shots, which can frustrate young players. Junior golfers are vital for golf’s continued growth, and we need to make golf more accessible and entertaining than ever.
6. Its More Fun!! – Would you rather be 200 yards away from the green on your 2nd shot, or 120 yards away??! Sure, there have been huge improvements in golf equipment that allow the average player to hit the ball much farther. But, these improvements don’t come close to making up for insanely long and challenging golf courses.
CONCLUSION – Shorter golf courses allow players to score better, save time, and develop their golf skills in a much more fun environment. Short courses still provide plenty of challenge, but don’t require the player to hit the ball excessively far like a PGA Tour player. Because of this, short courses provide the perfect place to learn for beginners and juniors, without too large of a time commitment.
