Golf – is shorter better? - The Glenmuir Journal

As the face of golf changes, many experts and players are starting to wonder whether shorter is better – when it comes to everything from drive distance and courses to game length…

PA.31213821. Golf Sixes hopes to open the game up to more people. Steven Paston/PA Wire

With crazy golf courses becoming mainstream and flexibility a hot topic among course designers, the shape of golf is starting to change. And many are suggesting that it’s the length of the game in biggest need of updating.

We consider why many in the game are looking to improve their game through two tactics – shorter games and shorter driving distances.

Six of the best?
One of the recent attempts to make the game more appealing to a wider market follows in cricket’s footsteps. While this had the hugely successful Twenty20, golf now has its own version, in Golf Sixes.

Launched by the European Tour at the Centurion Club near St Albans, this version shortens the game in a number of ways.

The most obvious is the reduction of holes from 18 to 6, cutting down considerably the length of time it takes to complete a match, to just over an hour. It also introduced a shot clock aspect, limiting players to just 40 seconds to take a shot. On reaching the knockout stages, this is cut further to 30 seconds.

The aim is to, in effect, cut to the chase – remove the first 12 holes and get to the exciting part of the game where every point matters. It also means a whole tournament can be completed over a weekend.

Speaking to the BBC, European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley says that slow play is golf's “biggest enemy”.

He added: "There needs to be another way to attract the younger generation. Is this the answer? Maybe, and we will take what is good out of this and build on it."

PA.4850446. Are golfers driving too far? Martin Rickett/PA Wire

Driving for too long?
A big concern for those at the highest level of golf is that the advances in technology for golf balls and drivers means it’s too easy to hit long drives.

When you consider that – especially in the UK – golf courses were designed decades ago when golf technology was just starting out, it should come as no surprise to hear people worry many of our classic courses simply aren’t fit for purpose any more.

Mike Davis, chief executive of the United States Golf Association (USGA), which helps set the rules of the game, is one of those raising his concerns in an article in Golfworld.

Courses like St Andrews have had to move tees off the course to accommodate ever-increasing drive lengths.

But asking golfers – as well as golf fans and manufacturers – to use equipment that would shorten these drives is a tough ask. After all, a well struck drive is one of the highlights of the game.

But Davis argues it’s not only putting many courses at risk but also removing a lot of the technical skill from the game.

What the future holds is anyone’s idea, but limits on the power of drivers and balls will have to be brought in eventually if many of the courses of today are to survive.