The Pheasants Golf Society

Golf played in the true spirit of the game!

What’s the true value of a golf course..

Coronavirus closures raise age-old question: What's the value of a golf course?

Nestled on the shores of Lake Austin, Lions Municipal Golf Course is one of the few remaining centrally-located green spaces in the city.

This is part of our Muni Monday series, spotlighting stories from the world of city- and county-owned golf courses around the world. This week, Zephyr Melton tells the tale of Lions Municipal Golf Course in Austin, Texas. Got a muni story that needs telling? Send tips to Dylan Dethier or to munimondays@gmail.com.

In different times, Sunday would have been the final round of the WGC-Match Play at Austin Country Club, the culmination of a week spent celebrating golf in Texas’ capital. Instead, Austin’s courses are in limbo. Some have shuttered, obeying Travis County’s shelter-in-place order issued last week. City-owned courses are technically closed, though local news reports plenty of activity on the fairways. It’s a time of uncertainty. But for one Austin municipal course, uncertainty has long been the status quo.

Nestled between downtown and the shores of Lake Austin, Lions Municipal Golf Course — affectionately known as “Muny” — is one of the few remaining centrally located green spaces untouched by the sprawl of a rapidly expanding city. Muny, by refreshing contrast, has stayed largely the same since its founding in 1924. As urban expansion chokes in surrounding sections of Tarrytown, Austinites have referred to Muny as “the lungs of West Austin.”

At its best, Muny serves as a reprieve. It provides green space. It provides opportunity for socializing. And it provides a breath of fresh air, as any good set of lungs should. In the current global climate, the need for fresh air is all the more apparent.

I first got acquainted with Muny when I was in college at the University of Texas. An ill-prepared long-form story pitch led my professor (and now mentor) Kevin Robbins to gently push me in the direction of Muny and its rich history. I learned a lot that semester. Some about myself, about what it would take to be a writer. Mostly though, I learned about this quirky municipal course in West Austin.

I learned that it was the first course south of the Mason-Dixon Line to desegregate. I learned from a Legend of Lions about the grain of the shaggy Bermuda greens and how the grass always grows toward the setting sun. I learned that Ben Crenshaw bought his trusty Wilson 8802 putter in the pro shop, and how passionately he works to preserve the course now. And I learned about the soul of municipal golf. This was a culture of T-shirts and cutoffs, of off-brand sets, with no judgment or evaluation. Golf in pure form.

I’ve spent recent days stuck in my cramped Brooklyn apartment, squarely in the pandemic’s epicenter, but my mind has wandered to Muny over and over. We Texans aren’t used to being told what we can’t do or where we can’t go. But as those freedoms are threatened by an invisible enemy, one of the remaining bastions of normalcy remains going outside and soaking in the natural elements, albeit at a safe distance. In Brooklyn, that’s tough. Seventeen hundred miles away, Muny has always afforded that opportunity.

But maybe not for long. Muny exists in a limbo that extends beyond this current purgatory; an Austin without Muny is a reality that locals are having to confront. The course occupies a precarious position in the local ecosystem. Though Lions is owned by the city, the land is owned by the University of Texas. And this land is valuable; it’s estimated in the neighborhood of $200 million. UT wants to lease the land to developers for a hefty profit. The city, residents, golfers and activists — a coalition known as Save Muny — hope to preserve it.

What is the value of green space? Of a public park? Is your answer different now than it was a month ago? Mine is. From these restricted living quarters, the ability to get outside, to take a walk, to feel normal, feels priceless.

If there’s a glimmer of sunshine in these somber days, it’s our collective reappraisal of what’s important. In golf, as in many other things. People have continued to play on, even as golf has been stripped down to its most basic form. No clubhouse. No pro shop. No carts. No flagsticks. Hell, even the cups aren’t the same. But the game persists: Just you and a bag of sticks chasing around a devilish little white ball. The necessary stuff.

That’s what Muny has always represented, in my eyes. It’s a simplicity that can be lost in the trappings of this game, but it’s one that golfers are rediscovering, in closed courses and backyards (and on rooftops!) everywhere. On 141 acres in West Austin. A heck of a place to breathe

Something to do during the lockdown..

5 easy tips to get your golf gear in shape while stuck at home

Stuck at home with nothing to do? Consider putting these five easy tips to use to ensure your gear is in shape for the season.

So you’re stuck at home and you’ve already binge-watched “The Office” for the third time — in the last week. It’s safe to assume everyone is going a little stir-crazy as we continue to embrace social distancing. And with some courses hitting pause on daily play, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get your outdoor golf fix — unless your name is Padraig Harrington — which leads to a lot of time milling around the house trying trick shots, all in the name of #PlayingThrough. We get it.

Other than your wedges and putter, the rest of your golf clubs (and bag) aren’t getting a lot of love these days, but that doesn’t mean you have to forget about them entirely. It’s about this time every year when much of the country is counting down the hours until the Masters, that you likely get your bag out and start doing an inventory check as the days get longer, and opportunities to play become more frequent.

You could wait until coronavirus retreats to do the inventory check, or you could just go ahead and do it now. Let’s be honest, what else are you going to do? Hop on another video conference call? No thanks.

Instead, consider taking a few minutes out to follow these five simple gear tips to ensure everything in your bag is in good working order before you hit the course.

1. Check your grips

Want to know what isn’t fun? Taking a huge rip at the ball and watching the club twist or even fly out of your hands at impact. Could it have something to do with how you hold the club? Sure. But you might also want to check out your handles to see if they’re still in playing condition.

The golf grip is constantly overlooked during the early season tune-up. Golf Pride data shows the average usage for a set of grips is roughly 40-60 rounds — and, yes, practice sessions count as one round — which means you should be replacing your grips every year or two if playing regularly. On average, it’ll run you somewhere between £70-£140 depending on the grip you choose.

If your grips are starting to look slick or rip at the base, it’s probably time to change them out. Or you could consider the idea of using sandpaper to temporarily bring your grips back to life.

Another tip? If you don’t want to buy grips on the regular, wash them every so often with a scrub brush and mild detergent to remove the oils and sweat from your hands that break down the rubber. After giving them a good scrub, dry off the grip with a clean towel.

2. Clean the grooves

I was taught from an early age to always keep the grooves on your irons and wedges clean. (Thanks, Dad!) It’s a simple task that requires you to have a wet towel on hand during the round to clean off the face after each shot. It takes a couple seconds.

But chances are you aren’t cleaning off the grooves after each shot. All that dirt and grass currently caked in the grooves of your lob wedge is a problem. Unless you like hitting a flier, go ahead and check the grooves on all your clubs. (Yes, that includes the 3-iron.)

Studies have shown you can lose roughly 1,300 rpm’s of spin when the grooves can’t grip the cover of the ball properly, which is fairly significant when we’re talking about a wedge shot that needs to drop and stop.

Grab a bucket with warm water, a scrub brush (or even a toothbrush) with plastic bristles and go to work. It shouldn’t take you long to dislodge the dirt and reveal clean grooves. And if you don’t have a brush, a golf tee with a sharp tip will work in a pinch. Just make sure you have several handy if you plan on cleaning your whole set, as the tip of the tee will get worn out in a hurry.

As for the metal brushes you see hanging from golf bags? I’m not a huge fan of taking something with wire bristles to the face of an iron or wedge, especially if it’s of the soft carbon steel variety. But that’s your call if you want to go the metal brush route.

3. Spike check

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t check the spikes on my golf shoes as often as I should. Save for Tiger Woods and a few of his colleagues in the professional ranks, everyone is wearing soft spikes on the course. Soft spikes keep your golf sanctuary happy, but they can be somewhat frustrating to remove if you don’t keep tabs on the number of rounds they’ve logged.

A set of soft spikes will last between 20-30 rounds before they need to be replaced. For those playing on firmer courses in dry desert climates, it’s probably closer to 20. If you catch them before they completely wear out, it’s easy enough to buy a replacement set online — the wrench needed to remove the spikes costs £5-£10 — to keep from having to break in a new pair of shoes.

How can you tell if your spikes need to be replaced? If the rubber spikes have been worn down to nubs, it’s time to make a change. And what happens if you can’t see the two little holes in the soft spike where the wrench attaches to remove said spike? It means they’ve likely been worn to the point where getting new shoes makes the most sense for your sanity. Trust me.

4. Do an inventory check

Now is the time to empty out the golf bag and see what you’re missing. Are you all stocked up on tees, ball markers, sunscreen (make sure it hasn’t expired), permanent markers (we’ll get to this one in a moment) and koozies? If you’re missing one of the above, now is a great time to make sure it’s in the bag for the new season.

What about golf gloves? If you’re anything like me, you have a few fresh options in a Ziploc bag. Also, consider throwing a pair of rain gloves in the mix if you play in the elements, or want to do your best Phil Mickelson impression.

Something else to consider? It wouldn’t be a bad idea to air out your gain gear if it’s regularly stored in the side pocket of your bag. Also, most bags have a small side zipper that allows you to access the bottom in the event something falls between the club dividers. I’ve found an old banana and £20 by simply doing a semi-regular check. You never know what you’re going to find.

5. Mark your golf balls

Please don’t be the guy in your foursome who continually asks, “Is it you or me who’s playing the Titleist red 3?” That guy is the worst. Just mark your golf ball and save everyone the headache. If you’ve never marked your ball before, you could always go “Justin Thomas style” and add four red dots around the play number. There’s also “Castaway style,” if you have a bit more time.

If you mark your balls now, you won’t have to worry about doing it right before you tee off. Simple stuff.

Golf and the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Golf and the coronavirus: how to play with confidence, according to an expert

Golfers can continue to play golf during the coronavirus outbreak, but must follow these steps, according to an infectious disease expert.

You can still play golf.

Your average golf score? Give yourself a few strokes the first few holes. Just skip the driving range and practice tee and other warm-up areas where it’s difficult to keep your distance from folks.

That 1st- and 18th-hole handshakes? Try an elbow bump or a foot bump. Or, since it’s golf, a club tap.

That extra space in your golf bag next to your tees or balls? Put your hand sanitizer there. And use it. Frequently.

And then play away in these days of the coronavirus, says Dr. Kelly Cawcutt, associate director of infection control and hospital epidemiology and Nebraska biocontainment unit member at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Neb. And also so says Kelly Cawcutt, golfer, wife of a golfer, mother of a golfer and daughter of a golfer.

“Being in a wide-open, outdoor space is the least at-risk scenario,” Cawcutt said. “Precaution is the name of the game. It’s very reasonable to play if you are smart about it and follow the proper guidance.

“You’ll have to follow precautions that you normally wouldn’t have to, but I would play under that guidance.”

Cawcutt did warn that what is true today may be different in a day, a week or a month, given the fluidity of how cities — and golf courses — cope with the outbreak. Never was this more clear on the professional level, where in a span of about 24 hours on Thursday, the PGA Tour decided to play the Players Championship, then the Tour decided to play without fans, then the Tour decided to cancel altogether.

Players, both pros and average Joes, still have many tee boxes. A quick look online shows tee times available across the country — about 15 miles from Cawcutt’s office, Indian Creek Golf Course is open, and staff is “educated and prepared from the front-line standpoint,” said James Rolls, the club’s director of golf. One of the biggest determinants to play, Cawcutt said, is actually the players themselves.

“Do not golf if you’re sick,” she said. “We do not want you to spread the infection. We don’t want you to put someone else at risk just to play the game.”

“In a lot of cases, you know how you feel, and if you’re feeling the symptoms, hold off for now,” Cawcutt added. “Get back to the game at a later date.”

A breakdown of the golfer and the coronavirus from Cawcutt:

What should a player do throughout the round?

Hand-sanitizing and hand washing should be as welcomed as hitting the fairway off the tee.

“As you go through the game, wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds when you’re able to, or alternatively use hand sanitizer liberally,” Cawcutt said. “If you have contaminated hands, we don’t want you touching your mouth or face. We don’t want you to get the virus on your hands.”

At tee boxes, fairways and greens, practice “social distancing” with groups outside of your own — about 6 feet.

“Stay out of range,” Cawcutt said. “Minimize that close contact. Minimize the risk of getting it.”

1. How should you handle your golf clubs?

Cawcutt said players should wipe down the parts of the club that touch the golf cart, along with the parts of the bag.

“You should wipe down the edges of the bag, the handle of the club, the parts that touch the golf cart,” said Cawcutt, who advised not renting clubs. “I know that people have varying types of handles, but wipe down the handles. It’s just to reassure yourself that they are as clean as possible.”

2. How should you handle your golf balls?

Use of hand sanitizer and hand washing should again be as welcomed as picking up your ball from the cup after a birdie.

But maybe let that Pro V1 you found in the woods go this time.

“If you’re picking up random golf balls, don’t touch your mouth,” Cawcutt said. “Maybe leave it behind.”

3. How should you handle your golf glove?

Cawcutt suggested hand sanitizer for your glove, too, though not ideal, as it will create some slickness.

“If you’re willing to put it on your glove, use it,” she said. “It’s the safest avenue. Something to keep your glove clean is ideal.”

4. How should you handle the golf cart?

Walking might be the way to go, but if you ride, you wipe.

“Wipe the steering wheel and seat and minimize the risk of other people who have used the cart,” Cawcutt said. “It’s something different, but doing that will give you a sense of security.”

5. How should you handle your cellphone during the round?

Oh, man, what did Sara just tweet? I wonder if Matt just posted to Facebook? The group ahead of me is measuring that 2-footer with Bryson-esque slope precision? Time to bust out the phone, right?

Maybe wait till you’re home, but if you do have to check out the latest and greatest from GOLF.com …

“Keep it somewhere where it’s not put directly on the dashboard of the cart,” Cawcutt said. “While using the phone, try to keep it on one person. If you have a phone that can be wiped down, that’s great. At a minimum, you should be thinking of hygiene. Just use common sense.”

How should you handle the beverage cart?

Get your golf sodas here, if possible, rather than the clubhouse.

“​Advocate with your club for beverage cart workers to use gloves for everyone’s safety,” Cawcutt said. “Getting drinks from the cart may be safer than in a crowded clubhouse. Use hand sanitizer before drinking from the can. Avoid touching the mouth of any bottles or cans as best you can.

“Hand-sanitize before you pop that top.”

6. How should you handle the clubhouse?

Get in, get out and keep your distance.

“​Social distancing is increasingly advised to slow the spread of infection,” Cawcutt said. “Avoid time in crowded clubhouses. Sit outdoors with that 6-foot radius from others, if possible.

“Again, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer after touching any high-touch areas like door handles, desks, etc.”

7. How should you handle playing partners?

If you’re playing with friends and family, check that they’re feeling well. If you’re playing with strangers, keep your social distance. If you’re playing with the friendly types, words speak louder than actions this time.

“In general, don’t shake hands and do something else, like an elbow bump, as elbows are not high-contaminated areas,” Cawcutt said. “Do welcome your playing partners and say congrats. Just find different ways than a handshake to express gratitude.

Golf Etiquette - Slow Play

Dearest Fellow Pheasants,

A subject close to our hearts:

The Etiquetteist: Should you always let a single play through? (The answer might surprise you.)

There's nothing worse than slow play, but if you are causing it, let the group behind you play through. Here's when and how to do it.

On some roads, in certain states, when five or more vehicles are lined up behind you, traffic laws require you to pull over and let them pass. On the golf course, though, there’s no written legislation for this kind of ebb and flow.

Only the rules of etiquette apply.
So, when should you wave another group through? Some of this depends on where you’re playing.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, for instance, one is an especially lonely number, according to Jimmy Kidd, founder of the Scottish Greenskeepers Association and father of noted golf architect, David McLay Kidd.

Unlike twosomes, threesomes and foursomes, Kidd says, all of which are granted roughly equal status, singles have “no standing” on courses across the pond. So if you’re playing, say, Kingsbarns, and a solo golfer comes up behind your group, there’s little expectation that you let them through. If that sounds like cruel and unusual punishment for singles, well, whoever said that golf — or life — was fair. And besides, Kidd adds: “(Scotland) is the most social of golfing nations, so a single waiting around the first tee or even on the course would on many occasions be invited to join the game.”

Otherwise, in the UK and Ireland, as in much of the golf-playing world, simple common sense should be your guide for waving through, says Lou Riccio, author of Golf’s Pace of Play Bible and professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he teaches classes in rational decision-making. Meaning: faster groups should get the right-of-way, provided they have somewhere to go.

“If the slower group is slow because the people ahead of them are slow and the course is packed, waving through does very little good,” Riccio says. How much room must there be to warrant a wave-through? There’s no set rule, Riccio says, “but at least one hole open ahead is good justification for consideration.”

A potential complication, Riccio says, is the staggered pace at which a lot of golfers play. Some groups move quickly from tee to green, then take forever lining up their putts, while others go about their business the other way around.

“Put those two different groups back-to-back, and I’m not sure whom would play through whom,” Riccio says.

No one wants to get caught in a game of leap-frog, where you let a group play through only to catch them on the next tee. Talk about awkward. And aggravating. So only do a wave-through if the group behind you has been waiting consistently.

“If the group behind is occasionally waiting, the justification gets a little weaker,” Riccio says. “They may play through and then hold up the group that used to be in front of them.”

The Bottom line: scenarios vary.

But your attitude shouldn’t. Anytime you wind up waving a group through, do so gracefully. No grumbling or grousing. No passive-aggressive stares. Similarly, the group getting waved through should express their gratitude and proceed with dispatch as they pass.

Exactly where this pass should happen is another matter. The green on a par-3 is as good a place as any. Let the group behind play up and through.

The next best option, Riccio says, on a par-4 or par-5, is for both groups to tee off and let the faster group move ahead to their second shots more quickly. Still another possibility is to let the group behind hit up while the slower group waits in the fairway.

“Everyone then hits to the green,” Riccio says. “And the faster group just putts out first.”

With any luck, you won’t see them again until the 19th hole. Courtesy suggests that they should buy the beers.

Timely Advice

No pain in the rain: These 5 tricks can help you play better (and be more comfortable) in the elements

So you want to play better in the rain? These five tricks could help lower your scores and help you have more fun on the course.

Living in cold and often wet blighty means accepting that I’m going to endure the occasional round of golf in the wet stuff. It’s something my fellow golfers and I accept as par for the course, especially this time of year as many of us try to cram in as many holes as possible before it gets even colder and rainier in the winter months.

Here are a few well though out tips.

Tip 1: Don’t fight the elements. Embrace them. 

It’s raining. So stop trying to keep everything dry. The harder you try to keep yourself and your gear moisture-free, the more stress you’re going to add to your round and the less focused you’ll be on hitting shots and rolling putts. The only exception is keeping your towel dry. You should at least try and do that. (See the fifth tip for more.)

Tip 2: It’s more important to keep your hands warm than dry. 

I don’t think rain gloves get as much credit as they deserve. Some actually grip my clubs better when it’s raining than my Cabretta gloves when it’s dry. The only problem is rain gloves have to be wet to work properly, which is a quick way to get really frigid and stiff hands. It’s imperative you keep your rain gloves on and your hands in your pockets when you are between shots so they stay as warm as possible. Your pockets will get wet, but so what? Having icy fingers is way worse.

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Tip 3: Pick the right-sized rain jacket. 

I’ve committed many-a faux pas when it comes to rain gear — the first is wearing a rain jacket that is too big. The thinking was that a bigger-sized jacket was less likely to restrict my swing, but the consequence of wearing what looked like a circus tent was actually more fabric and more weight which made it harder to swing properly. Today’s rain jackets are made to fit snugly and are designed to stretch, so if anything I’d recommend you go tighter than looser. Really, the stuff available today is leaps and bounds better than what we all wore as little as 10-15 years ago. They’re a lot lighter, too. If you haven’t upgraded in a while, now’s the time.

Tip 4: Go pantless. 

As long as it’s not too cold out, I usually show up to play golf in the rain wearing shorts. I then put my rainpants over them, which is a helluva lot more comfortable than wearing rain pants over slacks or worse, a pair of chinos or jeans. It’s also way less hassle. I never feel the need to take my rain pants off when it stops raining; wearing shorts means I stay cool even when the sun comes out. Suppose you could just go straight up boxers or briefs under your rain pants, but that’s your prerogative (you also lose some coveted dry pockets if you do that).

Tip 5: Carry an umbrella. But not for the reason you might think. 

Carrying an umbrella can be a real nuisance. Unless it’s pouring buckets, you’re probably not going to use it very much, especially if you’ve followed tips 3 and 4 and have yourself a waterproof cap to go with your getup. If you insist on keeping an umbrella out and using it while you play, make use of the waterproof dome and hang your towel from underneath it in an attempt to keep your towel both clean and dry. If it gets soaked anyway, grab a dry towel at the turn

Application of Common Sense or rather the lack of it!

This article proves that common sense is not that common, rules is rules I guess:

One-legged golfer sues council-run course for discrimination
A golfer with a prosthetic leg is suing a local council for refusing to let him play on its golf course using a buggy.
Paul Houghton's right leg was amputated in 2000 after he was affected by a lethal tissue-eating bacteria.
Mr Houghton learned to walk again - and golf became an important part of life but he still also uses crutches and a wheelchair.
He claims Brentwood Council in Essex discriminated against him but the council is defending the legal action.
Paul is lucky to be alive.
In November 2000, while working as a roofer, he knelt in contaminated water and contracted the deadly flesh eating bug necrotizing fasciitis. It consumes muscle and body tissue at a rate of 0.75in (2cm) an hour.
"The surgeon told me he had to operate immediately," Paul told the BBC.
"He said that he had no choice but to continue cutting until he was certain he had removed all the infected tissue.
"I had just two hours to prepare myself for an operation that at best I would survive with a leg missing, but at worst I would not survive at all."
His right leg was amputated above the knee, and he received the last rites in hospital.
In all he had five operations, some for skin grafts because his amputation was very rushed and the perfect stump could not be formed.
Paul could not continue to work as a roofer and his business was wound up.
Represented England
He requalified and now works for Chelmsford Council as its access officer in building control.
He learned to walk with a prosthetic limb and switches between it, wheelchairs and crutches.
However, overuse of the crutches causes shoulder injuries, while the prosthetic leg can cause pressure sores that are difficult to cure.
Paul has represented England at disability golf 13 times, with a handicap of 14, and has played on courses across Europe.
Because of his disability he needs a buggy in order to play an 18-hole course.
In August 2016, Paul had booked to play a round with a friend at Hartswood Golf Course in Essex.
It is owned and operated by Brentwood Council.
On his way to the first tee he claims he was told he would not be allowed on to the course without a letter from his doctor justifying the medical need for a buggy.
If he obtained such a letter he was told he would be given a certificate allowing him to use his buggy.
"I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't believe it," he told the BBC.
Paul says he explained that he had his own insurance, a European Disabled Golf Association card, and a medical exemption, but the club insisted that he needed a letter from a doctor to justify the use of a buggy.
"It sends the message that disabled people aren't welcome, that we are not part of society, not included, but are segregated and can't join in a sport that's accessible to everybody, because we need to use other equipment to play the game," Paul says.
In his legal claim, Paul argues that by refusing to allow him to use a buggy without a doctor's letter, the council discriminated against him because of his inability to walk around the golf course.
In effect, he claims the council was applying a policy that indirectly discriminates against all disabled people who need a buggy to play golf.
Brentwood Council denies any discrimination and is defending the legal action. It declined the BBC's invitation to comment on the case.
Paul Houghton's solicitor, Chris Fry from the firm Fry Law, said: "This case is more than just about making a service more accessible; it's a reminder of the importance of the benefits which sport brings to social inclusion, together with physical and mental health.
"This is especially important for people with a range of disabilities, and not least mobility impairments.
"A simple adjustment in this case will benefit Paul, and thousands of others in a multitude of ways."
In its "Buggy Use Policy", England Golf, the governing body of amateur golf, says it "wishes to encourage the participation in golf of all players regardless of disabilities".
This, it says, is in accordance with its obligations under the Equality Act.
Cae Menai-Davis, co-founder of the Golf Trust, a charity that works with disabled groups to make golf more inclusive, commented: "Golf is a sport for everyone.
"Making it difficult for a disabled golfer to use a buggy isn't just bad policy, it is bad business.
"There is a huge untapped group of people with learning and physical disabilities that want to play the game and will benefit hugely from it."

Gender Free Tees The Answer?

Why gender-free tees are the answer to club golf's problems

May 16, 2018

 The Scoop

As part of our ongoing campaign to make golf more accessible for all abilities, guest columnist Peter Race explains why big changes are needed

by Peter Race

A.A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh, said golf was popular “simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad”.

In spite of this the number of people, young and old, taking up the sport are seriously in decline. The average age of club members is rising steeply and some clubs are closing due to lack of financial support.

Between 2004 and 2013, the Scottish Golf Union reported a fall of 14 per cent in golf club membership, while Sport England revealed figures closer to 20 per cent. This contributed to almost £500,000 being withdrawn from the annual grant given to the England Golf Partnership between England Golf and the Professional Golfers Association. The Partnership was asked to go away and address the situation of falling numbers, tackling such elements as time involved, cost and accessibility.

The “ancient game of golf acknowledged in 1457”, has been controlled by rules established over centuries, becoming ever increasingly more complex. The dinosaurian attitude over recent years by the sport’s governing body has done nothing to assist in bringing about change that would help encourage people to take up golf. The lack of coverage of golf by terrestrial TV tends to underline the decline in interest in the sport.

However, the R&A are now, somewhat belatedly, considering changes to the rules designed to make the game more attractive, speed up play and encourage wider participation. Nine-hole competitions are already established and accepted, the six-hole competition, recently demonstrated on TV by professionals, is also under investigation.

The need for change is now being accepted. The “traditional” 18-hole round no longer accommodates the requirements of today’s faster-moving lifestyles. It is time to move forward and change the game’s image. We need to increase the individual’s satisfaction and speed up the game.

“I can hit it 300 yards if I catch it right!”

How often do you hear this from your playing partners? It’s golf’s equivalent of “the one that got away”.

Jack Nicklaus once said: “Unfortunately golfers are masochists. They want a challenge but they end up playing from the wrong tees. Average golfers never hit the ball as far as they think.”

Higher handicap golfers struggling to reach the green only slow down play and cause frustration for other players. Pressure to keep up with the game ahead – a somewhat ludicrous request when a group of high handicap players are following a group of low handicap players – simply increases the stress and has the effect of slowing down play even further.

Playing courses that are too long for the ability of the player means having to approach the green using long-irons or fairway woods which leads to inaccuracy and more frustration.

Paul Metzler, director of marketing for the PGA of America, reports that from surveys carried out, despite suggestions to the contrary, “golfers do not want a change to the rules to make the game easier, they want to play the traditional game but in a way in which a round moves along more quickly”.

Playing a shorter course, or one suited to the player’s capability, will help considerably towards speeding up the game and giving greater satisfaction.

The Slow Play Debate

Golf's slow play row rumbles on, but is there a quick fix?


There are times when watching golf is similar to watching a wildlife documentary; so elaborate are some of the modern players' pre-shot routines, and so lurid the outfits, they resemble birds of paradise, in the full throes of courtship.


But what you don't find yourself shouting over the soothing tones of David Attenborough is: "Hurry up and hit the damn ball!"


Slow play is a fast route to heated debate in the sport. At Torrey Pines in January, American JB Holmes took four minutes, 10 seconds to hit his second shot on the final hole, despite the PGA Tour rules stipulating that a player should take no more than 40 seconds. His whole round took six hours.


Then there's Kevin Na, who was derided on social media — including by former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen — for taking a minute-and-a-half over what appeared to be a routine tap-in at the Genesis Open. Na wasn't impressed, pointing out that the putt was actually 3 foot 4 inches and was worth $300,000. But it's not the first time Na has been cited for his pace of play, so sympathy was at a premium.


However, some in the game say there is more to slow play than the self-absorption of millionaire golfers terrified of making mistakes. “There are times when it's unpalatable, horrible to watch," says Englishman Eddie Pepperell, who won his maiden European Tour title in Doha last month.
"I saw a couple of clips of Kevin Na, and that wasn't cool. And what JB Holmes did was disrespectful. But the reality is, an acceptable amount of time for a three-ball depends on the toughness and length of the course." Horses for courses

On top of that, he argues, the modern golfer is more analytical than in previous eras.
"I played with a teenager in a pro-am, and he was taking ages over his shots," says Pepperell. "I said to my caddie, 'It's our fault that this young lad is taking this long. He's been told that it's the right thing to do.'" But, says Pepperell, if he backed off every time he had a negative thought, he'd take six hours every round. "We're human beings, we have negative thoughts, you've just got to get on with it," he says.


On the flip side, weekend warriors boasting of how quickly they play compared to the pros are not taking tournament venues into account, according to Pepperell's European Tour colleague Laurie Canter. “I'm not saying there aren't slow players, but it makes me laugh when I read tweets from 15-handicappers saying, 'It takes me two-and-a-half-hours to get around my local course,'" says Canter. “That may be, but put them on our courses, make them finish every hole, and then see how long their round would take." He points out that as well as layouts getting longer, the whole infrastructure around modern courses, often designed to be played in a buggy, can also have an impact. “I played a course a couple of years ago that had four-minute walks from greens to tees on every hole. That's an extra hour of play, and it all adds up," he says.
Slow play or poor play?


Often slow play is just a manifestation of poor play, particularly among high handicappers, and Canter is cautious of draconian measures.


"Are you going to penalize players for playing poorly?" asks the 27-year-old. "And it's going to happen more at majors, because of the extra challenge of major golf courses. I've played two (British) Opens, and both times it took an incredible amount of time to play my rounds."
The argument that pro golfers are playing for vast sums of money — or, indeed, their futures on tour — and therefore have every right to take their time is anathema to some.
But others empathize with Australia's former world No.1 Jason Day when he said he had no intention of speeding up his play, and that he's "got to get back to what makes me good. If that means I have to back off five times, I'm going to back off five times".
'Important shots'


Players deemed to be slow are warned and "put on the clock" by officials — if they then fail to speed up they are given a one-shot penalty.


But despite the stigma attached, the PGA Tour has only penalized two players since 1995 (Miguel Angel Carballo and Brian Campbell were docked a shot at the Zurich Classic last year, although that was in a team event, in which their timings were combined).


And many players have stated that nothing will change unless shots start being docked from serial offenders. But both Pepperell and Canter worry that such a system would be devilishly difficult to implement without causing controversy. “How are you going to implement a policy that makes slow players play faster without penalizing the faster players who occasionally take longer over a shot because it's particularly challenging?" says Canter.


"Think about one of the most iconic shots of all time, Tiger Woods' chip-in at the 16th at Augusta in 2005: it took him two-and-a-half minutes to play that shot. Imagine if a referee had come out, looking important and brandishing a yellow card in the middle of his pre-shot routine. That's not realistic.
"JB Holmes took way too long, but that might be one of his most important shots of the season."
'Keep it flowing' Pepperell says there are some simple tweaks that would speed things up, such as being ready to play when it's your turn or hitting before it's your turn if your partner isn't ready.
"It doesn't matter who plays when, let's just keep it flowing," says Pepperell, who also thinks the etiquette around avoiding other players' putting lines could be looked at to reduce the length of time spent on greens. Pepperell and Canter are divided on green books — diagrams depicting the contours on the putting surfaces; the former thinks their banning would make rounds quicker, the latter thinks it might make them longer, because certain players' minds would be even more muddled without them. And Canter thinks it is up to the players to "take responsibility" and police themselves, with the help of the on-course referees.
"A catalog could be built up on certain players. Maybe then slow players would say, 'My peers have a problem, so I've adjusted my routine accordingly,'" he says.
"I'm not sure it's right slagging off players for isolated incidents. We could go through the archive and find lots of incredible shots that were well over the time limit, by lots of different players. That's part of the drama."Society has changed' Pepperell and Canter agree that golf is never going to be anything but a slow, cerebral spectacle, but they both say it can be made into a sexier product, given funkier television coverage and with tournaments married to other forms of entertainment — for example, the Made in Denmark event in Himmerland doubles as a music festival. But Pepperell believes that if we all just looked at the slow play debate from a different angle, "we might just chill out a little bit."
"Take the Shot Clock Masters [which will be played for the first time in Austria in June]," says Pepperell. "If you limit players to 40 seconds per shot, what's the best that's going to happen? We get around in three-and-a-half hours? That's still a long time.
"Golf is always going to take a long time, unless you fundamentally change the way it is played, like Twenty20 cricket.
"But I wouldn't advocate that. Golf's been around for centuries, it's society that's changed. Should golf react to the changing pace of life, or does it acknowledge that we live in a state of flux, and there might come a time when people want to slow down again and get away from the stresses of life?
"I understand why golf's appeal is diminishing, because young people's attention spans are shorter — including mine — and people want things here and now. But will it always be that way? I hope not."

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Get Your Hands On Them: The World's Most Expensive Golf Clubs

In the game of golf, talent alone won't get the ball very far. While spiked shoes, collared shirts and cigars are synonymous with the game, all you really need on the course is a club. And while there's no promising that using a more expensive club will lead to a lower scorecard, there's not harm in checking out the world's most luxurious options, is there?

It's hard to top Honma Golf's Five Star Set in any model (clubs start at $5,400 each). The company, over half a century old, uses the finest materials and hand-crafts each club made to order in Japan, which explains the two month turn around time. But the wait just might be worth it, if 24-karat gold-plating and Pt1000 platinum is your thing. Honma's 14 piece five star sets, including the bag and accessories, hover around $76,000. A five star club, in Honma terms, means that it was produced by the hands of the world's most senior club makers, the Takumi craftsmen.

Honma Five Star Tokaido 7 Iron. Photo: Honma

Honma Five Star Clubs. Photo: Honma

Majesty Prestigio Super7 Driver. Photo: Maruman 

Michael Barth's Golden Putter brings gold to the green (starting price of $2,940). Made in Germany, the basic 24-karat gold plated model of the putter can be engraved and customized with precious stones; the sky is the limit. The design for this club took nearly four years to develop, as Barth was concentrated on making sure the club's design quality be up to par—pun intended—with its appearance.

Barth and Son's Golden Putter. Photo: Michael Barth.

If a couple thousand dollars per club seems like a steep investment, keep in mind that golf is a game where the props are just as essential as the player's skill. And people will do whatever it takes to get their hands on the best of the best. Take the 2007 $2.17 million sale of Jeffrey B. Ellis' antique club collection, which brought in a record-breaking $181,000 for a long-nosed Andrew Dickinson putter alone. Suddenly, $5,400 for a Honma Five Star iron doesn't sound so outrageous.

More on the Handicap debate ....

World Handicap System: key questions answered 

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We’ve all got lots of queries around the new World Handicap System and how it will work. Steve Carroll put some of the questions to Gemma Hunter, CONGU board member and England Golf’s handicap and course rating manager.

The new World Handicap System, set to be introduced in 2020, caused quite a stir when the principles were announced last week by the R&A and USGA.

The adoption of slope and the USGA course rating system, moving to a calculation of handicaps based on averages and allowing recreational rounds to count – it all seemed to be a massive change from the CONGU system we’ve all been used to.

Since that announcement, social media has been awash with golfers trying to work out how the new scheme will work in practice.

It’s important to say a lot of the detail hasn’t yet been finalised, and it’s hard to estimate handicaps without knowing the USGA course ratings for individual layouts as well as the slope.

But we asked Gemma Hunter, a CONGU board member and England Golf’s handicap and course rating manager, what she could tell us about the World Handicap System and how it might affect us in our day-to-day golf.

The outline principles of the World Handicap System have been revealed. For those of us used to CONGU, this is going to be quite a big change isn’t it? People will think there’s a big change but, when you look at the components of the system, there is a lot that is very similar.

There are some things that will be fundamentally different – like going from a .1 and aggregate system to an averaging system. That’s the biggest change, along with the incorporation of slope.

Everything else is something that we have seen or used before.

Other key things, such as what types of competition you can use for handicap purposes, is not going to change dramatically.

People get a bit excited that it is going to make a massive difference and, personally, I don’t think it will.

CONGU is not going to disappear when the new system comes in either…

CONGU is playing a really central role in helping develop this system and helping make sure that it stays relevant for our golfers. People think CONGU is not going to have anything to do with it but, actually, that’s not the case.

The average-based calculation of handicaps will be taken from the best eight of the last 20 scores. Why eight?

They (R&A and USGA) have looked at the systems that are currently in place at the moment – Golf Australia and the USGA are the prime two for using this. Golf Australia use eight, the USGA use 10.

They include additional calculations but, when you strip them back, using eight of 20 give you the most responsive index, which will improve equity.

So they have done work looking at the systems and have said ‘actually, if we take the average of 10 and the average of eight, which one gives us the most accurate figure?’

Eight gave that without the need to add anything else into it.

It’s going back to that idea of trying to keep it simple. A straight half – 10 out of 20 – would have been easier for people to get their heads around but the numbers didn’t quite match up. Eight was deemed to be the way forward.

That calculation will also factor in “memory of demonstrated ability for better responsiveness and control”. What does that mean? Does it remember good scores from the past, or stop you going up in a period of bad form?

We haven’t actually nailed this down yet – it hasn’t been finalised. It’s the idea of taking the scores that might have dropped out of your last 20 and the system remembering what happened.

There are still discussions and trying to work out the best way to build this into the system.

Until we actually know what it is going to look like, it’s very difficult to say ‘this is exactly what it will do’. There will be memory and that’s really key.

Should this also stop a ‘bandit’ putting in 20 bad scores over a short period to get a big increase – using recreational rounds as part of that – because the system will remember what that player has done in the past?

Correct. Within it, there will be an anchor to stop the handicap rising too quickly – this is part of the detail that is still being finalised.

It will also protect players who are having a bad run from going up massively?

Yes. Otherwise you are in an averaging system and a handicap could bounce quite dramatically. People will still fluctuate but it just won’t be as dramatic.

Recreational rounds may be allowed to count for handicap ability. How will that work in practice?

People have got very excited about this. What people need to understand is that, because CONGU are so heavily involved in this, the scores we choose to accept for handicap purposes is going to be a CONGU decision.

Over the next two to three months, we will be having those discussions to say what we believe to be acceptable. Our current view is that we do this a little bit at a time. We’re not going to change everything on day one. Initially, we hope that it will be no different than where we are today.

It will be any singles competition – par, medal, Stableford – played on your own, with your own ball, that will be mandatory.

Social rounds will be singles again and they will be, as we have with the Supplementary Scores, opted into. It’s not a case of submitting a score every time you go out.

It’s a case of you and me deciding we are going to play and we are going to put a card in for our handicap. We sign in to play, to say that’s what happening, we play golf, come in and post our score.

It’s effectively Supplementary Scores under a different name. We’re changing the name because it’s a global system and we need to come into line with everyone else. Fundamentally, we are sticking with what we know now – because we don’t want to scare golfers into going ‘hold on, I don’t want to put recreational scores in. If we can’t go out for a quick 9 holes and just throw balls down because we’re worried about putting a score in, we’re not going to play’.

The whole idea is to encourage people to play golf more often.

It is saying ‘if you are playing in America or Australia and you want to put a card in for your handicap – even though you are not a member at that club – you can do that and this is the way you go about doing it’.

There are procedures that you have to follow but you can do it and you can choose not to do it. It’s up to you.

The key with the world system is that if you put enough scores in, your handicap will be more reflective of your ability.

The more scores you put in, the more often, the more accurate your index reflects your potential ability.

Recreational rounds may help because lots of people don’t want to play in competitions but want to have a handicap…

We are seeing that more and more with the rise of flexible memberships within golf clubs – where people want the flexibility to say ‘I’m not really that bothered about competitions anymore, but I want to have a handicap. I don’t want to compete, but I want it to gauge my own improvement, my own performance. I want to be able to say I’m better than my mate’.

It might just be a social group or Facebook group, but they want to be able to say they are better than them.

You can’t do that if you don’t have some form of handicap system. This will allow that to happen.

Yes, you can be a flexible member of a golf club, but you don’t need to play in competitions to be able to maintain a handicap.

You have the opportunity to put in more casual rounds, more social scores and be able to maintain a handicap.

Let’s look at the details regarding course and weather conditions. There’s a calculation considering the impact “abnormal course and weather conditions might have on a player’s performance each day” and also “daily handicap revisions taking account of the course and weather conditions calculation”. How will these be different to CSS?

There will be very little difference. The only major difference is that it will have less impact and one player isn’t going to be able to make the jump in the CSS.

At the moment, you can have one player who can make a competition go up or down because of their performance. This is a little bit more conservative. It will only move if there is a real reason for it to move.

So, it is going to be a little bit more stable. There are not going to be as many big jumps and it’s based on the player’s performance.

So, it’s what we expect you as a player to play to, on that day, and then looking at what you did play to and doing the calculation.

Now the calculation hasn’t been finalised, so we know roughly what it is going to look like. It will be very similar to our CSS or the CBA they use in Europe.

So rather than looking collectively at the field, will the system look at us as individuals based on our performance?

It does both. I know there are some individual components to it because it is based on your performance as a player.

Overall, it would be everyone who played on that given day, on that golf course, that would have the same daily rating – or course conditions adjustment as it has been called.

I’ve explained it as basically being CSS but in a slightly different guise that’s a little bit more stable.

England Golf and CONGU are a little bit ahead of other people because we know that we’ve got a lot of education to do to our golfers.

We wanted to start this process as early as possible and that’s why the announcement was made last week.

We’d already spoken to our counties the week before and we’ve already got in place workshops starting in April.

That first session is going to be about trying to answer some of these questions that clubs are having. We are not going to be able to give the detail, because we don’t have it.

This is still growing and developing. We’re still working towards the date of 2020 and that’s the aim. We will continue to do that this year, and, by the end of this year, we need to be starting a formal education process and that’s when we will get into the real detail of the system.

This year is more about information, answering questions and preparing clubs.

Next year is about saying ‘who’s going to be on your handicap committee for the next three years because we need to sit in front of that person’.

It’s getting clubs to realise they can’t change their handicap committee every year because that’s not going to help them.

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