New Surfcoast golf event is a double bogey
Roar Rookie
By The Farmer, 9 Jun 2010 The Farmer is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- Australian golf, Golf, PGA, Twenty20
Late last week the Australasian PGA announced a new event, the Surfcoast Knockout. It was pitched (and portrayed by the media) as the equivalent of Twenty20 cricket.
While the event may end up being a success relative to the numerous Australian golf events that have been consigned to the dustbin of history, to compare it to the fundamentals that has made Twenty20 cricket so successful is naive.
Firstly, let’s recognise that Twenty20 cricket doesn’t involve wholesale changes to the way a result is determined – the team with the highest score wins. The Surfcoast Knockout proposes three days of traditional tournament golf (with cuts along the way) followed by a series of six hole match play events to determine the winner.
But most importantly, what Twenty20 cricket has that this new golf event doesn’t is a condensed playing format – where the result is determined more quickly and there is less “downtime” in between the action on the field.
If golf in Australia is to stand a chance of recapturing the imagination of the sports-loving Australian public, it should be looking to supplement its existing core tournament schedule with an event that turns tradition and practices on its head.
If the sport truly wants to mirror the factors that have made Twenty20 cricket so appealing to a new generation of fans, it should be aiming to condense the amount of time between shots – significantly shortening the time it takes for a player to complete his round.
If that means the game is only open to players with the fitness to get around the course in three hours instead of six, or if we have to have a series of carts to drive players between shots, so be it.
Golf is too slow and deliberate to appeal to a large proportion of “next generation” sports fans. Every other sport has taken steps to speed things up.
Meanwhile, golf continues to stand still. Literally
Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.
The Crowd Says (4) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
Do you have what it takes to become a sports writer? Write for the roar
Other Sports articles
- Victoria Azarenka vs Maria Sharapova: Australian Open women’s final live scores, blog (89)
- Why I won’t be watching the Sharapova-Azarenka final (51)
- The sporting fallacy of the Olympic ‘Games’ (45)
- Djokovic vs Nadal was great, but do we need six-hour finals? (36)
- Sonny Bill needs to start boxing full time (36)
- Sonny Bill looking sharp for his first real test (29)
- Sonny Bill wins title in first round (25)
- New champ Williams looking to next fight (4)
- Aust and GB aim to convert 4ths to bronze
- Young pitcher signs big deal with Red Sox (7)
- World Cup Darts heartbreak in Hamburg (3)
- Mayweather and Pacquiao have shamed boxing (12)
- Will Tom Brady’s legacy be affected by one drop? (18)
- Sonny Bill needs to start boxing full time (36)
- World Cup Darts heartbreak in Hamburg (3)
- Mayweather and Pacquiao have shamed boxing (12)
- Will Tom Brady’s legacy be affected by one drop? (18)
- Sonny Bill needs to start boxing full time (36)
- Lachlan Murdoch squashing FTA sport for Fox’s benefit (4)
- Sonny Bill Williams vs Clarence Tillman III: Live updates, blog [video] (179)
- Chauncey Billups injury: Is his career over? (2)
- Explore:
- Australian golf, Golf, PGA, Twenty20
simonjzw said | June 9th 2010 @ 4:18pm | Report comment
At least they’re having a crack at something a little different.
Unlike you I can see plenty of positives, usually on the last day of a tournament all the interested is focussed on the last 4-5 groups because its nearly imposible to gain enough ground and win from any further back.
During the Surfcoast Tournament everyone will start “square” on the last day. And the six hole match play format has the potential to highlight drama and action much earlier and on a more regular basis during the day. Also, as every golfer knows, match play is a much speedier version of the game because once the hole is lost the player picks up and moves on to the next whole and once the match is lost thats it (even if it happens on the 4th whole of the 6).
Personally I’ll be watching with an open mind.
The Farmer said | June 9th 2010 @ 6:29pm | Report comment
You’re right, my mind is closed about this. But only to the extent it has been pitched as being akin to Twenty20 in terms of it’s ability to attract a new audience. In my view, it won’t do that.
If people who love their golf (like me) watch it, then great, but what has that done to broaden the appeal of the sport? Nothing, I suggest.
Golf needs a supplementary format of the game that can appeal to people who don’t watch the stuff that’s on offer on the Austalasian tour right now and this just isn’t going to cut it.
Fly on the Wall said | June 9th 2010 @ 7:42pm | Report comment
I’d like to see them play a 3-club 9-hole event. Then you’d see some improvised shotmaking. Lonard might take 5-iron, PW, putter whereas Parry might go for 3-iron, 7-iron, putter. My mates have a one-club once a year on a little 9-holer and the scores are not too far off what they’d be with a full set of clubs.
Rod Leembruggen said | June 13th 2010 @ 1:59pm | Report comment
The Farmers comments make an interesting read.
20/20 – different rules for field placings, different rules for wides, free hits, power plays, shortened boundaries, dancing girls, rigged matches but there is one thing I agree with, the game is determined by who scores the most runs UNLESS we get rain and then thjere are all sorts of formulas to determine it.
The new golf tournament that we are promoting plays golf in a traditional format save for a changes to the length of a match.It wasn’t so long ago that all of the Open Champiopnships were decided by Match Play.
If you like, think of it as two golf tournaments. One fstroke play event finishes on Saturday night and first to fifth are paid. The other starts on Sunday where there is a result every ten minutes through the day – how often have you watched golf where there are two or three players in the hunt and they drag it out for 5 hours. – the other 57 players are furniture! Yes we have considered a shot clock and perhaps it makes it’s entree after year one.
I can give you any number of scenarios where we make golf faster. Tape it, edit it and condense 5 hours into one – not sure that appeals to many .
I think that what we need to remember is that revenue comes from Televison be it as rights or from sponsors. The television product is what it is all about and you can criticise as much as you like but until you view the final product, you are flying blind.