9-hole game makes lots of sense

We are accustomed to a round of golf consisting of 18 holes. Why 18 holes and not 20, or even a dozen?

You may wonder. I have heard a few varied reasons why this is so. The most interesting reason is that a bottle of whiskey contains 18 shots.

If a player took a shot for every hole completed, then the round would be complete when the whiskey ran out. Now that would be a fun round but I suspect that if we played this way, majority of us would be very lucky to break 100.

The real reason why we play a round of golf in 18 holes may be because of a meeting that was held at the “Metropolis of Golfdom”, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews on October 4, 1764.

A resolution passed at the meeting read in part: “The Captain and Gentlemen Golfers present are of the opinion that it would be for the improvement of the Links that the four first holes should be converted into two, they therefore have agreed that for the future, they shall be played as two holes, in the same way as presently marked out”

This marked the beginning of the first 18-hole golf course. It may have taken other clubs more than 100 years to adopt this standard, but this is a story for another day.

My worry is that we have taken this 18-hole as the only measure for a competition.

In many clubs in Kenya today, competitions are only played over 18 holes. We have gone and made these competitions so plain that we mostly play strokeplay competitions.

Isn’t it time that we spiced it up a little?

I met a friend recently at the Karen Country Club on a day they had had a mixed-foursome competition that was played over 9 holes.

The first tee off was at 4pm and even though they did not have a very large field, all who had participated seemed to have really enjoyed themselves.

Since partners in a foursome competition play one ball and hit their shots alternately, the format is much faster and this meant that those that teed off at 5pm were able to finish in good time.

Shorter golf rounds, especially on weekdays, are a great way for golf clubs to keep their members engaged.

There are many who may not have time to spare for an entire afternoon. If once in a while they are given an opportunity to participate in shorter competitions, it may just increase the patronage of clubs and even give some of the busy people whose excuse for not playing golf is the lack of time.

This would also be a good opportunity for our senior golfers, whose spirits are willing but their bodies may not be able, to take an entire 18-hole competition.

Forward tee positions and easy pin positions for such competitions may also be the only hope some of the high handicappers may have at playing decent rounds.

Junior golfers may be the best beneficiaries of such competitions.

Playing 18-hole golf for 10-year olds must be such a drag. I believe that after 6 holes, golf must feel like a chore for these youngsters.

For those that want to still play in strokeplay competitions, it is now possible to use 9-hole competitions as handicapping rounds.

The CONGU system has ways of making the calculations of ones’ handicap after such an abbreviated round.

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Friday marks the end of the tenure of Muchau Githiaka as the Chairman of the Kenya Golf Union.

He has been the most progressive Chairman of the Union in recent years.

His tenure will leave a lasting mark in the history golf in this country as the turning point of the quality of the game.

His long term plans, will only be realised long after he has left office but those of us who have had the pleasure of serving with him, will always credit his wisdom when they come to fruition.

Githiaka has, however, not bowed to the pressure of golfers to run for another term as an independent candidate at Friday’s election.

That political bug seems to have missed him. As we join Muchau Githiaka on Friday at the Annual General Meeting of the Kenya Golf Union at Muthaiga Golf Club, we will be toasting to a progressive chairman and usher in the team that will be seeing through the plans that have been started.

A few shots of whiskey to celebrate our outgoing chairman at the 19th hole of his term will be in order.