12 hole golf courses, the future of golf?

Course designs of 12 holes are providing an attractive alternative for time- and cash-strapped golfers The question “Why 18 holes?” has kept golf historians engaged for decades. It even has a well-known witty answer, based on how many swigs are in a whiskey bottle. But with leisure time and disposable income scarce, the why-18 question is no longer so benign. Golfers and course managers are starting to ask it differently, wondering: Can’t we get our rounds of golf over with much more quickly? No less a figure than Jack Nicklaus endorsed the idea of 12-hole golf several years ago, telling Golf Digest it was the logical solution to people’s busy schedules. Around the same time, a start-up company called Prestwick 12 Golf took up the cause, taking its name from the original 12-hole Prestwick course (host site of the British Open for its first decade of competition). The company offered consultation expertise to developers, as well as design and construction templates based on returning six-hole loops. More recently, an Icelandic architect and opinion writer, Edwin Roald, has been touring the United States and getting a good hearing for his stock presentation titled “Why 18 Holes?” Meanwhile, alongside the heralded Bandon Dunes golf resort on the Oregon coast, a free-form layout of 12 holes called the Sheep Ranch further legitimizes the concept.

In the central California town of Nipomo, the 12-hole Challenge Course at Monarch Dunes offers an example of fewer-than-18 as a viable business model. Owner John Scardino acknowledges the value of having his 12-holer, which is a par-3 layout playing 1,858 yards from the back markers, paired with a full-length 18-hole layout, in large part because golfers have a tricky psychology when it comes to golf that isn’t 6,500 yards-plus and a par of at least 70. To equate it with dining out, they don’t mind ordering a smaller dinner portion, as long as it’s not off the kid’s menu. “The golf that you play on our Challenge Course is inspiring, it’s a true test, and visually, it’s an eyeful,” Scardino says. “There just isn’t as much of it as you get on the standard golf course.”The architects who designed the par-72 layout at this planned community were given clear instructions to imbue the short track with a true “wow” factor. Working off a budget of several million dollars, Damian Pascuzzo and Steve Pate followed Scardino’s directive to make the course dramatic and, from the back tees, difficult. Having pulled that off, they found themselves with a golf asset that is relatively cheap to maintain and an easy sell to consumers. Golfers of widely varying skill levels can pay a green fee of $19 ($21 weekends) and complete their 12-hole circuits in about 90 minutes. Perhaps more importantly, Scardino reports they’re walking off the course all smiles.“We’ll have a full range of players out there at any given time,” he says. “New players, grandparents with grandkids, avid mid-handicappers, all the way up to tour professionals.”