The Cradle at Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort, the Horse Course at The Prairie Club in Valentine, Neb., and The Sandbox at Sand Valley Golf Resort in Nekoosa, Wis., offer shorter layouts to allow new and fun-seeking golfers to play a round without a four-hour commitment.
During a recent family golf trip to Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort, Robert and Amy Desjardins teed it up together with their 12-year-old son, Connor. All three, with varying abilities, played from the same set of tees and walked together from hole to hole as the sun rose. Mom and son had a friendly competition against each other (mom won by one shot), while dad reveled in the rare family time, Forbes reported.
“What a perfect way to start the day,” Robert Desjardins said.
The family—making its first trip to Pinehurst from Albany, N.Y.—wasn’t playing Pinehurst’s famed No. 2 course, site of the 1999, 2005, and 2014 U.S. Open tournaments. Instead, they were walking together on the resort’s new par-3 short course, The Cradle, Forbes reported.
As those who make their living off of golf continue to seek new ways to introduce new players to the game, par-3 courses like the nine-hole Cradle, which measures 789 yards and takes up just 10 acres of the resort’s property, are becoming popular alternatives, Forbes reported.
“Finding a way for kids and families to enjoy golf together has always been a challenge,” said Tom Pashley, President of Pinehurst Resort, which was founded in 1895 and has dubbed itself The Cradle of American Golf. “We think we’ve figured it out here with the Cradle. This is a low-intimidation, low-risk way for them to find out if golf is something that they would enjoy.”
In the past two years, short-length courses have opened at several popular golf destinations. Along with The Cradle, there’s also the Horse Course, a 10-hole layout with no tees at The Prairie Club in Valentine, Neb., and The Sandbox at Sand Valley Golf Resort in Nekoosa, Wis., which opened this month. Tiger Woods built a 10-hole, 792-yard, par-30 course, named The Playgrounds, at his Bluejack National Golf Club in Montgomery, Texas, Forbes reported.
While the goal behind most of these par-3 courses is fun, Bob Parsons, founder of PXG Golf and internet domain provider GoDaddy.com, had a completely different idea behind his Bad Little Nine par-3 course at Scottsdale (Ariz.) National Golf Club—build the most difficult par-3 layout in the world, Forbes reported.
“They’re all completely unfair,” Parsons said. “You would think, okay, well, who’s going to want to play that? The answer to that is everybody.”
Nobody is expecting this sudden influx of par-3 courses to replace the appeal of playing a full round of 18 holes. Instead, the short courses serve as an in-between option for golfers who have bashed balls at the driving range or putted through the clown’s mouth at a child’s birthday party. These beginners might not be ready to spend 4-5 hours—or $150 on a greens fee, for that matter—as they struggle to advance their ball around a 7,000-yard, 18-hole course, Forbes reported.
The growth of golf-entertainment alternatives like Topgolf or Drive Shack, where point-scoring golf games are mixed with dinner and drinks in a social setting, led to 2.6 million first-time golfers trying the game in 2017, according to the NGF’s Golf Industry Report. An estimated 21 million people hit golf balls with a club at off-course locations, like Topgolf, in 2017, the report noted.
“Right now, Topgolf is doing a great job getting people to come out and have fun,” Pashley said. “They hit a few shots and maybe one of those shots plants the seed and gets them to think ‘maybe I could play golf.’ But where do they go from there? The Cradle is a gateway for people who think they may enjoy golf but don’t want to go to an intimidating 18-hole, hard golf course.”
To make things even more appealing, Pinehurst’s Cradle course might be the best bargain in golf. To play, it costs adults just $50 for unlimited, all-day play. On a typical day, it takes just an hour to complete nine holes. Children under 17 play for free. After 12 p.m., music fills the air from speakers that have been strategically placed around the course, Forbes reported.
“There really are no rules,” Pashley said of playing the Cradle. “They say golf’s challenges are: it’s too difficult, it’s too expensive, and it takes too long. None of those hurdles apply at the Cradle.
“We’re still trying to figure out the impact from a business standpoint,” Pashley said. “But what we see right now is, there are people out there enjoying it, having fun, taking photos. It’s going to take us a while to quantify the business impact, but anecdotally it’s a home run.”
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