Golfdom, January 2013

the winding journey of one superintendent At the Turn The request to build forward tees is coming from not only public facilities but also resort courses and yes even private golf courses mArk woodwArd Contributing Editor m No shame in playing it forward O ne trend in golf that I actually think might be working and getting a foothold is the Play it Forward program The premise behind this program is the idea of making golf easier and more fun Sure golf is a difficult game and takes time to learn but once a person gets smitten with the golf bug its hard to get it out of their system With this in mind however many golfers continue to make things difficult on themselves and take the pleasure out of the game by playing the wrong teeing grounds Last year my partners and I started a golf course renovation and construction company I know insert joke here and we often get asked to construct forward tees In many cases golf courses are designed for better players The average golfer cant truly enjoy himself or herself from 6500 to 7000 yards So why not make golf more fun by constructing tees that shorten the course to be more in line with the average players ability As good as we are as superintendents we cant maintain a golf course to match the average players ability particularly if they think in their fee golf courses and yes even private golf courses Weve recently constructed forward tees at several high end private clubs with aging memberships who have come to realize that if they are going to spend four anda half hours out on a golf course they want to enjoy the experience and not come off the 18th green feeling like theyve been beaten up The great thing about the Play it Forward concept is that it is generally easy to implement and relatively inexpensive Many golf courses that cannot afford to build actual forward tees just place tee markers out on the beginning of the fairway and market them as junior tees or play it forward tees In some cases this simple recognition of shortening the golf course to increase the pleasure of the round works quite well Ive even heard that many of the well known golf course architects including Jack Nicklaus have embraced the Play it Forward program Like all of us Jack is aging and doesnt hit the ball as far as he used to But more importantly he understands that in order for the golf industry to continue to recover and even grow golf needs to be fun So I encourage all of you to promote this concept at your clubs Because it actually works Mark Woodward is president of Mark Woodward and Associates principal of DaMarCo Golf CEO of MasterStep Golf Group and a contributing editor for Golfdom minds they are better golfers than they really are The truth is with all the improvements to golf equipment facilities and the game itself there are still plenty of golfers who can only dream of enjoying a round from the tips So as an industry lets continue to recognize this and encourage and promote the fact that golf would be a whole lot more enjoyable if golfers play the tee complexes that are more in line with their abilities We also need to continue to educate golfers and change the mindset that playing it forward is not something to be ashamed of Golfers need to understand that if they are going to spend the time and money to play a round they may as well enjoy themselves Lets face it if you have more fun youll want to come back and have some more fun If you want to come back rounds will go up and if rounds go up revenue will follow To me that sounds like a win win win for golfers facilities and the industry overall The request to build forward tees for aging golfers beginning golfers junior golfers and golfers who just want to have more fun is coming from not only low end public facilities its also coming from resort golf courses daily 18 Golfdom January 2013 Golfdom com