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A revolutionary new way to play golf, featuring two flags on each green, is being touted as the sport’s very own version of Twenty20 cricket. John Kelly talks to two head greenkeepers with the Crown Golf group, which has been at the forefront of establishing PowerPlay Golf in the UK


Peter McEvoy, OBE


PowerPlayGOLF I


n an age when increasing numbers of golfers are finding it harder and harder to devote their hard-earned


leisure time to a full round of golf, many of the sport’s leading figures have been looking for a new way to play the sport - one that’s more exciting, more competitive, more rewarding and, importantly, much quicker. PowerPlay Golf - characterised by its unique 9-hole format and two flags on every green - was invented by legendary amateur golfer Peter McEvoy, OBE, and rewards attacking golf with double points for players who successfully take on the more difficult ‘Black Flags’. Crown Golf, Europe’s largest golf course owner, recently staged the first ever National PowerPlay Golf Championships, which saw greenkeepers at 29 of its 32 venues cutting two holes in every green and facing the prospect of finding the toughest pin positions ever seen on their respective courses. And it was a challenge they accepted with glee. For, if nothing else, it opened up plenty of possibilities to exact ‘Greenkeeper’s Revenge’. Matt Short is Head Greenkeeper at the 36-hole Sherfield Oaks GC, Hampshire, which saw 48 golfers take part in its championships qualifier, and he leapt at the chance to be at the cutting edge, literally, of the new golf revolution. He told Pitchcare: “The game is new


and exciting and is the first thing that is genuinely different in golf for a long time. While we uphold the traditions of golf, this will certainly support Crown


Golf ’s aim to help shape the future of the sport.” “We enjoyed finding two pin positions - it’s the one opportunity we get to apply a little ‘Greenkeeper’s revenge’. Cutting two holes and running with two pin positions has had no negative impact on the course at all. We already set two pin positions as good practice to even out wear and allow us to move holes on a more frequent basis.”


Sherfield Oaks is one of more than 150 UK courses who have bought a licence to be a PowerPlay Golf ‘Official Venue’, meaning they can stage official events and competitions for members and visitors. Since the new game launched earlier this year, clubs in forty-two countries around the globe have expressed an interest in becoming official venues, with South Africa scheduled to be the first country outside the UK to embrace the format. Crown Golf immediately saw the potential for the game to offer something exciting and new to its thousands of members and visitors and their National PowerPlay Golf Championships - the first of its type to be staged anywhere in the world - attracted around 1,000 competitors, with forty qualifiers lining up in a grand final, which was staged at Hampton Court Palace Golf Club, Surrey, on September 16.


At the company’s South Essex Golf Club, a 27-hole complex at Brentwood, Essex, Head Greenkeeper Peter Dawson got right behind his qualifying event


from the start, setting up the 9-hole Vixen course with some truly memorable ‘Black Flag’ positions. “When setting up the course I went out with the Retail Manager and Deputy Course Manager to choose pin positions that we felt were going to be tough enough to present a challenge, but not too tough,” he said. “What we did not bargain for on the first event was a Force 10 gale and horizontal rain which meant the pin positions were virtually impossible, but amusing nonetheless.” “The issue of cutting twice as many holes obviously presents another challenge for the Greenkeeping team, as it now doubles the time it will take to cut the 9 holes on the Vixen course. “It is our intention to select 3 pin positions for the PowerPlays that can be rotated as and when. But, depending on use, we may not have to change these position as often as we do the normal flags.”


The event proved so successful that Brad Chard, acting general manager at the forward-thinking club, is planning to make the Vixen course a PowerPlay Golf ‘Permanent Venue’, meaning it is set up 24-7 to accommodate the format. This is something welcomed by Peter Dawson, who added: “PowerPlay Golf is an interesting concept that I believe would suit those golfers that cannot commit enough time to play a full round of golf, but still want a competitive edge to the game.” “The Stableford format is a great event


“What we did not bargain for on the first event was a Force 10 gale - amusing nonetheless!”


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