In terms of how golf courses are built, very little has changed in 500 years when it comes to the teeing system but in the last ten years, we have seen an increasing amount of noise around changing that, especially with leading female players hitting the ball further than ever. Golfnews24 editor Mark Flanagan spoke to one club in Cheshire that has taken the bold step of completely rethinking how it sets up its course.
Hartford is a golf club that has gained a reputation as one that doesn’t hold back when it comes to using social media to get itself known.
That said in the 18 months since it changed the way it organised its tees, the Cheshire club has had a lot to say. Manager Paul Cunningham has been interviewed by Sky and the likes of Golf Digest have taken a keen interest in their abandonment of the established teeing method.
And golfnews24 is just the latest media outlet to examine ‘the experiment’ although, as Cunningham explained, there is no danger of going back to red and yellow tees.
“The feedback has been 95% positive,” he said.
“In fact we have had a lot of clubs getting in touch to see how it has gone.”
The thinking behind the move has been driven, in part, by Hartford’s major USP. It has always been a place attractive to relatively new players and beginners. The course is not too long but most importantly, it is set up to make golf attractive to casual golfers. That said the club’s membership has rocketed up to 500 from 300 in little over two years.
Cunningham added: “Everyone knows how hard golf is for amateurs and we made the change to enhance enjoyment. There are too many rules in golf.
“I recently read a USGA report that said 75% of golfers give up the game in the first 12 months and the main reason is because it was not as much fun as they thought.”
Since May 2020 Hartford has had five tees catergorised in the following way:
• Blue: Academy players (juniors just starting)
• Purple: Novice Players
• Orange: Improving Players (ladies competitions tees)
• Green: Established Players
• Grey: Competition players (men’s competition tees)
Anyone playing the course is free to use any tee they wish but all five have their own slope rating and have been assessed for both men and women across nine and 18 holes (a couple of different tees are used on the back nine).
“I think the assessors at the Cheshire Union weren’t our biggest fans,” joked Cunningham. “It took them two days to do our course.”
The Hartford manager also was quick to point out that in terms of possible player complication regarding handicaps, for most of his guests this wasn’t an issue.
“Most of the people we get playing casually won’t even keep score. They are just out to have a nice time. You have got to remember that there are as many as seven million golfers in the UK now and only around a million have a handicap.”
Men’s club competitions are played off the grey tees although a recent seniors event was trialled off the middle Orange tees, which initially didn’t go down well with all the entrants.
“There were a few grumbles and quite a few of our seniors were saying they were going to take the course apart and why were they playing off the ladies competition tees,” added Cunningham.
“However despite the Orange tees being just under 400 yards shorter than the greys, nobody broke par. The best return we had over the nine holes was 18 points.
“It just goes to show how hard the game is and a lot of those guys probably don’t hit it as far as they think. In the future we are likely to have more men’s competitions off the greens and oranges.”
The massive increase in membership and the thriving junior academy is testament to the method, assisted by some fabulous practice facilities and a 26-bay-driving range fitted with Trackman.
“The new tees really help get people into the game. Many of our members started by taking advantage of a free taster voucher at one of our group coaching sessions.
“And we are lucky in that it is easy for beginners to start off by playing three holes and then six and then nine and then, when they are good enough and confident enough, to tackle a full 18. It compliments the natural progression all new golfers go through and really helps people get into the sport.”
For more information about Hartford Golf club visit https://www.hartfordgolf.co.uk/home-golf