The big newspaper in New York City has a story that caught the eye of Bulbous and she brought it to my attention.

Seems that some renegades are promoting nine hole golf courses and nine hole rounds to help save recreational golf.

“We’ve got to get some people thinking again about nine holes that take two hours to play, It’s a good way to target lapsed golfers and new golfers. The 18-hole round has its place, but let’s see how many people we can attract to the game with an offer of a quick nine holes.”

said Ted Bishop, the president of the P.G.A. of America and the owner of a 45-hole public golf facility south of Indianapolis.

Makes total sense. When I first started playing, I learned on a nine hole golf course.

And I walked.

Another course that I used to play less regularly was nine holes.

And I walked.

I belonged to a country club that was nine holes.

And I walked.

All these courses eventually expanded to 18 hole layouts and added carts. Of course there is no mandate that a round of golf be 18 holes. Nancy and I often would head out after I got home from work and play 7 or 12 holes or whatever the remaining daylight allowed.

The USGA is quick to point out that nine hold golf rounds are fully compatible with their handicap system.

The PGA is pushing their lame Tee It Forward campaign which is designed to get players to move up to easier tees more suited for their abilities. That’s a loosing deal. A foursome with players with varying skill levels can mean using three different tees. Stupid, and who’s gonna be the guy that goes up 50 yards to the shorter tee? Won’t happen.

The Golf Digest has a better idea… Time for Nine. The magazine’s June issue, which comes out Tuesday, starts a campaign for nine-hole play.

Golf Digest plans to create a list of nine-hole courses that will focus on promoting nine-hole rounds for men, women, juniors and families on layouts that make it easy to do so.

The PGA should endorse and encourage the nine hole golf round. Then instead of taking 5 hours to play a round of golf, it takes two.

What a great idea to attract new golfers to the game and make it less exclusive.