Nine-hole and par-3 courses: Britain’s best value
Two hours, half the price, fully qualifying for handicap. Britain is unusually well supplied and mostly ignores them.
The most under-rated golf in Britain is played on nine-hole and par-3 courses, usually by people who cannot spare five hours and have worked out that they do not need to.
Nine holes is a real round
It takes about two hours, costs roughly half, and is fully qualifying for handicap under the World Handicap System. For a golfer with a job and a family, nine after work is the difference between playing weekly and playing monthly, and weekly is what makes anybody better.
Par-3 courses are where the strokes are
Around two thirds of an amateur’s shots happen inside 100 yards, and a par-3 course is an hour of nothing else. It is the most efficient practice in golf disguised as a round, often for the price of a bucket of balls, and the least intimidating place to take somebody who has never played.
Britain is unusually well supplied
Nine-hole courses are woven through the British countryside in a way they are not in most countries, and a great many of them are old, characterful and cheap. Several of the oldest clubs in the game began as nine holes and several still are. County union directories list them, and they are the courses most often left out of the glossy guides.
Playing nine well is a different exercise
With half the holes, one blow-up costs twice as much proportionally, so nine-hole golf rewards a conservative tee shot and a middle-of-the-green approach even more than eighteen. It is also the right format for testing a change: nine holes with one swing thought tells you more than eighteen with five.
The evening round
In June and July the light holds until well past nine, and a twilight nine is the cheapest golf on any British tee sheet, often a few pounds, on an empty course. Take half a set, walk, and play two balls from the awkward spots if nobody is behind you.
Where to look
Municipal courses in most British towns include a nine-hole or short layout, and they are usually the best value in the area. Many members’ clubs have a par-3 course beside the main one that the members barely use, and visitors are almost always welcome on it.
Worth doing this month
- Find the nearest nine-hole and par-3 courses and check the twilight rate.
- Play nine after work once a week for a month and note the difference.
- Take somebody who has never played to the par-3 course rather than to the range.
Eighteen holes is the format golf inherited, not the format most people can fit into a week.
