When discussing why people aren’t playing as much golf these days, nine words are often invoked: The game takes too long and costs too much.  Amherst Golf Club is the exception to the rule.   For an affordable annual membership fee, you can play a couple of holes or a 36-hole daily marathon (like some of our members do on weekends) – whatever your heart desires!

For an increasing number of people, lives are busier and more complicated.  On average Americans are spending 500 to 1,400 more hours annually at the office than their parents did as well as more time with their kids.  Leisure time is precious, and the considerable chunk of a day that an 18-hole round often requires is not something everybody can afford.

Acknowledging the situation and trying to do something about it, Golf Digest, in concert with the USGA and the PGA of America, came up with an initiative called “Time for Nine” to promote shorter rounds that golfers can fit into busy lifestyles in which two hours is now the span for most leisure activities.

“We think golfers will play a lot more if they join the growing number of golfers who have come to love 9-hole rounds,” said Golf Digest chairman and editor-in-chief Jerry Tarde. “The real message is, don’t let the inability to play 18 pull the game away from you. Eighteen is great. But nine is fine.”

“5-hour rounds of golf are incompatible with the compressed time that many of us have for recreational activities,” said USGA president Glen Nager. ” ‘Time for Nine’ is a fun and creative start to promoting the 9-hole round of golf as a complete and enjoyable experience that is consistent with the traditions of playing the game.”  Contrary to the beliefs of some golfers, 9-hole rounds are compatible with the Rules of Golf and the USGA handicap system.

“Every other recreation, it seems, takes two hours: movies, dinner, cocktail parties, tennis, bowling, going to the gym,” Tarde writes in Golf Digest. “If golf were invented today, it would be a 9-hole game. By no means are we questioning 18 holes, but our culture dictates shorter blocks of free time. I’d rather squeeze in 9 holes than none.”

Nine holes are the way many of us got into the game; there is no reason they can’t keep us in it—or bring us back.

Check out Amherst Golf Club and become a member at the one of the friendliest and best 9-Hole courses in Western Mass, where the PUBLIC IS ALWAYS WELCOME!

Modified from Golf Digest “When Less Can Be More” article published May 6, 2013 (link).