Making Golf Fun

My husband and I were just having a conversation yesterday as we drove home from a little vacation about ways to make golf more fun. We agreed that in general golf is time consuming, too hard for most people, and too strict when it comes to rules and tradition- maybe that is why we are having trouble in today's society really growing the sport among adults. Then I opened up the most recent issue of Golf Digest (Jan '11) -what a great issue by the way....and what do I see?...a whole section "The FUN Issue" make your game a blast. They recounted almost all the points Mike and I discussed and more. So to share, here are the ways you can make this game more fun for you, your friends and family!

- Invent your own rules (who says a foot-wedge, 3 foot gimmies or 1st tee mulligan are all that bad?)
-Lighten your load - don't play with as many clubs. It will be simpler and you might even be encouraged to walk the course with a smaller lighter bag!
-Betting- try unusual bets like if you think someone's going to three putt put up $5... if the person 2-putts they get $2 or if they sink it, they get $20!
-Don't keep score
-Play fewer holes
-Stop playing stroke play- play matches or scrambles
-Move up to the front tees or even the fairway (play every hole as a short par 4) How short do you have to make the course to break par?
-On a quiet night or day- make up your own course. This is called "cross country"... play from the first tee to the 17th green as the crow flies, and so on...
-Play night golf or find a lit-course!
-KIDS: make up a separate set of rules and tee boxes for kids under 13... Free water balls, x# of do-overs, magic putts, hand wedges out of the sand after one try. This will speed up play and they will have more fun. Also don't wait for them to tell you they've had enough... leave the course before they are ready. Leave them wanting more!

Let's have some fun in 2011! Break the rules, its okay! Just keep playing golf!