(posted from Paris)
 The
problem with golf is that it's all power and finesse, and much less
strategic than most sports. Everyone plays in parallel, so the
competitiveness is subtle and subdued. But with a little tweaking, golf
could rival football (all varieties thereof) as a strategic game, and
become much more exciting as a result. Herewith, my 'open source'
proposal for Strategy Golf. The
rules for the game are as follows:
- The golf courses would be identical to existing courses,
but with the addition of a second green on each hole adjacent to the
tee-off area.
- The game is played with a single golf ball shared by all
players. Each player shoots from where the ball lies after the previous
player's shot.
- The game would pit two people against each other, or a
foursome playing in two teams of two. The teams could be either fixed
for the entire game, or rotate each hole to allow each member of the
foursome to compete individually. Players are designated A, B (and in
foursome games) C and D. If teams rotate, player A is teamed with
player B on holes 1,4,7 etc., with player C on holes 2, 5, 8 etc., and
with player D on holes 3, 6, 9 etc. On odd-numbered holes, the team
including player A has the choice to tee-off or defend (see rule 3),
and on even-number holes the team that does not include player A has
this choice. Players alternate taking shots for their team, so that the
player on any team that takes the next shot for his/her team is always
the one who has not more recently taken a shot (this is important when
teams rotate).
- The player or team that tees off on each hole is called the
'offence', and the other team is designated the 'defence' (yes, I know
Americans spell these words with an 's' instead of a 'c'). The offence
takes a single tee-off shot (on par 5 holes, the offence takes the
first two, consecutive,
shots). If the ball has not reached the green, the offence now becomes
the defence and vice versa. The opposing now takes one shot backwards aiming for the green
adjacent to the tee-off area. The teams continue to alternate as
offence until one of the two teams/players hits their target green.
Each player on this offence team scores one point for doing so.
- At this point the offence has one putt to hole out. If they do so
each player on this team scores a second point and play on this hole
ends. If they do not do so, the defence has one putt. If the defence
sinks the putt, neither team gets a point and play on this hole ends.
Offence and defence continue to alternate, with the offence vying to
score a second point on the hole and the defence vying to prevent them
from doing so.
- If during the first part of play (before a green has been
hit) a ball ends up outside the fairway, in the rough, in a sand trap
or in the water, the opposing team/player then gets two consecutive shots.
- If during the second part of play (putting) the defence
knocks the ball off the green, the offence scores a point, as if they
had sunk the putt. If during this part of play the offence knocks the ball off the
green, their point for hitting the green is nullified and the opposing
team can resume using woods and irons in the attempt to hit the other
green, as if no green had yet been hit.
- If the ball has not been sunk after ten consecutive putts,
the defensive team is deemed to have succeeded, no additional points
are scored for the hole, and play on the hole ends.
- The game consists of a pre-agreed upon number of holes, and
the player or team with the most points at the end of that number of
holes wins.
The strategy opportunities, both in fairway and greens play, are quite
sophisticated. During fairway play each team or player will attempt to
position the ball in such a way as to make it more difficult for the
opposing team or player to reach the green in a single shot (e.g. lay
it up on the North edge of the fairway on the dogleg-left hole
illustrated above), without going out-of-bounds or hitting a hazard.
During greens play, both teams may try to keep the ball away from the
cup, without allowing it to leave the green, to prevent the other team
from holing out in a single shot. They would both try to leave the ball
close enough to the cup to get the other team or player to try to make
the putt, but with less than 50% chance of succeeding. However, due to
the 10-putt limit, the offence will be motivated to take more chances
to move the ball closer to the hole as the number of putts taken
increases.
I think this addition of strategy and adversarial play would make the
game much more challenging, interesting and competitive. It could allow
an entertaining game to be played in a much smaller area than existing
golf courses (an entire game could even be played on a single
configurable 'hole"), opening the game up to more people and making it
more economical and more of a direct spectator sport.
This concept probably needs some refining, but I'm convinced there's a
momentous idea here. Whether you're a golfer or not, please let me know
what you think of this and how it could be further refined. I'll leave
the idea under my Creative Commons license -- I don't want to make any
money off this, but neither do I want anyone else trying to lock up
this idea by patenting it. Let's keep it 'open source' and see whether
we can co-develop the most significant innovation in recreation in a
generation.
|
MADE IN CANADA
trust your
instincts 
