Golfers can choose tee markers in new club competition trial
Nudgee Golf Club is making a change to the club competition to make golf more enjoyable for more golfers.
Forget professional golf, for many Australian golfers the most important event each week is the club competition. It’s a unique, sacred event that defines the Australian golf club landscape. Usually, it’s a Stableford format competition, sometimes Par is played and occasionally, a strokeplay event off the back markers.
It would take a courageous club to mess with the format.
However, one golf club has taken it upon itself to make the club competitions more inclusive and enjoyable for golfers of all skill levels.
Rather than the club dictating the tee markers for the competition, Nudgee Golf Club is introducing a 3-month trial where golfers can choose which markers they will play off for the day.
Members of Nudgee Golf Club were informed of the trial’s details, acknowledging the feedback received from some members who questioned why they were not playing from the back tees or suggested that the course was too long and difficult for their personal ability.
This new trial empowers each participating member to make that choice for themselves in the competition of the day.
Golfers will now have the opportunity to nominate their preferred tees before the round, and the slope rating/handicap system will calculate a daily score for the round accordingly.
Almost every change made at a golf club, from the type of beer served to the availability of Keno pencils, tends to attract criticism from a certain portion of the membership. Undoubtedly, this initiative will also receive some negative feedback. However, we believe that Nudgee Golf Club should be commended for taking this fabulous step towards inclusion, equality, and enhanced enjoyment of the game.
We’d like to think the feedback received will be predominantly positive, and this initiative can serve as a template for other Australian golf clubs also contemplating changes to the competition format.