by Don MacKay
We started as a 9 hole course - and added another 9 holes 7 years later. We now have 2 first tees - and we move the 9 hole players to the tee that is open. Our Tee-On tee sheet lets us see when the "other" 9 is open for "the back 9" and we start people accordingly. When people call for a tee time - our first question "Will you be playing 9 or 18 today?" We are $30 for 9 and $45 for 18 - the math says 9 hole starts on both tees makes more money - and pleases more people.

by Jim Kahn
I live in a gated community in the Poconos that has a very good 9 hole course. Just under 3,000 yards from the whites and 3300 from the blues. Narrow fairways (heavy woods are the out-of-bounds), traps, modulating fairways and some tough greens. Coming home from work around 6PM I can still walk 9 in peace & solitude. It has made me a much better golfer on other course because you can't spray the ball without losing many strokes. If we want to play 18 - 9 from the white & 9 from the blues. For those who don't know good 9 hole courses, you don't know what you're missing.

by Jerry Wesch
Where I grew up (and learned golf) in the Western USA, 9 hole courses were the norm until maybe 25 years ago. If you wanted 18, you went around twice. Some had sand "greens" & buffalo grass fairways, with cactus in the rough ...
There are still some great ones - Arrowhead Meadows in the tiny town of Curtis, Nebraska has 9 of the toughest holes you will ever play. 3400 yards from the blues, built by a group of retired farmers and used as a laboratory by the Turf majors of a local Nebraska agricultural college, the place is rustic but beautiful. $15, all you can play on weekdays. I found it while visiting my family in nearby McCook.
Wild turkeys on the fairways, hawks in the treetops, deer everywhere, a coyote hunting the rough. Lost some balls before I figured out a driver and narrow fairways with BIG cottonwoods and a creek don't mix. City boy takes beating on little country course ...
A great 9-hole course - maybe the best in the West!
JW
Chicago

by Keith
Bravo for your column on playing nine holes. We have a nice nine hole course outside of Washington, Henson Creek (it is par 33). For some of my golfing partners who have kids, we can get out early in the morning and can be home by 9 or so on the weekend. If I decided to play 18 holes, I could do a second loop at a lower fare.

by tim nugent, ASGCA
Speaking from actual experience (I'm a partner in a 0-hole course in Chicago's North suburbs), if you provide a "real" course at a reasonable rate, people will play it. Our course is a links style, par 35 (3-3's, 2-5's) and is about 3,000 yds. What sets it apart is, like "big course", it is fully irrigated with bent grass tees, greens and fairways along with 22 bunkers. The green complexes are as tough as the ones I've designed for high-end and private courses and roll true at 8-9'. We also provide a 45-station all-grass tee range. Now for the facts. Over the past ten yrs, we have averaged 36,000 rnds where the high end - daily fee courses are getting 25,000. Our parking lot is populated with everything from Pontiacs to Porcshes. What we have IS THE ALTERNATIVE to the $90-5 1/2 hr round. We offer the 2 1/4, $20 rnd. At that price, you can bring the wife (and kids) and at that time, not disapear for the day. Yes, today we are strapped for time and need a place to our golf "fix". But, it doesn't need to be Venti or Grande, Tall will do - it the quality is there. Our numbers prove that. PS, we also clear close to $200k/yr.

by Rob Jones
Being the Captain of a golf club in Wales, UK I have encouraged our club to post Nine hole rates in the pro shop for some time. People are short of lesuire time in todays busy lifestyles and many find four to five hours on the course a difficult prospect to manage. Time management id the key to everybodies happiness, and the compromise between spending time with your family and playing golf is and always will be nine holes. Although you still have to fairly fit to get around the nine on our course as we are sutuated on top of the maontains above the Rhondda Valleys in South Wales.
Encourage your club to cater for the time starved thousands out there, and get nine hole rates advertised.
Rob Jones
Rhondda Golf Club
Est 1909