Golf rounds of six to nine holes

A new trend is emerging where golfers prefer playing six, nine or twelve holes instead of the traditional 18 holes.

Short course membership

Many golf clubs have a short course with six or nine holes. In some clubs, you can become a member for only the short course. In Sweden, we know of a least one course - Halmstad GK where you can become a club member with a right to play nine holes a day on one of the ordinary 18 hole courses.

A historical perspective

All scorecards are marked OUT for the first nine holes and IN for the finishing nine holes. For a long period, a round of golf was 22 holes, but this was reduced to 18 holes at S:t Andrews in Scotland in 1764 and that became the new standard. See this comprehensive golf history.

Ryder Cup and urban golf courses

One of the main factors behind France successful bid for hosting Ryder Cup in 2018 was that they promised to build 100 urban courses. These courses in or near cities will have six or nine holes, and the format is chosen to please a time optimizing modern city dweller. In the same source one can read that in 2011 only 0,6% of all Frenchmen were members of a golf club as compared to 5,8% in Sweden, 1,9% in England, 4,9% in Scotland and 9,5% in the US.