Don’t have time or stamina enough for 18 holes? Does playing nine holes not quite justify putting on golf clothes and driving to the course?
A Triad golf course with a unique routing plan is now offering another option.
Greensboro National Golf Club started offering a 12-hole round — in addition to standard nine- and 18-hole choices — in early May. The option is available on the facility’s online tee sheet.
General manager Bruce Mohler said the Summerfield course had a record financial month in May with 12-hole rounds making up 12 percent of rounds played.
“So far, so good,” Mohler said. “It’s been really well-received. It just made too much sense.”
The best news: nine-hole rounds and 18-hole rounds were up, implying minimum cannibalization of 18-hole rounds, which produce the highest revenue.
Mohler said feedback showed that many golfers want to spend the required time for 18 holes, but didn’t want to make the effort to go to the course for only nine holes. So he and golf pro Chase Dubin looked for alternatives.
“If golf were reinvented, 14 or 15 holes would be about right,” Mohler said. “It’s either nine or 18. Why? Chase and I have been talking about this for a long time.”
What are the rates for 12 holes? An exact answer is difficult to produce given Greensboro National’s dynamic pricing model. But Mohler said the new option is priced between the two standard rates, though closer to the 18-hole rate.
Mohler who came to Greensboro National more than two years ago after a long career in the Jacksonville, Florida, area, said a course in that market offers golf in three-hole packages, made possible by strategic routing with three-hole clusters that end near the clubhouse.
The 12-hole option is suitable for Greensboro National, where the green on the 12th hole sits just across the street from the clubhouse.
The new option required some adjustments to the GPS system that governs the carts, creating a geofence for non-authorized areas, which have included the parking lot since the course initiated its complimentary, drive-up bag service.
Carts with 12-hole players can now go from the 12th green to the clubhouse, and they can’t go to the 13th tee. Mohler said he and Dubin briefly considered a six-hole option beginning at No. 13 before dismissing it for logistical reasons.
Mohler expects the bulk of his 12-hole play to come from casual, social golfers, often playing in the afternoon or early evening. He believes hard-core players, including those who play in the high-demand weekend morning spots, will want to continue playing full rounds.
