Golf Courses Set To Quadruple Size Of Holes To Make Game ‘Less Frustrating’

Should the game of golf be four times easier so that more people will play?

Golfers in our office didn't like this idea at all...what about you?

I don't know much about the game of golf, I've only played the put-put kind but here's a comparison that we can all understand. Holes on the putting green are going from the size a medium donut to the size of an average pizza. The 4 1/2 inch diameter will increase to 15 inches on 100 golf courses across the United States.

The pilot program, endorsed by the Professional Golfers Association of America, hopes to make the game of golf more appealing to people under the age of 35 who think the game is too hard. The National Golf Foundation estimates that the sport has lost almost five million players in the last ten years.

A 15 inch diameter, they say, will make the game of golf easier, less time consuming and not as frustrating for beginners, junior golfers and older players. Higher scores, more birdies and hole in one shots and less time spent on the course will make the game of golf more enjoyable, and people will want to play again.

Here's the thing. The sport of golf is nearly 500 years old. Should we dumb it down with a 15 inch hole just to make the game easier and more appealing? Maybe we should shorten a game of baseball down to 4 or 5 innings or shorten the length of a football field by half. Soccer players should be allowed to use their hands, hockey won't be played on ice and we'll shorten the height of a basketball net from 10 feet to 5.

The word sport is defined as follows;

an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

Should we make the sport of golf four times easier so that more people will play?