Golf Club Owners Hope Smaller Course Will Lead to Bigger Fun

Golf’s losing players. According to the National Golf Foundation, the game of golf gained 3.6 million new players last year but lost about 4.6 million, for a net loss of about 1 million golfers. But Tierra Rejada Golf Club is doing something about all that.

The club has just made changes that developer and club co-owner Ted Kruger hopes will make golf more enticing to new and returning players.

The most notable change is the introduction of what the club is calling The Players Course, a course within a course that’s shorter—the Players Course comes in at 5,600 yards, approximately 500 yards less than the shortest championship tees—and easier than the standard courses.

The club is hoping the shorter course will not only attract new players but maybe spur people who have left the game to give it another try.

“Golf has become too tough for too long. It’s become challenging to the point we might have lost players over the years,” Kruger said, going on to venture a guess about what most players really want.

“They want to come out and have fun and hone their skills,” he said.

To that end, the club is offering some new local rules as well. Players won’t have to follow the less punitive guides, but they’re an option. The rules were designed with the fun factor in mind. The new rules, penned around playability, scoring and pace-of-play, include things like minimized penalty strokes and specially designed drop areas.

“It’s frustrating enough if you’ve just lost a golf ball in a ravine, lake or natural area,” said Kruger. “Why penalize the average to weak golfer two strokes? Golf should be fun and scores should be lower. That’s what playing the Players Course is all about.”

Some traditionalists may scoff, but it’s a trend that seems to be sanctioned by the PGA and United States Golf Association, which recently announced a nationwide golf initiative called Tee it Forward, wherein golfers will be encouraged to play the course at a length that is aligned with their average driving distance. The program will be promoted the week of the Senior PGA Championship, July 5-17.

In a PGA announcement last week, Jack Nicklaus, who shares the record for most PGA championship titles as well as most U.S. Open victories, supported the initiative.

“All of us deeply involved in the game constantly encourage golfers of all skill levels to play the proper tees, but too often, golfers want to bite off as much of the golf course as they can,” he said. “What ends up suffering is their scorecard and overall enjoyment. This program should help stimulate people to play the proper tees and maximize the golf experience.”

Fees for joining the Players Club are $125 annually plus a greens fee ($49 Mondays through Fridays, $80 Saturdays, Sundays and holidays and $60 for twilight play). For more information about the changes at the club, call 805-531-9300.