More public-access golf courses in the U.S. are "experimenting with offerings that are shorter and cheaper than the traditional 18-hole round," according to Brian Costa of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The "most common alternative" is the nine-hole round, but some courses are "offering quicker options or even pay-by-the-hole pricing." They are "typically available only at off-peak times, such as late afternoons or weekday mornings." But the fact that they are available at all "represents a change among course operators, a fragmented group of small businesses not known for their innovative thinking." The number of people who play golf at least once a year has "dropped steadily" from 30 million in '05 to 24 million in '16. Surveys have "consistently shown that the amount of time a traditional round of golf takes is among the chief reasons for the decline." S.F.-based QuickGolf, which launched last year, lets golfers "pay by the hole at whichever times courses allow it, based on when standard tee times go unfilled." But QuickGolf co-Founder Harvey Silverman said that expansion has been "slowed by the inherent skepticism with which many course operators view alternative pricing structures." Silverman: "It's real tough for these guys to get their heads past, 'If it’s not an 18-hole round of golf, then I don’t want to think about it'" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/5).
