Troon Golf to build ‘courses within courses’

Troon Golf, the world’s largest operator of golf clubs, has announced that it will be building par three courses within some of its 18-hole courses to attract new types of golfers.

Dana Garmany, the company’s founder, CEO and chairman, said the industry has dramatically changed in the last 20 years – and clubs that now don’t attract time-conscious golfers are likely to die.

Troon Golf operates more than 200 golf courses in the world, including 80 prestigious venues in the USA and six in the UK.

“I’ve got friends who can pop out of the office in their lunch hour for a game of tennis or go to the gym for a workout,” he said.

“Golf doesn’t have that element at the moment and it’s why we are introducing par three courses within courses – creating holes between 75 and 100 yards – that people can play in less than an hour.

“Put it this way, snow boarders saved the skiing industry. The traditional skiers didn’t like them at first as they thought they were punks but their money kept the skiing industry going and, at 40-years-old, those snow boarders are becoming skiers.

“If we can introduce people to golf by attracting them to an option that takes less time they will maybe also come a full circle.”

Garmany, who was talking to The Scotsman newspaper about golf clubs’ need to adapt to modern lifestyles in order to survive, added that venues that don’t allow golfers to use their phones on the course are likely to miss out on revenue.

“Clubs in America have woken up to the fact that people who work in businesses can’t go off the grid for five hours so they are allowing them to use cellphones,” he said.

“Some places are idiot proof. The likes of Muirfield, Seminole and Augusta National, for example, where they have strict dress codes and the history keeps going.

“But clubs that don’t change in line with the changing age demographic don’t seem to be worried about longevity and are going to continue to struggle.”