Advantages of 27 holes over 18 (maintenance)

[Ally Mcintosh]

If you'll excuse my picking your brains, I'm trying to come up with a list of operating and maintenance advantages of running a 27 hole facility over an 18 hole facility...

Disadvantages welcome too (for a complete picture) but I'll be focusing on the positives...

Thanks for your help,
Ally

[Adam Lawrence]

I think it depends how you run it. I like what they do at Kennemer, where one of the three nines is out of play every day - this has to make maintenance easier. But you need to be a pretty affluent club to have 27 holes and only keep eighteen in play at any one time.

[Sam Morrow]

I grew up at a typical housing development club, we had 27 and about 10 years ago when the greens were redone they did 9 holes per summer. It was nice we still had 18 at all times and the 9 being redone played to temp greens. I found one of the best ways to improve your iron play is to throw balls down 150 yards and try to hit those little temp greens.

[Tom ORourke]

I know the third course at Reynolds Plantation, the National by Tom Fazio, proved to be very popular with the members. I was told that a third nine was added 2 or 3 years later with the idea of handling the amount of play by closing one of the nines every few days to be able to work on the maintenance side of things while enabling the members to continue to play. I don't think this addition had anything to do with their financial problems, and probably seemed a good idea at the time. Obviously the cost factor is large but when all 3 nines are open there should be good spacing and flow for the members. Play should move pretty good, especially if you can send members off one nine and resort guests off another. And if you have a ladies day, or a seniors day, or a juniors day you end up with a nine that they can start on without being bothered by the other players. 

[Tom_Doak]

The advantage is that it's more cost-effective, because you probably won't have to pay your superintendent or mechanic much more than you pay them to watch over 18 holes, and because some of the maintenance equipment sits idle a lot of the time so you can take care of 27 holes without 50% more equipment.  Years ago, a friend who had overseen the expansion of a top course from 18 holes to 27 to 36 told me that the third nine cost them 25% more to maintain, and the fourth nine cost them NOTHING MORE, because they had gotten so much more efficient in their processes over the first few years.

The disadvantage of having 27 holes at a really good course is that people always want to identify what's the best 18-hole combination and play that, so they complain when the third nine is in play too often.  To me, it's better to have the third nine designed as a contrast, instead of an interchangeable part ... but of course if the main 18 is undistinguished, then it's much easier to mix and match.

[David Cronheim]

I have to admit I'm not a big fan of 27 hole layouts. I can never get past the fact that there isn't one "course," which is silly, I know. I do, however, like 18 hole facilities with par-3 nine hole layouts (or e.g. Hamilton Farm, even 18 holes). I don't like Ridgewood's 27 hole layout even though all 27 are excellent and I don't really care for Montclair's 4 9-hole layout either, simply because I like playing one course and not mixing and matching. To me, there's something to be said for having all 18 holes hang together and flow in a planned manner.

[Sean_A]

I agree completely with Tom d
Make sure one nine is different ball game or call it such
Never try to pawn off the idea of three equal nines because everybody know this is a scam

Ciao

[Ally Mcintosh]

Thanks guys...

Any input from the supers?... Assumption being that footfall won't be that heavy at first so there will be a chance to rest a nine or even have a nine continually out of play for weekdays... Specific examples or figures associated with the efficiency gains / extra costs that Tom D talks about would be fantastic if anyone has the experience....

Not really looking at this from design angle or relative quality of new nine compared to existing eighteen...

Ally

[Tom_Doak]

Ally:

I've heard some people defend the idea of having three nines as allowing maintenance to close one at a time to do major work.  I've never really understood the logic, as the third nine is also an investment to construct, and thus has its own demands for a return ... it's not like you are going to have 27 holes but only use 18 of them most of the time, and somehow justify all that extra construction cost.

[Jeff_Brauer]

No doubt the third nine is a real luxury, given that 99% of all courses manage to maintain themselves without the extra nine.