Thanks for all the thoughtful comments. Great to see that I am not the only one to make a habit of playing as long as I feel like it.
![Grin ;D](http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/Smileys/classic/grin.gif)
However, I have never played 5, or 9 or 13 or even 16 on any 18-hole course that I have paid serious money to play, or that it was possible I would never play again. So, there are limits to (at least my) idealism. What I'm really arguing for are courses that:
1. Accessible (not only in terms of membership/daily fee issues but in terms of actaully getting there). Who wants to drive for an hour and then play 6 holes?
2. Flexible in design, allowing for playing different routings when possible, and always SAFELY.
3. Flexible in pricing, to allow for partial rounds.
On this latter point, how about a golfcourse that priced by time spent on the course? Punch in and punch out a time clock. If you play 27 in 3 hours you pay the same as if you play 9 in the same time? Sounds like chaos, but I really think, in my gut, that it could work, and could influence slow play.....
Finally, who's going to design these courses? It is unfortunate (to us but not to him!) that the Tom Doak's of the world have bigger fish to fry than trying to build good but affordable 12-holers in East Podunk, particulary since (as Tom says, very rightly and honestly) there just ain't owners out there who will pay him to do it.
Well...as we all know from being here (and some recent threads) there are a LOT of really qualified GCA's out there who are looking for work. Maybe this is a viable niche fo them. And, maybe the Doak's/Coore's of the world can do a little bit of pro bono work for those projects which have merit. Not a bad way to try to grow the game (and the ultimate market......).
![Wink ;)](http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/Smileys/classic/wink.gif)
PS--Doug, whose post nearly crossed. You are right about the USGA accommodating partial rounds in their handicapping system, however........
a. I would suspect that only 1-2% of the golfing public knows about this complexity and uses it properly (based on TE Paul's oft quoted stat that less than 1/2 of all posters know or or use ESC!) and faithfully, based on my observaiton that far too many people post falsely (viz. The Donald) or rarely at all.
b. My issue is not with handicaps, per se, but with mindset. If you go out onto a course in the late afternoon, like Craig Edgmand, planning to play 13 do you HAVE to say to yourself and your playing partners on the first teee: "Ladies and Gentelemen and Myself, I am playing a titleist Pro VIII, number 2, with a smiley face mark, and this is NOT going to be a 'stipulated' round!" In a rational world, I think not.....
![Wink ;)](http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/Smileys/classic/wink.gif)