Throughout the
world, golf clubs are
experimenting with
new ways to play
the game that might
attract new and
returning players.
Toby Ingleton
considers the pursuit
for alternatives.
ALTERNATIVE FORMATS
08
|
By Design
T
here are few similarities
between golf and cricket. Both
sports involve a ball, and a
bat, of sorts. But cricket is usually
played in teams, the ball is moving
when struck and, while a national
obsession in many of the countries
where the game is played, in large
parts of the world it remains a
complete mystery.
However, the two sports do have
one other thing in common. The
traditional professional format of the
game runs over multiple days. Even
the more widely-played variants–an
18-hole round in golf and a one-day
match in cricket–can take up a large
portion of the day.
For cricket, authorities recognized
that this was somewhat at odds
with most other popular spectator
sports–such as soccer, basketball and
hockey–that are typically decided
in two to three hours. In 2003, the
England and Wales Cricket Board
introduced a new format–Twenty20–
which delivered a shorter burst of
exciting cricket to appeal to fans who
didn’t have the time or inclination to
attend the traditional format.
Twenty20 was a near-instant
success, and other cricketing nations
quickly followed. The impact has
been lasting, with Twenty20 now
sitting comfortably alongside other
formats of the game and attracting
some of the largest crowds in the
sport. Some professional clubs say
that 70 percent of their revenue is
generated by the new format.
And now
for something
different
completely
