Former British Amateur champ and Walker Cup Captain Peter McEvoy was in town this week to officially launch PowerPlay Golf and explain his concept to the media at Copetown Woods, a very strong public course just west of Hamilton, where GM Barry Forth has signed on to become the first PowerPlay Golf site in Canada.

PowerPlay Golf was dreamed up by McEvoy and a partner back in the UK to stimulate play on a public course they managed. The idea was to offset the time and cost of play with something that delivered all the positives of golf but could be played in far less time than a traditional 18-hole round.

McEvoy explained that the idea originated with other sports like cricket which used to take five days to play and alienated all but the hard core cricket fan. In today’s faster paced world, he suggested, people want a quick fix but if you’re going to take something away from them, then something has to be added back to compensate. Cricket came up with something called 20/20 cricket which can be contested in a few hours but adds a few twists to sweeten the excitement level.

In golf, McEvoy says, it’s not enough to just shorten a round to nine holes. You need to add something to compensate for the loss of the other nine. Hence PowerPlay Golf – a nine hole game with the added excitement of two flags on each green and the chance to gain additional points for scores made on the more difficult hole positions. (and the potential for even more betting.)

The basiscs of PowerPlay Golf are pretty simple. It’s a 9-hole game using the Stableford scoring system to record points for each net score. A bogey is 1 point, par is 2 points, a birdie 3 and an eagle 4. Each green has two flags – a white flag representing an accessible pin position and a black flag denoting a more difficult one. During the round, each player has three “PowerPlays” in the first eight holes and an optional fourth PowerPlay on the 9th green. When a player calls a PowerPlay he then plays to the black flag and his points are doubled for that hole. So a net par becomes 4 points, a net birdie 6 points and so on. No points are lost for net doubles or worse. On the 9th, if a player elects to use his final PowerPlay, the major difference is that points can be lost for a net double or worse. (you wouldn’t think that any self respecting golf scribe could make a net double but it could happen in theory if you snap hooked your drive and then perhaps pumped a pair into the pond fronting the green.)

I was paired with Jason Logan from Score Golf and freelance writer Rick Young as we each tested PowerPlay Golf for the first time. Before I heard about PowerPlay Golf, the idea of two flags on a green seemed gimmicky but right off the bat we all found that you really only focus on the flag you have chosen and the other is forgotten. It’s usually best to choose your PowerPlays where you get strokes so you can really pile up the points. The game was simple to grasp and the added excitement of making net birdies and eagles with double the points really added some pressure.

It took the three of us just under two hours to play nine holes and I think we all felt we had completed a game. I certainly didn’t feel cheated that I had only played nine as I might have if PowerPlay weren’t involved.

The strength of PowerPlay Golf is that it utilizes the basics of golf but the scoring and potential for wagering add excitement. The 9-hole format obviously takes less time and because it’s a net game, it can be played competitively by anyone.

If there is a downside to PowerPlay it is that North Americans are not up to speed on Stableford scoring. We still think most often in terms of score not points. That downside should be short lived as more golfers experience PowerPlay golf. Course operators need to print special cards that permit the recording of gross score, net score and points. Players eventually will ask how many points did you make as opposed to what did you shoot.

Personally, I enjoyed PowerPlay Golf. It will be interesting to see if it catches on with golfers generally but there’s no doubt it’s a viable alternative to those five hour rounds.

Note: In addition to Copetown Woods, PowerPlay Golf is being introduced at Caledon Country Club, Braeben Golf Club in Mississauga and Peninsula Lakes Golf Club in Niagara.