What is a championship course?

blue note

Who decides it? What's the criteria for it? What difference does it make? What sort of percentage of courses are championship courses?

newport2

blue note wrote: »

Who decides it? What's the criteria for it? What difference does it make? What sort of percentage of courses are championship courses?

As far as I'm aware, it's an opinion. Either that, or the criteria to be met are ridiculously low.

ShriekingSheet

I don't think it's an official title, but I think most golfers consider a course longer than 7,000 yards to be a Championship course.

It's pretty meaningless, tbh. Was probably a bigger deal when very few courses were this long, but I would see it as a generally accepted term.

golfnut1

It's not the only condition but ad far as I know all greens must be sand based

AGC

Surely if it has held a championship it can be considered 'Championship'

Be it from Boys or Youths to Senior Interpros or professional events

thewobbler

I'd guess that distance is the first delimiter, but condition is the deciding factor.

You'd probably need 6,500+ yards to be considered as a Championship course by any golfer. But giving your course the "Championship" seal, should indicate that you are committed to providing high quality greens, fairways, bunkers and tees.

If you do all that, you won't be long picking up a few proper championships.

TheDoc

There is a number of criteria that allow a course to be officially branded as Championship

I remember reading the criteria somewhere before will dig for the link

Its a prestigous enough title as it lets your course avail of alot more international exposure then a normal course

Although id say its all gone a bit by the wayside considering the exposure nd reviews and details you can now get online for courses

I also remember being told only championshipgrade courses can apply to host professional events

Any course can host an amateur event

newport2

Not sure how reliable this is, but "it's true, I read it on the internet"....


"Championship" courses have no official definitions, but usually a course will be referred to as such when it has multiple sets of tee boxes to choose from such as Whites, Blues, Blacks and even further...Championship Tees. Basically when a course calls itself a championship course, it is saying that it is a tough test of golf, with serious holes. For instance, the par 3's are in the 180 yd range and longer. You won't generally find too many 125 yd par threes in other words. Same goes for the par 4's...they will generally be quite long. In essence, what they are saying is that this course "could" host a championship of some kind. In other words, it is NOT a dinky little neighborhood course, but a real challenge for the more serious player. Nothing official, but yet pretty understood in the industry."

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Golf-1834/Golf-Course-Classification.htm

The_Architect

This thread is depressing.

"Championship" has no definition as far as golf courses go. It is 100% marketing and nothing else in the last 25 years. It used to nominally mean a national or international tournament.

It shows how successful that marketing is when people believe that length & sand based greens (Augusta anyone?) equals "championship".

thewobbler

The_Architect wrote: »

This thread is depressing.

"Championship" has no definition as far as golf courses go. It is 100% marketing and nothing else in the last 25 years. It used to nominally mean a national or international tournament.

It shows how successful that marketing is when people believe that length & sand based greens (Augusta anyone?) equals "championship".

Based on your response, it must thoroughly disappoint you - or even horrify - that because a few golfers in the 40s started calling 4 tournaments they wanted to win, as major championships, that eventually the whole golfing world got obsessed with word major.

The_Architect

thewobbler wrote: »

Based on your response, it must thoroughly disappoint you - or even horrify - that because a few golfers in the 40s started calling 4 tournaments they wanted to win, as major championships, that eventually the whole golfing world got obsessed with word major.

I don't understand this response.

I have no problem with championships being called championships or major championships being called majors. What I object to are golf courses labelling themselves as "championship" in an effort to con the world at large in to thinking that they are better than they are.

ShriekingSheet

The_Architect wrote: »

What I object to are golf courses labelling themselves as "championship" in an effort to con the world at large in to thinking that they are better than they are.

I wouldn't get so worked up about it. It's not a protected term. Funnily enough, neither is "architect", ie: anyone can put "John Murphy, Architect" on their door, without any qualifications.

I imagine it's only annoying to short courses in good condition, like Milltown or Woodenbridge, which under no circumstances would be called "championship" by any golfer, but are better tracks than Tulfarris or Millicent, both of which most golfers wouldn't object if you called them "championship" in the pub.

I get the impression your course falls into the former, possibly nicer courses, but you feel your being wrongfully upstaged by this marketing term.

The_Architect

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

I wouldn't get so worked up about it. It's not a protected term. Funnily enough, neither is "architect", ie: anyone can put "John Murphy, Architect" on their door, without any qualifications. Only in GB&I. In most of the rest of the world, this cannot be done.

I imagine it's only annoying to short courses in good condition, like Milltown or Woodenbridge, which under no circumstances would be called "championship" by any golfer, but are better tracks than Tulfarris or Millicent, both of which most golfers wouldn't object if you called them "championship" in the pub. It's harmful to golf in general for the very reasons you state. People equate quality with the term and the term is usually applied to high-end, expensive to run golf courses, regardless of quality.

I get the impression your course falls into the former, possibly nicer courses, but you feel your being wrongfully upstaged by this marketing term. You get some strange impressions

I have no agenda other than to reverse a rot that has resulted in the current downturn in golf. A lot of this has to do with it becoming a business & commercialised (as with other sports in fairness) in the last 20 odd years

mr.mickels

AFAIK a championship course was a name given to a course that hosted the Open Championship, and then this extended to other courses hosting prestigious championships, and then this later extended to any course that ever wanted to either host a championship or simply felt their course was good enough to be considered eligible to host a championship. Its a meaningless title for any 18 hole golf course.