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The "PowerPlay Golf" concept has been brought to the kingdom by the Bahrain International Golf Course Company (BIGCC) and was successfully introduced for the first time at the Gulf Air PGA Pro Captain Challenge finals which took place at His Majesty King Hamad's golf course in Safriya.
PowerPlay Golf is an exciting new competitive golf format where players attack tougher pin positions to achieve better scores.
On each hole, a bad round can be turned into a great round if a golfer successfully plays to the more risky black pin flag, (adorned with skull and crossbones!) instead of the easier white flag.
The concept can be utilised in both stroke play and match play competitions and encourages intelligent course management by players while offering exciting risk and reward golf.
"Twenty-one competitors took part in our first PowerPlay event at His Majesty's golf course," explained Royal Golf Club general manager Michael Braidwood.
"The field included several players from the UK as well as Bernard Gallacher, the former Ryder Cup captain, and four of the PGA professionals from our own club.
"We played a reduced 6-hole format and made the final hole very exciting by making the golfers play from the 6th tee all the way to the 7th green, making it a drivable par 4 entirely over water!"
Colin Ferguson, a PGA professional and the Royal Golf Club's golf services manager won the inaugural event with 19 points while Royal Golf Club captain Phil Durnford came a close second with 18.
"We all thoroughly enjoyed playing in a PowerPlay Golf event," said Durnford.
BIGCC has registered both the Royal Golf Club and His Majesty's golf course as official venues for the PowerPlay Golf concept which is based on playing a round of nine holes rather than 18.
"We are always looking for new ideas to help keep the sport fresh," said Braidwood. "PowerPlay adds a lot of strategy and fun to the game and I'm sure it will prove very popular with our members and guests when we re-launch in the autumn. We intend to hold regular PowerPlay events on both our academy course and on the back 9 holes of our floodlit championship course."
For further information on the PowerPlay Golf concept please visit the official website on www.powerplay-golf.com
