Jun5 Powerplay golf

The site of the world’s first purpose-built PowerPlay Golf course has been announced – and Scotland, the home of golf, has secured another first.

PowerPlay Golf Limited has revealed that the first bespoke PowerPlay Golf layout will be built at East Kilbride as part of a new public sports complex in the town.

It is expected that each of the new course’s nine holes will be an actual-size replica of some of the UK’s finest and most famous links holes.

Speculation has been mounting that the world-famous Road Hole at St Andrews will be included at East Kilbride, but course designer Peter McEvoy is keeping quiet – at least for now – on this.

McEvoy, Great Britain and Ireland’s most successful Walker Cup Captain and the founder of PowerPlay Golf, said: “We are really excited to be able to announce the world’s first specific PowerPlay Golf course. We have received a number of approaches from venues around the world wishing to become PowerPlay Golf courses, but it is fitting that the first should be in Scotland, where golf itself was born. We have chosen majestic holes where the greens can offer the variety of both black and white pin positions that PowerPlay Golf demands.”

Billed as golf’s answer to Twenty20 cricket, and launched to massive plaudits from elite golfers and top golf writers at Playgolf Northwick Park earlier this year, PowerPlay Golf is a simple, shortened, yet highly competitive and strategic version of the game. Played over 9 holes, each green houses two flags, one white in a relatively ‘easy’ position and one black skull ‘n’ crossbones or ‘PowerPlay’ flag in a much trickier position on the putting surface. Before teeing off on each hole, each player must nominate the black or white flag.

They must choose the black on three holes. If they achieve a net birdie or better on the black flag, their points score for the hole is doubled. This means that a bad round can turn into a great one in an instant. PowerPlay Golf is running a nationwide roadshow in June with the aim of giving several hundred golf clubs the opportunity to host a PowerPlay Golf day for their members and visitors at their home courses later in the Summer. Further exciting announcements on the progress this revolutionary and much talked-about version of the game is making are also expected soon.

David Piggins, CEO of Playgolf, said: “We are always trying to offer our customers the best in modern sport and PowerPlay Golf fits the bill exactly. We believe that together with the rest of the facilities on offer at Playgolf East Kilbride we will be offering the local community something really special and a genuinely different experience.”