I Played In An Unusual Competition And Loved It. Why Every Golf Club Should Have This Atypical Event On Its Calendar...

How often have you looked around you during a medal or stableford – maybe on an elevated tee or in the middle of the fairway – and thought, ‘I’d love to hit a shot from here into that green?’

We do it all the time, especially at our own course, where we’ll often discuss how we’d like to tweak holes and picture how we’d play certain shots into different greens.

Perhaps, when no one has been looking, you’ve even played the odd shot into a different green. Certainly we’ve all thought about it. Sometimes on a quiet day, with no one else in sight, it’s too tempting.

When you do, the course you’ve been playing on for so many years can suddenly feel different – it’s like a whole new set of holes is waiting to be discovered. One shot, and a course you know so well becomes unfamiliar.

You’ll know what I mean if you’ve played in your club’s Cross Country tournament, which is where a composite course is created from the usual layout. What a brilliant idea – one that, for various reasons, is probably an underused competition.

I recently played in the Formby/Formby Ladies Golf Club Cross Country. It didn’t disappoint; it’s just a shame it’ll be another 12 months before I’m able to hit a tee shot from Formby’s 13th fairway into Formby’s 16th green – a slightly bonkers hole but very fun.

First up, in what was a shotgun start, we teed off on the 2nd tee of Formby. Ten minutes later, and after carefully negotiating some tricky heather and manoeuvring our trolleys onto Formby Ladies (it’s called Cross Country for a reason), we putted out on their 2nd green.

Next up, a par 3, 150 yards into a raised green (Formby’s 5th). It’s hard enough to find the putting surface from the usual tee, but from the 4th tee on Formby Ladies it was one of the hardest shots of the day. In fact, with two deep bunkers now in front of the green, and with steep runs off either side, it looked terrifying.

It’s not a hole that has been designed to receive balls coming in from this angle. It’s something we found ourselves saying throughout the round. In normal circumstances, we probably would have had criticised its design and moaned about a lack of fairness, but not today. Some holes were quirky, of course, whilst others blended in seamlessly.

Come the end of the 16-hole event, which was played as a Florida team scramble with two men and two ladies, everyone was genuinely left feeling disappointed that there weren’t more holes to play – something that’s not always the case, especially after a medal off the whites in blustery conditions.

Formby circles Formby Ladies, which makes it easier to set up a number of exciting composite courses. However, a club doesn’t need to have 36 holes to create its own Cross Country; many clubs are able to create 9-holers with the 18 holes they have at their disposal. Indeed, Formby Ladies has its own Cross Country.

At the Home of Golf, members occasionally play the famous Old Course in reverse. As far back as the 1400s, it was designed to be played either clockwise or anti-clockwise.

In its reverse configuration, the Old Course plays from the 1st tee to the 17th green, then down the 17th fairway to the 16th green and so on until the finishing hole, which is played from the 2nd tee to the 18th green. It's superb, so I hear.

Elsewhere, I'm told that it's possible to tee off on Royal Aberdeen and hole out on Murcar Links. Why not? These two super links courses sit side by side. I'm sure Mike Clayton would approve. The Australian golfer/architect quite often shares pictures of 'holes that aren't holes'.

Cross Country is the competition that every club needs to have on its calendar. Playing in it can only give you a greater appreciation for your course and the way it was designed. It’s sure to bring out your creative qualities, too, for you’ll likely face a number of shots that you’re not used to playing – and that can only be a good thing.

I’d change one thing. Laser rangefinders should not be allowed, at least just for this event. Despite pulling out my trusty Bushnell Tour V6 Shift rangefinder before every shot, you could argue that having to try and work out the yardages without one should be part of the fun. A ‘new’ course played with no yardage markers and no lasers. Pure golf.

Bring on the next Cross Country.