DESPITE more than 1.5 million Australians playing golf each year and elite players ranked among the best in the world, participation in the sport has been on the decline for a number of years.

The reasons are mainly due to the changing lifestyle in, not only Australian society, but all over the world.

With work, family and financial commitments, there just isn’t enough time in a week for the average Aussie to devote most of a day to 18 holes of golf.

To counter, Highlands Golf Club in Mittagong has been working on ways to offer a more condensed version of the game in a fun and social environment.

The club is one of a handful across the state chosen to participate in “Sevens Golf”, which aims to entice new players and those with busy schedules back to the course.

Each team has seven players and take on other teams in a round-robin format.

Players can tee-off as many times as they want in the week and the best four scores (of four individual players) are recorded against the best four of the opposing team.

For the full story see the Southern Highland News, Friday, October 3

sport.highlandnews@ruralpress.com