BIG interview - David Hardy of PowerPlay Golf

Posted on 09/09/09. By Steve Brine

David Hardy (54) is Chief Executive of hotly tipped new golf format PowerPlay Golf, which is currently running pilot programmes for its revolutionary 'two flag' game in 25 countries around the world.

David is responsible for the delivery of the overall company strategy and business plan, and heads a five-man board based in the UK. Prior to PPG, Hardy had a 27-year career in the City, notably as former Chief Executive of London Clearing House, which he grew to be the pre-eminent global central counterparty clearing house.

GOLFLINKS Editor Steve Brine disturbed his lunch half-way through a golf day he was playing in at The Berkshire Golf Club ...

1. What is the basic idea behind PowerPlay Golf?

DH - PowerPlay Golf is normal golf, but shorter and arguably more exciting. We invented it to give purpose to nine-hole golf, as the global golf industry - including TV broadcasters, sponsors and governing bodies - is calling for a popular, faster form of the sport. We use the Stableford scoring system, and each green has TWO pins. One (the White Flag) is easier than the other (the Black Flag)!

Players have to nominate exactly three PowerPlays (to the harder Black Flag) in their first eight holes. On those holes a net birdie (or better) will earn double Stableford points (so six for a birdie, eight for an eagle etc). Even on a PowerPlay, pars and bogeys are scored normally - so if you take the risk and go for a PowerPlay, you'll get a big points reward, but only if you get a birdie or better! You have to nominate before your tee shot.

On the ninth tee, a golfer faces a final decision - you can go for an extra PowerPlay, but on the last ninth and final hole you're PENALISED two points if you make bogey or worse on a PowerPlay. If the gamble pays off you can race past opponents to victory, but if you're sitting on a good score you might play it safe to the White Flag.

It's this constant decision-making which raises the tension during a game of Powerplay Golf - the format makes it exciting right up until the end, and we estimate that over 200,000 golfers have played it and loved it worldwide so far.

2. Beyond playing the game and enjoying it, what will golfers get out of it?

DH - We're all busy and people find it hard to get out on a Saturday, let alone any other day of the week, for a 4 or 5 hour round of golf. We are finding PPG has the ability to bring back lapsed golfers who were finding the game, for whatever reason, took too much time out of their lives. We're not out to replace the traditional 18-hole game of golf, of course, but PPG gives golfers a new alternative which we think fits in with the pace of modern life.

There are also a terrific amount of online goodies which golfers will find as we build more and more into the PowerPlay Golf digital platform. Chief among these are our PowerPlay Dollars, which you can win as you play in Official Events, and the Leagues which are beginning to spring up at clubs and among special interest groups around the world. One golf club - Baildon in the north of England - has over 100 members in its PowerPlay Golf league already, and another club, Merrist Wood, has already run over 30 Official Events.

So, although we're still only beginning our grass-roots plan, it's already having a similar effect to Twenty20 Cricket in that sport: PPG gives people an option and they seem to be responding well.

3. Tell us about the TV format or PPG?

DH - We call our TV format the ‘PowerPlay Golf Shootout'. In this, a field of 16 players (playing in two-balls) have an 8-tee shotgun start and play a conventional first 8 holes of PowerPlay Golf. The twist is that everybody walks through the 9th hole, as this is reserved for the actual Shootout. After all have played 8 holes, the top 6 points-scorers qualify for the 9th hole Shootout.

In the Shootout, all six finalists play up the 9th: some will go for the Black Flag and the extra points, and others will play it safe to the White. It's tremendously exciting, it offers a guaranteed quick finish (we have a unique playoff format too), and the scoreboard changes as rapidly as a city trading board. The advantage to the broadcasters and the watching audience is that, just as in Twenty20 Cricket, you get the full tournament experience in the same time-frame as a televised football match.

4. Have you had much support from the golfing establishment?

DH - Very much so. We've spent 18-months piloting the PPG format, and working closely with golf's governing bodies such as the R&A, who assisted us when we were writing the rules of the game. We're also working with the World Golf Foundation to develop the game in the USA. We also we have a burgeoning relationship with the South Africa PGA and the Royal Canadian Golf Association, among others.

I think the game's governing bodies have been brilliant in recognizing that there is absolutely room in the game for a new, widespread alternative format. They all have their different versions of ‘growing the game' programmes, and I know that many see PPG as being of help in that regard.

As well as appealing to keen golfers, PPG can definitely grow participation in the game. We have already attracted lapsed golfers and youngsters; not as newcomers maybe because it is still the game of golf and that has to be learned as at present, but as a highly accessible, inclusive, exciting format to get them hooked on golf.

5. How many clubs are playing it around the world?

DH - We have around 400 licensed Official Venues (golf clubs) playing PPG in 25 countries. The latest two countries to sign up were Kuwait and Cyprus, we are well developed now across the UK, Ireland, South Africa and increasingly across the USA, and we recently had fantastic launches in New Zealand and Canada. We are exploring new markets all the time, and we are announcing our launch event in India in Mumbai next week (September 16th).

We have a growing network of territory agents who act on our behalf around the world now; they are helping us to grow the concept of PPG in their countries, and with the World Golf Foundation now spreading PPG via their "First Tee" initiative, we are looking forward to significant growth in the USA next year..

You can find the full list of PPG clubs on www.powerplay-golf.com

6. How does the business model work, especially with regard to the TV side of PPG?

DH - Essentially it's a rights business. We will sell the rights to PPG events to broadcasters. We are currently talking to IMG about some very exciting plans to bring PPG to the TV screen with some of the biggest names in golf.

It's also a licence-based business, in that the 400 clubs I mentioned earlier pay us to become an Official Venue, and to operate the format at their club. We ‘sell' our intellectual property that way. Our main revenues therefore come from a combination of rights and license income, plus of course sponsorship and advertising.

We expect PPG's growing web-based community to grow well in the next few years, and that will create revenues too.

We did a modest series of Roadshows in the UK in 2007, to interest clubs in the format, but aside from that we haven't spent a penny on advertising. It has all spread through word of mouth and viral marketing through our partners.

7. If golf does make it into the Olympic Games (in 2016) it seems that PPG could be a very useful and attractive format to the IOC?

DH - I'm definitely not one to enter into Olympic politics, and I think that the people who have suggested PPG becomes the format of golf in the Olympics are getting way ahead of themselves. That said, if we are talking about golf being a full Olympic sport in 2016, well that's a long way off and PPG will be much more developed presence than it is now. So, you never know...

8. What should we expect from PPG in 2010?

DH - Next year we move into operational mode and will be finalizing our televised PPG events. As I said, our work with IMG continues in this area.

9. Why do you have a skull and crossbones as your logo?

DH - That goes back to the first time we played the format, when we unveiled PPG before the toughest audience possible - golf journalists!

The White Flag was used to illustrate the easier pins, and the Black Flag, with the skull and crossbones, the tough ones; so it was done for that and it kind of stuck. People have different views on the logo, and maybe it will be reviewed at some point, although I will say that the current logo has proved extremely popular all over the world.

10. What is the secret to playing PPG?

DH - For the handicap player it really makes you think your way around the course. In other words, it helps develop good course management. This is another reason why it is so popular with PGA pros, who see great coaching benefits in PPG. The secret is to use those PowerPlay holes wisely, and to put together a barrage of six-point net birdies to the Black Flag!

The English Golf Union (EGU) have used PPG as a training tool for its elite squad, because they believe it helps them hone their course management skills. Also, playing under the self-imposed pressure of nominating a Black Flag is a useful way to replicate the sort of pressure you feel in a major event, when every shot counts.

At the end of the day, PPG is still golf and the guy/girl who plays the best golf will win - the fun is getting there in half the time, and with extra pressure!

All Business Lounge guests answer our quick-fire round of questions to close ....

SB - Are you a member of a golf club and if so, where?
DH - West Byfleet in Surrey

SB - What is your current handicap?
DH - 15

SB - What brand of clubs do you play?
DH - Taylor Made

SB - Favourite course at the moment?
DH - The Berkshire is hard to beat but I love Kings Barns

SB - Which football team do you always look for?
DH - Southend United

SB - Trolley or carry?
DH - Always carry

Preferred dinner guest; Faldo or Monty?
DH - Watson but if I have to choose one .. Faldo

More information can be found via www.powerplay-golf.com

Interview conducted by Steve Brine in September 2009; arranged by Andy Hiseman of Hiseman Partners www.hiseman.com Images courtesy of Hiseman Partners.

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