Sunday 12 February 2017 18:24, UK
The chief executive of the European Tour Keith Pelley is keeping his fingers crossed that next week's World Super 6 event in Australia will be a huge success and become the birth of a new exciting format for golf.
However, Pelley insists 72-hole tournaments remain the staple of the game and GolfSixes will be an innovative addition.
Next week's event at Lake Karrinyup in Perth will feature 54 holes of traditional strokeplay, followed by a new matchplay finale on Sunday to determine the winner.
Three months later, and on British soil, there will be another tournament that will showcase a similar format when 16 two-man teams take part in GolfSixes at the Hertfordshire club Centurion.
This time there will be no strokeplay involved, just greensomes matchplay contested over six holes.
Pelley explained to Sky Sports News why they have decided to use the new format: "A need to be innovative. This is an experiment. It may work or may not work.
"But it's our chance to innovate and afterwards we'll have research consumer groups evaluate it, along with stakeholders and sponsors.
"It is not about wholesale changes in the game. The game is in great shape and 72-hole tournaments will always be there.
"But we need to be more entertaining for the younger generation, so they can experience the wonderful game and the great athletes."
The event is being co-sanctioned by the European, Asian and Australasian Tours.
As normal, there will be a 36-hole cut, with the top 24 players after round three surviving to contest the knockout phase.
From here it becomes a matchplay event, with the leading eight after 54 holes earning a bye into the last 16.
Each match will consist of six holes and, if still tied, they will contest a sudden-death play-off on a specially built hole no more than 100 yards in length.
If the two players are still level after the seventh, or extra hole, they will return to the tee to undertake a nearest-the-pin shootout to decide who progresses to the next round.
Sky will be covering the tournament, along with the new team event based on the same Super 6 format later in the year.
This €1m competition will be held at the Centurion Club near St Albans over the weekend of May 6-7, when 16 two-man teams will take part using greensome rules.
Pelley said the new format could be used to help some tournaments achieve a higher profile in the world of sport.
He added: "The top players tend to play around 20 to 25 events a year but the other events need to step up in terms of entertainment and we need to try some new formats.
"Rugby has it sevens, cricket it's Twenty20, golf will always have 72 holes but there has to be other formats.
"This may work, it may not. But we are excited about GolfSixes and spent a lot of time working on it. But no question it's a trial.
"We will go deep into consumer research afterwards. The fans will help decide, along with stakeholders like Sky and the sponsors.
"And if it's not this format (going forward), then something like it."
For the GolfSixes team event in Hertfordshire during May, the first day's play will see the teams split into four groups of four.
Each team will face the other three in their group, with the top two teams from each progressing to the knockout stages.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals, third/fourth place play-off and final will be held on Sunday, May 7.
