Golf 'N Gator
Formally HoosierGolfer
Agree 1000%. Plus there are other reasons for slow play. No quick fix.
Pace Of Play - Is There A Resolution
Agree 1000%. Plus there are other reasons for slow play. No quick fix.
JohnBoyNC
Member
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- #77
Count yourself lucky then. Personally I dont mind a 4.5 hr round but anything over thst is typically caused by the group in front or the one in front of them. A few weeks ago we were on 11 tee and a foursome AND a twosome drove past us in the opposite direction. I asked one person and they said there was a backup on 12 tee. Well, we finally caught up to the culprits on 15. They were no more than 30 yds off the tee and refused to acknowledge us (a twosome btw). They literally looked like the Keystone Cops going down the fairway, driving in circles, hitting 10 yds ar a time, etc. When we got to 17 tee, which you can see the entire holes of 17 and 18 there was nobody in front of them. After the round we went into the proshop and mentioned what happened and the comment was, " yeah, we always get complaints about this group". So, they are aware of this group and choose to do nothing about it? And the excuse we commonly hear us they are afraid of lost revenues. What about the foursome, the twosome and us that may not go back there or cancel our memberships?
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This is from The Links at Boynton beach, I used to play there quite a bit and have seen them move many players in to position when they fall behind or are just slow. It's an uncomfortable discussion to have no matter what but it's a conversation that isn't had at most facilities.
The Links' "Player's Choice" Program is our attempt to address this issue. Simply put, we have different paces of play for different times of the day.
On our par-71 Championship Course, golfers teeing off before 8 am are required to play their rounds in 3 hours and 45 minutes or less. Those teeing off between 8 am and 12 noon are required to play in 4 hours or less. And, finally, those who prefer a more leisurely pace may play their rounds in the afternoon at a pace of 4 hours and 15 minutes or less. We have a professional staff of player assistants that monitor the pace of play throughout the day to encourage and guide groups to meet these targets. If we work together, all golfers will have a chance to enjoy their round at their preferred pace!
The pace of play for our par-30, nine-hole Family Course is a little more flexible due to the variety of golfers who play this course. However, we have provided five different tees on each hole so that ALL players who play from the tee appropriate for their ability should finish their nine-hole round in 2 hours or less. If our player assistants notice that your group is not keeping pace with the group in front, they will probably suggest you play from a more forward tee.
The Links' "Player's Choice" Program is our attempt to address this issue. Simply put, we have different paces of play for different times of the day.
On our par-71 Championship Course, golfers teeing off before 8 am are required to play their rounds in 3 hours and 45 minutes or less. Those teeing off between 8 am and 12 noon are required to play in 4 hours or less. And, finally, those who prefer a more leisurely pace may play their rounds in the afternoon at a pace of 4 hours and 15 minutes or less. We have a professional staff of player assistants that monitor the pace of play throughout the day to encourage and guide groups to meet these targets. If we work together, all golfers will have a chance to enjoy their round at their preferred pace!
The pace of play for our par-30, nine-hole Family Course is a little more flexible due to the variety of golfers who play this course. However, we have provided five different tees on each hole so that ALL players who play from the tee appropriate for their ability should finish their nine-hole round in 2 hours or less. If our player assistants notice that your group is not keeping pace with the group in front, they will probably suggest you play from a more forward tee.
Tips to Help EVERYONE Keep Pace:
- Be ready when it is your turn.
- Park your pull cart or motorized cart at the rear of the green before putting.
- Limit the number of practice swings you take.
- Do not search for balls along the lake banks, avoid wildlife habitat/high grass buffer.
I am not sure I agree with this statement, I have seen low handicappers be the ones responsible for slow play when the rest of the group are trying to speed things up
jitzy
New member
We had a guy in our league who was definitely the best (scratch) golfer in it but he was also the slowest by a lot. And one of the worst golfers was one of the fastest.
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Remove the "back" (tips) sets of tees, especially on weekends! Only have your forward tees (womens & seniors) and the whites (regular mens). This way everyone is FORCED to play from the same sets of tees and restricts those people who like to "get their money's worth" even though they can't hit the ball 200 yards off the tee. Especially on courses where there are a lot of forced carries. This will also help the maintenance of the course by using only one set of tees on saturday, move them for sunday, etc. If we all play from the same set of tees, it should help speed up play. I have seen too many times where the 4-some has 2 players playing from the tips and the other two playing from the regular tees ... this is aggravating to follow behind. It just adds time to every hole.
Not a Sermon ... Just a Thought
Not a Sermon ... Just a Thought
jitzy
New member
So do the guys on the front tee move back or do the back guys move up?
As as far as the back tees being closed on the weekend, that's a tough one, on the weekend is when some of the younger longer hitters play since most of them work during the week. You would start to see some golfers not play those courses.
I like what Disney reccomend sand that is certain handicaps should play certain Tee's, their only problem is they don't try to enforce it.
Heres an example on what could help things, if the starter sees a group teeing off from the back and guys are putting their balls in the woods or 200yards they should alert the ranger and tell him give them one or two more holes and if they are still hitting like that tell them they need to move up. Problem is the marshals just want their free golf and don't say anything.
Not in the industry, but I've thought about this some. Ready golf is a big part of it. But I can remember as a kid growing up and playing the game, people let people play through A LOT more than they do now. Could it be as simple as letting people play through? Just a thought.
~Rock
~Rock
gr8dryv
Big Boned
Ready golf is the biggest culprit I see, especially when drive carts are concerned. Drives me nuts to see 2 carts sitting side by side in the fairway next to 1 ball. Go to your ball, pull your club and be ready to go!
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I am completely tired of talking about slow play. Therefore I will not be commenting in this tread.
Have a great day!
Have a great day!
Bucketsofjoy
Well-known member
There's no excuse for painfully slow play. I think the only practical solution is to have more rangers. Education sounds like a winner of an idea but it only works if the offenders are willing to not only attend these meetings but also put the ideas into practice. Rangers. Rangers. And more rangers.
That said, I have 2 thoughts. First, I think we let the pace of others have too much an impact on the enjoyment of our rounds. Like driving on the road, anyone faster than me is a maniac and everyone slower than me is an idiot. I save a lot of strokes when I don't get upset about this stuff. (But yes, its still an issue that needs a solution)
Secondly, I think golf courses could do a lot with their design and maintenance decisions to aid pace of play, specifically time lost spent looking for wayward shots. A lot of courses already run most of their cart paths on the right side of their fairways to reduce the average time spent walking to their shots, and this is helpful especially on CPO days. Time gets wasted looking for wayward shots in overgrown areas that should either be labeled as hazards or should be mown areas. It sounds a bit silly but well placed water hazards can help out a lot here - rarely do I spend much time searching for my ball if I saw it splash into the water. Lastly, make the golf balls stand out from their surroundings. Dandelions probably cost me 10 minutes on my round yesterday. Keep playing areas clean and tidy as much as possible and that will also help pace issues where the root cause is searching for your ball.
That said, I have 2 thoughts. First, I think we let the pace of others have too much an impact on the enjoyment of our rounds. Like driving on the road, anyone faster than me is a maniac and everyone slower than me is an idiot. I save a lot of strokes when I don't get upset about this stuff. (But yes, its still an issue that needs a solution)
Secondly, I think golf courses could do a lot with their design and maintenance decisions to aid pace of play, specifically time lost spent looking for wayward shots. A lot of courses already run most of their cart paths on the right side of their fairways to reduce the average time spent walking to their shots, and this is helpful especially on CPO days. Time gets wasted looking for wayward shots in overgrown areas that should either be labeled as hazards or should be mown areas. It sounds a bit silly but well placed water hazards can help out a lot here - rarely do I spend much time searching for my ball if I saw it splash into the water. Lastly, make the golf balls stand out from their surroundings. Dandelions probably cost me 10 minutes on my round yesterday. Keep playing areas clean and tidy as much as possible and that will also help pace issues where the root cause is searching for your ball.
Dave Alvarado
New member
No kidding.
It's really simple--if you're waiting on the group in front of you to get out of range before you take your shots, you're not the problem. If you can't even see the group in front of you on a par 4 or 5, you're playing slow and need to pick it up.
After the UST event when we were at Stevens Park, my group had the most annoying ranger, he kept constantly hounding us. On like the 2nd hole he was calculating out our pace at like 5+ hours, then on hole 4 we had magically picked it up to sub-4 hours. What was extra irritating was that when we got backed up to the group in front of us, he kept telling us we needed to hurry up. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to hit into the group in front of me because a ranger can't figure out who the slow group is.
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Maybe there should be classes and tests for Starters and Marshalls, it's not easy to handle difficult personalities on the course and a lot of times a players confidence level exceeds his or her skill level and they need a reminder of that. I also think that etiquette classes would help solve this problem too, there's a lot of entitlement out there now a days.
I've said before that courses should require all newbies, before they head to the first tee, to watch a 10 minute video on basic course etiquette and pace of play standards. Sort of like when you go white water rafting - the "hey you might die doing this" video - but not to that extreme.
Tadashi70
Well-known member
Its funny to see all these suggestions for picking up the pace. Until slow player care that they are slow, it will always be a problem. Slow players feel a sense of entitlement and always say what is the hurry. Mean while the carpool line on Monday morning is backed up due to their slow play on Sunday morning.
Being polite doesn't work, being rude doesn't work. I say start yanking slow players off the course and put up wanted posters in the proshop. Pass them along to local courses and see if the embarrassment gets to them. Maybe if Enough courses do this, all the slow players will end up at the same course.
Being polite doesn't work, being rude doesn't work. I say start yanking slow players off the course and put up wanted posters in the proshop. Pass them along to local courses and see if the embarrassment gets to them. Maybe if Enough courses do this, all the slow players will end up at the same course.
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I guess being a private course we are fortunate to have a decent amount of funding and see the same people often. We simple keep track in the Pro Shop of times with help from the Marshalls.
First time slow, Marshall warning.
Second time, email from Director of Golf
Third time, face to face meeting with GM.
More than that and booking/playing privileges removed for certain times.
I understand this isn't possible everywhere, but it is effective. As mentioned earlier, just by having the Marshall let people know if they are behind or if one isn't around, one of us in the shop will run out. People keep posting that simply telling people wont help, but it's surprising the amount of people who simply don't realize they are slow or behind pace.
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First time slow, Marshall warning.
Second time, email from Director of Golf
Third time, face to face meeting with GM.
More than that and booking/playing privileges removed for certain times.
I understand this isn't possible everywhere, but it is effective. As mentioned earlier, just by having the Marshall let people know if they are behind or if one isn't around, one of us in the shop will run out. People keep posting that simply telling people wont help, but it's surprising the amount of people who simply don't realize they are slow or behind pace.
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jitzy
New member
What I bolded is exactly it, you see it all the time.
In Sweden you have to pass a test for a license to make a tee time. I like that idea.
Slow play at public courses in the area Had gotten so bad that I simply would not play very often and limited my golf to early mornings or evenings during the week. The only solution I saw was to join a private club 5 years ago. Yesterday I played in a foursome with 2 very deliberate players and had my slowest round since last August - 3:55. Now I get to play twice as much because I can go out early or even weekend afternoons and often play in 3:10. My 9 year old and I average about 70 minutes for 9 holes on our evening rounds after 5:00 pm.
Slow play at public courses in the area Had gotten so bad that I simply would not play very often and limited my golf to early mornings or evenings during the week. The only solution I saw was to join a private club 5 years ago. Yesterday I played in a foursome with 2 very deliberate players and had my slowest round since last August - 3:55. Now I get to play twice as much because I can go out early or even weekend afternoons and often play in 3:10. My 9 year old and I average about 70 minutes for 9 holes on our evening rounds after 5:00 pm.
You got that right Freddie. Some slow players have been in my group before and they are quite adamant they aren't slow and will complain to the hills about others being slow.
Tadashi70
Well-known member
In Germany you have to a class along with lesson before you can go play. It was like this in 90s, not sure its the same but the pace of play wasn't an issue.
Bottom line is something needs to be done BEFORE the round starts, so that they are not having to enforce it on the course. Hence ... my suggestion on the tee boxes. But yet again ... you can't enforce someone who takes about 18 practice swings and still hits it 10 feet off the tee box.
Take some lessons and don't watch so much television. Until you are playing golf for a living and it's your livelihood ... pick up the pace, we don't have all day.
Not a Sermon ... Just a Thought
This cracked me up:laugh:
As a new golfer I can say I have never been "educated" on pace of play by anyone at the couple of courses I have played. I knew from friends that play and from here on THP. A quick pre-round reminder would probably go a long way, especially on weekends/busy times.
The only times I have been held up are from older folks. On one occasion it was no big deal since it is a short 9 hole and I was enjoying the day and game. Another, however, well let's just say on a 6600 yd course, they should have been riding and not walking. I understand getting in some exercise but, a 5 minute walk from tee to consecutive shots was painful.
