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Shotgun Starts?

bobgeorge

bobgeorge

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Do you guys ever play in shotgun starts? They do a shotgun start where I normally play at every Saturday on one course. I have played in it a few times but the rounds normally take 5+ hours with cart (cart mandatory)...which is a lot longer than I like to play.
 
The first time I played a shotgun start was last tuesday and I hated it 3 hours to play 9 holes
 
Every Saturday morning in my men's club. Works well. Members get their event in, and then the general public can pay their money.

Kevin
 
I have done it once. It let me finish the round on my favorite hole, so it was all good.
 
They're horrible and should be put in the same place as all the 1-irons in the world! Golf courses (well good ones anyway) were designed to be played 1 through 18 and at worst 1 through 9 or 10 through 18.

I always end up getting drawn to tee off in a Shotgun start at 7:30 am off some par-3 with a 200 yard carry over water.................................
 
Shotgun starts are pretty much the norm here for any golf scramble. No way to get everyone around the course unless you use every tee box to start them off. What I really don't like are shotgun starts that have A and B teams off more than 4 or 5 holes. That makes for a loooong round.
 
highscoreinky said:
Shotgun starts are pretty much the norm here for any golf scramble. No way to get everyone around the course unless you use every tee box to start them off. What I really don't like are shotgun starts that have A and B teams off more than 4 or 5 holes. That makes for a loooong round.
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Same here. I play an alumni scramble every year and my buddy screws me as a running joke by starting me team on the long drive hole every year so we hit it cold.
 
Our men's league is ran that way and it works great. Starting a 9-hole league at 6:00, it's the only way to get about 90 golfers playing and able to finish by dark. As long as they double up groups on the par 5's and so forth, it will work well.
 
highscoreinky said:
Shotgun starts are pretty much the norm here for any golf scramble. No way to get everyone around the course unless you use every tee box to start them off. What I really don't like are shotgun starts that have A and B teams off more than 4 or 5 holes. That makes for a loooong round.
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They really don't have to be a scramble here, it can be best ball too. I am like you the A & B teams on holes really mess up the flow. It seems in all of those tournaments the 5 hour to 6 hour round is the norm. Ugh!
 
I play them a lot as all the charity events out here have a lot of people and thus roll with the shot gun starts. Round usually takes 4 to 5 hours but that's pretty standard for these espcially with how tipsy some people get.
 
I guess my issue is the 5+ hour rounds. I have played shotguns during charity events and do not mind, but it not something (5+ hour round) I would want to do on a weekly basis.

Also, I know it is just mental but starting on a hole besides #1 just feels odd.
 
I've only done it at a scramble. Not sure why it would make a round any longer than normal if everybody was playing ready golf. Sounds like a player issue more than anything.
 
It is good in some cases like big events where they would have to schedule tee times from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm for one tournament. It is a lot easier and time efficient to put everyone out there. I understand why they do it, but hate the slow down. :banghead: I love playing golf quickly it helps my game.
 
They do a morning shotgun on tournament days at the club so we can get the members on in the morning and then the tournament in the afternoon. I enjoy it because it is so early.
 
My club does them occasionally, 8:30 start in the morning, 1:30 start in the afternoon. Afternoon event usually involves a group dinner, so this way everyone finishes close the same time.
 
bobgeorge said:
Do you guys ever play in shotgun starts? They do a shotgun start where I normally play at every Saturday on one course. I have played in it a few times but the rounds normally take 5+ hours with cart (cart mandatory)...which is a lot longer than I like to play.
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Almost every scramble I've been in was a shotgun start. They are OK unless you have two groups on each hole.
 
Every scramble I've every played, and a single tournament on Monday. They do tend to take forever for some reason. It's still golf. If you can play the course in 4:15 starting on hole 1 why does it take 5:30 to play the same holes starting somewhere else? Just hit your dang ball and move on!
 
highscoreinky said:
Shotgun starts are pretty much the norm here for any golf scramble. No way to get everyone around the course unless you use every tee box to start them off. What I really don't like are shotgun starts that have A and B teams off more than 4 or 5 holes. That makes for a loooong round.
Click to expand...

DawgDaddy said:
They really don't have to be a scramble here, it can be best ball too. I am like you the A & B teams on holes really mess up the flow. It seems in all of those tournaments the 5 hour to 6 hour round is the norm. Ugh!
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As a former organizer an annual charity/scramble for Special Olympics, I've played in many of them - charity events mostly. While I agree they are usually long, this is due to who's playing and not the tee off structure. Most of the time you get a significant number of VERY occasional players at these things. They don't know how to play ready golf and they play poorly.

Theoretically, a full field shotgun start (A & B group on each tee) which I've done, shouldn't take any longer than walking up to the first tee and having 1 group in front of you. If you tee off 12 in the A group at the same time the A group goes off 13, the B group should be off 13 tee by the time your group starts putting on 12 and you should be able to walk up and tee of 13 without delay.

While I hate slow play normally, I try to remember at these events that it's about the charity and people are out there who haven't played golf since last year's event because they want to support the cause.
 
Ive only ever done it in a charity events, and it leads to a LONG DAY
 
All4's said:
Same here. I play an alumni scramble every year and my buddy screws me as a running joke by starting me team on the long drive hole every year so we hit it cold.
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He's just trying to even out the field!
 
Most of the Middle School events are shotgun starts here (becuse they play after school). We have a wide variety of abilities on the course and many holes start with 2 groups a hole. The guy that organizes it has a formula based on plaing ability that gets everyone through without jamming up. We get 50-60 kids through 9 holes in 2 1/2 hours. Not lightning fast but considering more than a few of these kids wont break 60 for 9 holes, they move along.
 
highscoreinky said:
Shotgun starts are pretty much the norm here for any golf scramble. No way to get everyone around the course unless you use every tee box to start them off. What I really don't like are shotgun starts that have A and B teams off more than 4 or 5 holes. That makes for a loooong round.
Click to expand...

The tourny I just played in had a and b off 8 holes ugh almost 6 hour round
 
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