Slow play perspective ... 75 years ago

[Daddio]

Just opened an old book our head pro lent me last week as he was prepping to leave for Augusta later that day: 'Thirty Years of Championship Golf' - Gene Sarazen. I'd purchased several copies of his recently released book on Horton Smith as gifts and he thought I'd be interested in reading though Sarazen's early Augusta thoughts since Gene won The Masters the year between Horton's two victories.

The opening paragraph of chapter one was Sarazen discussing how young or old he'd feel (depending on his play) going into his 30th US Open (Medina 1949). Halfway through that opening paragraph I was surprised to read this sentence "I am nettled by the absurdly long time the young men in the field take before their shots, surveying their putts like engineers, examining their fairway lies like botanist, and using up four and a half hours when three is all they need to play eighteen holes as well as they know how."

75 years later this continues to be a primary cause of slow play. It's much much worse now as the routines accomplished players are taught get longer, hacks emulate the snails they see on tour. HS, college, and the best golfers at our courses are often taught to take forever planning and executing every stroke. Just surprised me reading this dead on Sarazen take this morning.

 

[JonMA1]

But that can’t be! What about Covid golf?


This is great. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

[BigMac]

But that can’t be! What about Covid golf?


This is great. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

But notice that he was complaining about a 4 1/2 hour round back then. Nowadays that's considered a normal/fast-ish pace of play for a lot of people.

 

[JonMA1]

I’ve bitched about 4 1/2 hour rounds.

Sorry, but little has changed. People like to think problems are due to a generational issue. People are people and human nature doesn’t really change, imo.

 

[OldeDude]

But notice that he was complaining about a 4 1/2 hour round back then. Nowadays that's considered a normal/fast-ish pace of play for a lot of people.

That is pretty much what I was going to say. Way too many courses in my area post that expected/acceptable pace of play is a 4 1/2 hour round. The worst part is that so few of them do anything to even enforce that kind of pace.

 

[Bosco...]

Dude….do you have any idea how slow the internet was when Sarazen played golf? Rangefinder batteries didn’t last near as long either.

And for crying out loud, you had to WAIT for your selfies to get developed and it took two people to carry the Victrola.

 

[Daddio]

But notice that he was complaining about a 4 1/2 hour round back then. Nowadays that's considered a normal/fast-ish pace of play for a lot of people.

I know and I look at it from the other side. If 3 hours was expected pace by the very best playing in their most important events why in hell shouldn't we expect 3 hours (or less) today playing our casual everyday rounds? Sub 3 hours norms should be even easier nowadays but mostly a pipe dream. I know you're fast too from your posts so I'm right with you. It's just insane how acceptable slow golf has become. IMO 4 hours is glacially slow in most cases yet we have a thread up right now where some are defending 4+.

 

[WLG1952]

75 years. You'd think by now a fix would've been found. This is why I never have a problem with what ever the pace of play is the day I'm playing.

 

[Bosco...]

When an hour on a golf course is the difference between a good day and a bad day, you gotta wonder…..

 

[1860VS]

I blame weed. People are too laid back.



Obviously they need to legalize coke.....