Weekend Pin Placements

[TheBotto]

With everyone talking about pace of play I'm hearing more and more people that don't want to go play on the weekends because of how slow it is.

A few weeks ago I was playing a pretty nice course in my area on a Sunday and it was backed up (5 hour round). My playing partner mentioned that all of the pins were either tucked behind hazards, a pace or two off of the front fringe, or on a small top shelf. Of course as soon as I realized that I started noticing that it was a recurring theme around here. That got me to wondering, if the courses put the pins in easier spots during the weekend (busy times) and guarded them during weekdays, would it speed up play?

What is everyone's general take on this? would you rather play a round with easier pins and play a quicker round or have a more challenging round but be held up? Would easing up on the placements make a big enough difference? Does your local course already do this, or do they make the course more challenging on the weekends?

In my mind I think easier spots would reduce the amount of bunker shots, balls lost in water etc. and by doing that speed up play. If the holes are on the more open and flatter section of green it may keep people from lining up their putt for 5 mins. (even though I wish they could do this while everyone else was taking their putts).

 

[Golf Ghost]

I agree courses need to take some responsibility in this area, which also includes tee boxes. It a small thing that could easily knock 15-20 min off a round.

 

[Dogman]

At the course I work at, they have certain holes that they won't put certain pins on weekends because they are too hard. (up on slopes, etc. ) Those pins can make people play extremely slow.

 

[wadesworld]

Courses do need to change the pin placements to keep the wear on the green as even as possible. With that said though, they certainly would benefit from using the easier placements on the weekend and saving the harder placements for during the week, when the course is much less busy.

 

[tpluff]

We do this at the course I work at. The week we challenge the leagues on the greens with difficult pin placements, but the tees are forward. On the weekends, we put the tees toward the back and put the pins near the cart paths or in unguarded locations. I'd like to think that it speeds up play, however, not many golfers can actually hit the ball where they want, so they slow down play anyways. The best thing that can be done is putting the pin on a good piece of green and possibly speed up putting.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

At the course I work at, they have certain holes that they won't put certain pins on weekends because they are too hard. (up on slopes, etc. ) Those pins can make people play extremely slow.

Same at my home course. Pins are changed on Monday & Thursday every week with the weekend in mind.

 

[GenErr]

Our league plays during the week and we find that the pins are rarely in the middle of the greens. The most common placement is front, left or right, 8-10 paces from the front of a trap (and just about every green is protected by traps in the front making "running the ball up" impossible). The rough is also allowed to grow which further slows play down. I think some variety would be nice - 6 easy placements, 6 medium, and 6 difficult.

When I do play on the weekend I find the courses to be generally set up "easier" - but ironic enough the pace doesn't necessarily improve, on the contrary play is excrutiatingly slow!

 

[tpluff]

Same at my home course. Pins are changed on Monday & Thursday every week with the weekend in mind.

At my course, we change them Mon/Wed/Fri. Keeps the greens in better shape and allows us to prep for the weekend crush.