Slow Play Idea?

[yorkem]

I have read through this and will just say a couple of things. #1 I do not agree with the original idea at all. While it may help with slow play, it will never catch on here. #2 Stop pretending you are a pro golfer or get the pros to play faster. What did it take Tiger to play 11 holes the other day, like 5 hours? Ridiculous. #3 Just play ready golf and you can and will speed things up. Lastly, while I do not like having to wait before every shot, I try not to let it bother me. If I was in a hurry I probably should not have made plans to play golf that day.

 

[NoLine]

Once again, better doesn't mean faster. I can shoot in the 90s and play rounds in a foursome in less than the pace you mentioned.

People who want to play fast rounds need to book the first tee times of the day or they are going to be very disappointed. It's impossible to play speed golf once the mid morning groups start teeing off.

I feel like there is a disconnect here between speed golf and what should be an acceptable pace of play. Granted we are not going to reform an entire culture of slow players but when we start thinking of 3:45 or 4 hour rounds as crisp we have lost our way. Speed golf in my view would be a 1:45/2 hour round I'll play during the week, in a cart, when I'm just trying to get some swings in. That type of golf is not enjoyable to me and its why I rarely do it anymore.

 

[Hawk]

I feel like there is a disconnect here between speed golf and what should be an acceptable pace of play. Granted we are not going to reform an entire culture of slow players but when we start thinking of 3:45 or 4 hour rounds as crisp we have lost our way. Speed golf in my view would be a 1:45/2 hour round I'll play during the week, in a cart, when I'm just trying to get some swings in. That type of golf is not enjoyable to me and its why I rarely do it anymore.

Absolutely agree.

 

[deleebar]

Unfortunately, many times you're only as fast as the fastest group in front of you.

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[huhhh]

I’m always conscious of being slow, constantly looking behind me to see if I’m holding anyone up and make adjustments if I am (assuming there aren’t 3 groups in front of me). But I do hate the “rabbit” guys. Single guy in a cart who flies up, and hardly stops before jumping out, swinging, and taking off again. He’s a half step below playing polo even though there are 5 groups in front of him (and he can see 3 of them).
Although, going back a few pages, I love the hot dog idea. Though that could result in an increased icejacking rate. I know people who will risk manslaughter for a free hot dog.

 

[Kobey]

Nothing gets the forum going better than a good slow play thread.

 

[KyleBob]

Until courses start trying to educate its players what they can do to improve the place I won't think that anyone is taking this issue seriously. I have never been to a course and saw any literature informing people what they can do. How about signs in the carts and on #1 & #10 tee telling people what they can do, (ready golf, putting out, provisionals, etc...). I don't think that most slow players are doing it intentionally but rather don't know better. Slow play is usually an accordion effect on the course.

Chipped via Tapatalk, never chutted.

Education on golf skill & etiquette is the key. In a perfect world a person who has never played the game should be required to take a lesson from a pro, then take a rules/etiquette test to get a golf license that is good for a set amount of time (like a hunting or fishing license). Now I know that is not a possibility in this day & age, as it would drive people away when we need to attract new players more than ever.

We need fresh ideas such as offering discounted rates to those who take a lesson from a PGA Professional and pass a quick test to get "certified" on rules & etiquette, and then offering incentives to those who refer new players to the pro for lessons.

 

[rollin]

Education on golf skill & etiquette is the key. In a perfect world a person who has never played the game should be required to take a lesson from a pro, then take a rules/etiquette test to get a golf license that is good for a set amount of time (like a hunting or fishing license). Now I know that is not a possibility in this day & age, as it would drive people away when we need to attract new players more than ever.

We need fresh ideas such as offering discounted rates to those who take a lesson from a PGA Professional and pass a quick test to get "certified" on rules & etiquette, and then offering incentives to those who refer new players to the pro for lessons.

decent ideas perhaps but as you said, will never work and would also be very problematic for far too many reasons to mention.
In a "perfect world" as you put it, we wouldn't have this issue in the first place. People would understand how to keep respectable, enjoyable pace and actually be capable of making the adjustments necessary to do it. Just because one had a lesson does not at all suggest they will keep pace. This again refers to the assumtion that a less talented player is the cause of slow play which is often enough not true.

Besides, If one were tested on etiquite and passed that still doesnt mean they would implant it and carry it out when they play. And knowing and following golf's rules by the book would for sure actually slow us all down even more on the weekends. Things like not to drop and hit vs back to the tee, or putting out of turn, or actually taking the full 5 mins to search for a ball, etc, and etc... do not lead to or help the "ready golf" favored style we nead to do to maintain the pace in the first place.

 

[Fourputt]

And the foursome format wouldn't have to be implemented every day all the time. Let's take the weekends, for example. You and 3 buddies want to get in a round. If I had a choice between getting through a round of foursomes in a couple hours with them with what could be anything from a serious competitive round to sociable, or getting through a 5 hour round where I'm waiting to hit most of the time, I'd give the other course a hard look. Maybe I'm alone on that, but I digress.

You will never change the mindset of the typical player to go that way. Scotch is a foreign concept in the US. We see it in the Ryder and President's Cups, and that's it. Even fourball match play would be difficult to implement, simply because too many of us don't go to the course with a full group, and playing a match style of golf with randomly grouped players just isn't going to work.

The solution to slow play is education and enforcement, period. Teach players how to play efficiently, then make sure that your course pace of play policy is enforced. You won't have 3 hour rounds, but you also will get rid of the 5 hour round. There are some very simple, basic things that anyone can do to speed up play, but too many casual golfers just don't have a clue. Most players will embrace such a plan when they learn that anything else is unacceptable. Google "Play240Golf" if you want to see someone who is at least attempting to put forward a reasonable program to improve place of play in the US.

 

[Tcm68]

Why is everybody in such a darn hurry to finish doing something they should be enjoying doing? Do you need to get home in time to mow the lawn or something? I start to dred it when I get to about hole 15 because the round is almost over. The world is in too much of hurry today. Slow down and enjoy life while you can. If your in a hurry Golf is the wrong hobby for you. Go run a marathon where you are supposed to get done faster to win. You might even find your scores get a little better if you took your time and relaxed a little bit. JMHO

 

[JB]

Why is everybody in such a darn hurry to finish doing something they should be enjoying doing? Do you need to get home in time to mow the lawn or something? I start to dred it when I get to about hole 15 because the round is almost over. The world is in too much of hurry today. Slow down and enjoy life while you can. If your in a hurry Golf is the wrong hobby for you. Go run a marathon where you are supposed to get done faster to win. You might even find your scores get a little better if you took your time and relaxed a little bit. JMHO

Because there are things that need to be done. I have a wife that I love. I have a job that has responsibilities 7 days a week. I have things that I also enjoy. There is no reason that a round of golf needs to take over 5 hours, just because someone else out there wants to take 7 practice swings and has a 3 minute pre shot routine for all of their shots.

Golf can be just as enjoyable played in 4 hours for just about everybody out there. Sitting in a cart or standing by your bag as you wait 10 minutes before every shot is just not enjoyable for a lot of people.

 

[c0ncept]

Why is everybody in such a darn hurry to finish doing something they should be enjoying doing? Do you need to get home in time to mow the lawn or something? I start to dred it when I get to about hole 15 because the round is almost over. The world is in too much of hurry today. Slow down and enjoy life while you can. If your in a hurry Golf is the wrong hobby for you. Go run a marathon where you are supposed to get done faster to win. You might even find your scores get a little better if you took your time and relaxed a little bit. JMHO

Don't get me wrong I love being outside on the course but giving up 2 hours for 9 and 4 hours for 18 is a huge chunk to allocate...when that becomes 3 hours for 9 and 6 for 18 I just can't do it anymore. People don't even play better when they have to constantly stop and go like that. There is a reason I rarely play 18 these days and stick to 9 holes.

 

[huhhh]

I think everybody wants to find the middle ground. You'll find extremes on both sides: people that want to take 6 hours and enjoy yard of grass and goose they see (well maybe not the geese), and others that start a stopwatch on the first tee to see if they can break their own record and hardly stop the cart to swing. Toss those out...you'll never please them anyway. The question is how to keep it the middle...acutally that's the question for just aobut everything in golf.

 

[Fourputt]

GPS on all carts would probably do so much to speed up play. I dont know why but so many courses dont have it. I like thw alarm idea also. At my home course the screen does tell you if youre behind or not. No buzzer though. I think it falls on the rangers to an extent. The ones I see are just driving around offering water in the summer

Too expensive for most daily fee courses.

Bubble burst. I wish I had money. Looks like a nice course

This is the issue. Private courses can afford such luxuries, they have a captive customer base. Public courses don't, and they often enough don't have the ability to track every Tom, Dick and whoever to see who is causing the problem.

I like what the muni I play at does:

-On the first hole, a short par 4, you start when the group in front is on the green. This usually spaces groups out and kind of gives everyone a bit of a hurry up attitude because you are likely to get to the second tee and be able to hit right away, and so on. To date I have never seen things stack up on any tee box on the course.
-Marshal's come equipped with an if you can't play a round in less than 4 1/2 hours then expect to see me often and if you don't like it then there are plenty of other golf courses you can go play attitude.
-If it gets slow, dig out your cell phone, turn it on, call the clubhouse. They will find out where its clogged up and fix things - quickly.

I love the idea of putting pros on the clock. More and more you see younger guys like Ricky and Keegan that play the game a lot more quickly than the other pros. I can imagine what it does to their game to be on the course 5 to 6 hours for a round. It must be frustrating as heck for them. Maybe they need to collectively complain and shame the USGA into action. Or get together and all withdraw every time they hit a 5+ hour round on Thursday or Friday, and give slow play as the reason for withdrawing.

Again, public, daily fee courses rarely have such a luxury. With that sort of interval, they could only put about half as many players on the course at a time, and that translates straight to the bottom line. Most upscale public courses go at about a 10 minute interval, but you pay more for it up front.

Unfortunately, many times you're only as fast as the fastest group in front of you.

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I believe you meant only as fast as the slowest group in front of you.

 

[StanTheCaddy]

I don't like the idea of alternate shot at all for speeding up play. While I like the creativity it's not something I am in favor of. I wouldn't play on a course that had this policy. First, I go out as a single here and there and would hate to have to play alternate ball with a guy I never met. Second, if I pay for a full round of golf, I don't want to only be able to hit half the shots.

 

[SharkHat]

Why is everybody in such a darn hurry to finish doing something they should be enjoying doing? Do you need to get home in time to mow the lawn or something? I start to dred it when I get to about hole 15 because the round is almost over. The world is in too much of hurry today. Slow down and enjoy life while you can. If your in a hurry Golf is the wrong hobby for you. Go run a marathon where you are supposed to get done faster to win. You might even find your scores get a little better if you took your time and relaxed a little bit. JMHO

Any number of reasons.

For example:
Trying to get 18 in after work and wanting to finish before dark so I can get home to put my son to bed. In the summer time, starting at 4:30 this is very feasible with a 4 hour round, not so much with a 5 hour round.

 

[TheGeekGolfer]

SO, my suggestion is that during peak times when a course faces the biggest crowds, insist on Foursomes as the playing format. Foursomes is a format where four golfers play with two balls only, alternate shot. First of all, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, at Muirfield (ranked 9th on Golf Magazine's best courses in the world, was as high as 3rd at one point - the Open will be hosted there this year) ONLY uses this format.

Unless I'm missing something... I checked Muirfield's website and all of their morning tee times are listed as '4 Ball', not Foursomes. (see tee-times on the right at link above).

'4 Ball' or Fourball is defined as follows (from Wikipedia)...

A Fourball match is a type of golf match used in match play competitions. A fourball match consists of two teams of two players competing directly against each other. Each golfer plays his own ball throughout the round. A team's number of strokes for a given hole is the lowest individual number of strokes of that team's players on that hole.

Fourball is allowed in the morning and Foursomes is in the afternoon play, most likely to allow golfers who want the 'recreational and historical experience' of playing at Muirfield, but really aren't that good and just want to play some place semi-famous. Me, I'll pass on this format.

 

[Bags]

Although I didn't read through every posting, my first thought to speed up play is for all of us "non-pro" golfers to play from the correct tees. Too many times I see folks playing from the wrong tees because their ego's allow them to think "yup, I can add 600 yards to the corse and shoot par" when in reality par is still a ways off, even if they tee it forward. Playing from the tees best suited to your current skill level will help to speed up play (less strokes = less time) and make the game more enjoyable!

As for the pros, I'm sorta' okay with some slightly slower rounds. After all, that's how they make a living and when several thousands of dollars are on the line, taking a few extra seconds on each shot may be the difference!!!

 

[Tcm68]

Any number of reasons.

For example:
Trying to get 18 in after work and wanting to finish before dark so I can get home to put my son to bed. In the summer time, starting at 4:30 this is very feasible with a 4 hour round, not so much with a 5 hour round.

Why not just play 9, and get home in time to spend some quality time with your son before you put him to bed?
Sorry for the sarcasm, but it sounds like a legit question to me.

 

[SharkHat]

Why not just play 9, and get home in time to spend some quality time with your son before you put him to bed?
Sorry for the sarcasm, but it sounds like a legit question to me.

Considering it was just an example, the sarcasm is not offensive. I was demonstrating that there are reasons outside of just being in a rush.

That said, sometimes my weekends are completely spoken for, either by work or other obligations, and I'd still like to get in a full 18 once in a while.

 

[Tcm68]

Although I didn't read through every posting, my first thought to speed up play is for all of us "non-pro" golfers to play from the correct tees. Too many times I see folks playing from the wrong tees because their ego's allow them to think "yup, I can add 600 yards to the corse and shoot par" when in reality par is still a ways off, even if they tee it forward. Playing from the tees best suited to your current skill level will help to speed up play (less strokes = less time) and make the game more enjoyable!

As for the pros, I'm sorta' okay with some slightly slower rounds. After all, that's how they make a living and when several thousands of dollars are on the line, taking a few extra seconds on each shot may be the difference!!!

Or hey why just just price golf out of reach for the common riff raff. That way we could play at any speed we wanted because we could eleminate 90% of the people out there. And course could take in just as money from the higher exclusive fees, and save even more money on the less maintainence required on repairs?

 

[Xarraan]

Or hey why just just price golf out of reach for the common riff raff. That way we could play at any speed we wanted because we could eleminate 90% of the people out there. And course could take in just as money from the higher exclusive fees, and save even more money on the less maintainence required on repairs?

That sounds like the perfect plan right there.

Signed,
No one ever.

Golf is a sport for all, not just elitist who feel money trumps all.

 

[Tcm68]

Considering it was just an example, the sarcasm is not offensive. I was demonstrating that there are reasons outside of just being in a rush.

That said, sometimes my weekends are completely spoken for, either by work or other obligations, and I'd still like to get in a full 18 once in a while.

I understand where your coming from. I guess I just like to play devils advicate. I think sometime people tend to come across with the attitude that everyone else just bend over backwards to make their lives easier. Just defending those who may be out there trying to enjoy there day off without rushing because the guy behind them is in a hurry. I mean some of these posts actually are suggesting that the game is morphed into something completely different to conform to their personal style of play. Getting home to be with your kid is actually a good reason to hurry. Sorry to single out your post.

 

[Ole Gray]

Slow play doesn't bother me in the least. I just go up there, give em the old one/two and go on through :deadhorse:

 

[tgtt]

What is worse than slow players? Slow players defending their action. Yes, while it is your money and you deserve every right to get your money's worth it shouldn't impede on other player's right to get in, have fun, and get out in a timely manner.

I seriously see no downside to paying for your time on the course. Say $10 per hour (at least in my area)... If I am done in 2.5 then I pay my $25 and get on my way while the slow fella that wants to take 5 hours can pay his $50 and be happy about it. There are issues with said slow player holding up faster players but it can be worked around and it is beneficial to cut the ball search short.

Please, someone around here take this and run with it.