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Are Young Players Being Taught Slow is Good?

Space Bandito

Space Bandito

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Another pace of play rant...here I go again.

Today is a beautiful morning. 4th group out, and paired with a dad/son duo. We should be flying.... but we're not.

The son is a high school player. He's good. Not great. But I'm not here to talk about his ability.

I'm here because of his pre shot routine. We are a hole and a half behind the group in front of us, because he is averaging 51 seconds on tee shots, and 63 seconds on approach shots.

He's missed most greens, so that is adding to our time considerably.

I assume he is doing this because that's what his team is teaching him, but why is this a thing?
Why are we not teaching kids to play quickly?

I know @Jman coaches, and I'm sure there are others, so I wanted some insight. What's up with this?

For the record, it's a nice morning, and we're not causing any problems. I just have time to wornder.
 
Everything he sees on TV, everything he is told by teaching pros, everything his golf coach tells him, everything he sees around him when playing golf is telling him that to be a good golfer you have to take your time, check everything twice, start over if you have a moment's doubt and above all DON'T MAKE A MISTAKE!!!!!!!

That's the modern game. Based on the delusion that good golf can broken down into a hundred tiny steps and and each one executed with mechanical perfection.
 
Short answer - yes.
 
Its what they see on TV and I do thing these coaches are teaching the deliberate pre shot routines.
 
Yes. It’s what is being preached by PGA pros that provide playing lessons. That gets parroted until it’s becomes the norm for a group and then it spreads to the team and then it spreads to other schools. And it’s a blanket rule. Frequent bad shots since switching? You’re rushing, go slower. No regard for if someone plays better using less time.
 
Yes. 100%. It’s the “have a routine” teaching. No problem with routine but Jeez thes routines I see the college players use at our golf course is furiatingly long
 
Sounds brutal.

Last few HS kids I’ve played with were all pretty fast.
 
Every golfer I know has their own comfort level in golf when it comes to pace of play.

Heck, in just about anything they do, one's comfortable pace is going to be different from others. Freeway driving is a good example.

I read an article years ago about genetics, and how one's personal genetic timing barrier dictates what speed they do things. I assume this includes their golf play.

You could probably try to teach a youngster to play faster, but in the end, they will settle in, and play at their own comfortable pace.

On a personal note. Last week I played 18 holes. My front 9 was a struggle. I played it in about 70+/- minutes. I determined that my golf struggles were due to me playing too fast.

On the second 9, I played a little slower. Maybe 90+/- minutes. I was 3 strokes better than the front 9. Fewer struggles, due to a better focus saved me those strokes.

Some folks play golf just for fun. Me, I play for both fun, and more importantly to shoot the best score I can.
 
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It's an epidemic! Watching the DP this morning, and had a player in the rough, under trees, with his ball between two trees. Had plenty of room to swing, just had to keep the ball down a little. Must have switched between two clubs three times, tried to have a root removed, which wasn't moving. Finally made a shot, only going back to the fairway. It took almost 6 minutes for him to play! I thought he was trying to go to the green.. If young players see this, or new players, then they must think this is the way you play golf. It is not rocket science, but the pros want you to think it is. Not good for the game...
 
I blame it on golf on TV. I watch it every day when I am trying to mow. For the most part, people over 50 are the only players I see that consistently play at a reasonable pace.
 
Sox_Fan said:
I blame it on golf on TV. I watch it every day when I am trying to mow. For the most part, people over 50 are the only players I see that consistently play at a reasonable pace.
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So you're saying the old guys should be teaching the kids? I like it
 
Space Bandito said:
He just spent almost a minute over a 6 foot putt. Marked it 3 times, and came up short.

I wonder if overthinking all of this is not hurting his game.
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After he marked it the second time, I would had said it was good and also we’re falling behind the pace of play. Their response would have been to my backside walking to the next tee.
 
Space Bandito said:
Yes, but there is a modern push to speed up the game. My point is that kids are being taught the opposite of that idea.
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Gotcha. I think the game is changing in a lot of ways. People who are ok with other traditions becoming obsolete have to be ok with losing decent pace of play as well.
 
Quite a few years ago now, a young man I was paired up with was telling me about his high school golf matches. He said at the very fastest, they might finish a 9-hole match in a little over 2-1/2 hours but it was usually at least 3 hours. And that was probably a decade ago.

He said for his part he learned there was "regular golf" and "team golf" and when it's "team golf" you just find ways to kill time between shots or you'd never be able to do it.
 
This is becoming unbearable. A 2some jumped ahead of us on 14, the cut over from 9. We waited for them on 14 tee and are now 1.5 holes behind them and 2.5 holes behind the group that went off 12 minutes ahead of us!
 
personally i think the tv thing is vastly overrated particularly for young people. i don’t think they consume much golf on tv. i believe it’s almost exclusively because of coaching.
 
McLovin said:
personally i think the tv thing is vastly overrated particularly for young people. i don’t think they consume much golf on tv. i believe it’s almost exclusively because of coaching.
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Most don’t watch professional golf at all.
 
I don’t think they are being taught to play slow. I think they are being taught to follow a process and stick to it for consistency. That just leads to a more deliberate pace as they mentally check all the boxes before playing a shot.
 
templeton80 said:
I don’t think they are being taught to play slow. I think they are being taught to follow a process and stick to it for consistency. That just leads to a more deliberate pace as they mentally check all the boxes before playing a shot.
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This.
 
Et Tu Brute? said:
Quite a few years ago now, a young man I was paired up with was telling me about his high school golf matches. He said at the very fastest, they might finish a 9-hole match in a little over 2-1/2 hours but it was usually at least 3 hours. And that was probably a decade ago.

He said for his part he learned there was "regular golf" and "team golf" and when it's "team golf" you just find ways to kill time between shots or you'd never be able to do it.
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Having played high school golf. You have to remember while there are kids out there shooting under par. There are some out there shooting 120 as well. It’s not all kids out there pretending to be pros and backing off shots because a bird chirps.
 
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