Seems like pace of play is on everyone's minds these days. I am neither a fast nor slow player. I've had two recent 5+ hr rounds on weekends on fairly challenging courses. One is not too difficult but has elevation changes, is long, and has distance between tees. The other is not too long but has a ton of blind shots with elevation changes. Over labor day the group I was paired with was hit into twice by an overly eager older couple and I watched as two nearly came to blows. The group in front was backed up and we were about 1/2 hole to 3/4 hole behind. We asked the couple to play through but they realized they would have to likely skip several holes and groups.
Last weekend we played the course with lots of blind shots with a pair of older golfers who decided to play the back tees because of the pace of play. They both hit weak slices often in the woods and would spend several minutes looking for their balls. When in the fairway, however, they would immediately drive to the first ball regardless of where my wife or I hit. We would have to yell to them to get out of the way before we hit. We would all wind up waiting in the fairway for the green to clear for several minutes as everyone putted out. On a two occasions, I wound up well beyond them and just into the rough. I was chastised for taking two long to look for my ball. They asked me to play "ready golf!" and wanted me to just drop and move on. I looked for nearly the full 3 minutes on both occasions and found my ball with the help of the missus. On the last hole, I timed one of the gentlemen in the woods and asked him to drop after taking nearly 6 minutes looking for his ball and shouted "ready golf!" as I walked away. The other gentleman pointed out that they try to play briskly when in the fairway because they know they will often be in the trees.
My question is this...on both occasions we were very backed up. They did not seem to be bothered by the rhythm of playing super fast and then waiting for 5-6 minutes for the green to clear each time. Naturally, they too took their time on the greens, which featured Sunday pin locations (it was a Sunday). Should we play with such pace when everything is backed up (when playing as a couple and it is this backed up, we'll either play through or I'll take some practice pitches, etc). I'm also not a fan of some of the difficult weekend pin locations. Once a week players will wind up taking too much time and loosing too many balls with tough sucker pins. I say use those pin locations on Thursday or Friday mornings when the regulars are out playing and get around in 3 hours.
Last weekend we played the course with lots of blind shots with a pair of older golfers who decided to play the back tees because of the pace of play. They both hit weak slices often in the woods and would spend several minutes looking for their balls. When in the fairway, however, they would immediately drive to the first ball regardless of where my wife or I hit. We would have to yell to them to get out of the way before we hit. We would all wind up waiting in the fairway for the green to clear for several minutes as everyone putted out. On a two occasions, I wound up well beyond them and just into the rough. I was chastised for taking two long to look for my ball. They asked me to play "ready golf!" and wanted me to just drop and move on. I looked for nearly the full 3 minutes on both occasions and found my ball with the help of the missus. On the last hole, I timed one of the gentlemen in the woods and asked him to drop after taking nearly 6 minutes looking for his ball and shouted "ready golf!" as I walked away. The other gentleman pointed out that they try to play briskly when in the fairway because they know they will often be in the trees.
My question is this...on both occasions we were very backed up. They did not seem to be bothered by the rhythm of playing super fast and then waiting for 5-6 minutes for the green to clear each time. Naturally, they too took their time on the greens, which featured Sunday pin locations (it was a Sunday). Should we play with such pace when everything is backed up (when playing as a couple and it is this backed up, we'll either play through or I'll take some practice pitches, etc). I'm also not a fan of some of the difficult weekend pin locations. Once a week players will wind up taking too much time and loosing too many balls with tough sucker pins. I say use those pin locations on Thursday or Friday mornings when the regulars are out playing and get around in 3 hours.
