Slow Play - Waving Up Groups On Par 3's??

[golfinnut]

Question for THP'ers …. on long par 3's, do you wave up the group & allow them to hit to the green before you start to putt? I saw this today on a par 3 that seriously backed up .… 4 groups on one hole. Two waiting on the tee box, one down in the hollow short of the green & one on the green. There are actually signs on the tee box that say "Please wave following group up as you reach the green." Now the hole is pretty long … about 225 from the back tee. So the majority of players fail to reach the green. I watched all the groups in front of me all miss the green.
So my real question is does waving up the group on long par 3's actually speed up play or not? At this particular course, I don't think so .... It just created a bottleneck. So I didn't see the need.
Thoughts THP'ers?

 

[Snickerdog]

Doesn't sound like it is accomplishing anything. Also that is a stupid long par 3 most people and no reason for it on a public course IMO.

 

[Golfers Anonymous]

In my mind this is the group waving up the previous group as a lot of players will take out woods and drivers to get there and accuracy might not be a premium at that rate. Seems like a poorly designed or placed hole if you have a known constant bottleneck. Are the shorter tees much closer than the 225 in comparison or within 20-30 yds.

 

[links_slayer]

what are the distances from the other tees?

i've never seen signs like this but i have seen groups do this occasionally. it's never helped.

 

[golfinnut]

In my mind this is the group waving up the previous group as a lot of players will take out woods and drivers to get there and accuracy might not be a premium at that rate. Seems like a poorly designed or placed hole if you have a known constant bottleneck. Are the shorter tees much closer than the 225 in comparison or within 20-30 yds.

The white tees (reg men) were only 10 yards ahead. While the old timer yellow tee box was down in the hollow & had to hit it straight up the hill basically a blind shot. Really stupid design all around at this course. I had never seen it before & needless to say I won't be back. 5 hour rounds don't sit well with me. And bottlenecks like this were partly the reason for the slow play. Not to mention guys going for par 5's in two when they can barely hit it passed the ladies tee. Whoever designed this course should be shot

 

[golfinnut]

Doesn't sound like it is accomplishing anything. Also that is a stupid long par 3 most people and no reason for it on a public course IMO.

Yeah I wasn't too keen on it riding up to the tee box. Of course we were waiting forever & had plenty of time to contemplate the shot. But for what it's worth, I did hit the green with my trusty 2-iron I was the only person in my group & for that matter, any group that I saw, that hit the green. So I've got that going for me … which is nice

 

[MattyD-MPLS]

I do not like the waving people up. It just keeps everyone thing compact after that hole too.

 

[GenErr]

If there are four groups on one par 3 hole, you can wave till your arms fall off, and it wouldn't help!

 

[InTheRough]

Has anyone talked to the course about the fact that the hole in question might be slowing down play on the entire course? Has anyone made the suggestion to them that they might want to consider putting in another tee box... say that covers 170 to 190 yds?

 

[Jaymo37]

Question for THP'ers …. on long par 3's, do you wave up the group & allow them to hit to the green before you start to putt? I saw this today on a par 3 that seriously backed up .… 4 groups on one hole. Two waiting on the tee box, one down in the hollow short of the green & one on the green. There are actually signs on the tee box that say "Please wave following group up as you reach the green." Now the hole is pretty long … about 225 from the back tee. So the majority of players fail to reach the green. I watched all the groups in front of me all miss the green.
So my real question is does waving up the group on long par 3's actually speed up play or not? At this particular course, I don't think so .... It just created a bottleneck. So I didn't see the need.
Thoughts THP'ers?

My course has 2 par 3s over 200 yards where this is standard practice. If properly executed it moves along fine. However if the group ahead is slower, we will typically wave them off so it helps them get a bit of distance in front of us.

 

[OldandStiff]

When you've seen someone get hit with a ball and nearly die on course, this situation is a hard pass. I mostly know where my ball is going, and if you wave me up on a par 3, I will wave you off no matter what the sign says. Finish your hole and I'll play through you on the next tee if you like.

 

[YukonLiving]

I’d rather not hit into someone at 225, and definitely don’t feel like inviting someone to hit their tee shot at me so I can play “dodge the golf ball”!

What did the pace look like at the two holes on either side of this par 3? Distance between holes?

 

[Buckeyegolfnut]

Question for THP'ers …. on long par 3's, do you wave up the group & allow them to hit to the green before you start to putt? I saw this today on a par 3 that seriously backed up .… 4 groups on one hole. Two waiting on the tee box, one down in the hollow short of the green & one on the green. There are actually signs on the tee box that say "Please wave following group up as you reach the green." Now the hole is pretty long … about 225 from the back tee. So the majority of players fail to reach the green. I watched all the groups in front of me all miss the green.
So my real question is does waving up the group on long par 3's actually speed up play or not? At this particular course, I don't think so .... It just created a bottleneck. So I didn't see the need.
Thoughts THP'ers?

Doesn't sound like it is accomplishing anything. Also that is a stupid long par 3 most people and no reason for it on a public course IMO.

Exactly! Why are the "majority of players" playing the back tees at 225 yards? Makes no sense at all.

In my mind this is the group waving up the previous group as a lot of players will take out woods and drivers to get there and accuracy might not be a premium at that rate. Seems like a poorly designed or placed hole if you have a known constant bottleneck. Are the shorter tees much closer than the 225 in comparison or within 20-30 yds.

Back in the day when everybody walked, this kind of rule made sense. I can remember doing it although it's been many years since I could walk 18, especially on the course I'm thinking of. We marked our balls, vacated the green, and waved the following group up. And dodged their tee shots! After the first 2 I told my buddies that we should cluster right around the flagstick, since that was the safest place to be! With so many riding, they can be on you in an instant.

 

[#troy]

Negative on the wave up. Dumb golf hole if it needs that sign. And dumb golfers if they come up short knowing they constantly come up short.

 

[golfinnut]

I’d rather not hit into someone at 225, and definitely don’t feel like inviting someone to hit their tee shot at me so I can play “dodge the golf ball”!

What did the pace look like at the two holes on either side of this par 3? Distance between holes?

Right on top of each other. Sandwiched between two par 4's on either side of it with barely 25 yards between green & the next tee box. Pace was slow all around. That's why I said that it took me 5 hours to play. And it slowed to a halt once we got to this hole. I even asked the guy I was playing with & he said "Oh it usually opens up after this hole." Yeah …. nope.

The reason why I say the "majority" of players was because the course itself was barely 6000 yards in total. And this was the #1 handicap hole (which I've never seen a par 3 as the #1 handicap before). So most people were either playing the back tees or all the way up to the senior tees, very few that I saw were playing the whites. There was no real advantage in doing so. The white tees were not far from the blues on the majority of holes.

 

[golfinnut]

Negative on the wave up. Dumb golf hole if it needs that sign. And dumb golfers if they come up short knowing they constantly come up short.

The sign was on every par 3, not just this one.

 

[#troy]

The sign was on every par 3, not just this one.

very unconventional IMO. I dont want to dodge golf balls all round. Not sure how it would speed up play, waiting for others to hit at you.

 

[IceyShanks]

Question for THP'ers …. on long par 3's, do you wave up the group & allow them to hit to the green before you start to putt? I saw this today on a par 3 that seriously backed up .… 4 groups on one hole. Two waiting on the tee box, one down in the hollow short of the green & one on the green. There are actually signs on the tee box that say "Please wave following group up as you reach the green." Now the hole is pretty long … about 225 from the back tee. So the majority of players fail to reach the green. I watched all the groups in front of me all miss the green.
So my real question is does waving up the group on long par 3's actually speed up play or not? At this particular course, I don't think so .... It just created a bottleneck. So I didn't see the need.
Thoughts THP'ers?

I don't know the answer, but I will say we have a similar situation at our course as a bottleneck on the 3rd hole, the 1st is a short par 5, the 2nd is a long par 4 and the 3rd a longer par 3, we don't have a sign or anything to waive groups up, which rarely to never happens and it still bottlenecks.

 

[golfinnut]

I don't know the answer, but I will say we have a similar situation at our course as a bottleneck on the 3rd hole, the 1st is a short par 5, the 2nd is a long par 4 and the 3rd a longer par 3, we don't have a sign or anything to waive groups up, which rarely to never happens and it still bottlenecks.

That's kinda my point of asking about the sign. Why have it if it's not enforced to begin with? Then it doesn't speed up play so & there is always going to be a bottleneck there regardless because of the design of the course. Like I said … the designer should be drawn & quartered.

 

[YukonLiving]

Right on top of each other. Sandwiched between two par 4's on either side of it with barely 25 yards between green & the next tee box. Pace was slow all around. That's why I said that it took me 5 hours to play. And it slowed to a halt once we got to this hole. I even asked the guy I was playing with & he said "Oh it usually opens up after this hole." Yeah …. nope.

The reason why I say the "majority" of players was because the course itself was barely 6000 yards in total. And this was the #1 handicap hole (which I've never seen a par 3 as the #1 handicap before). So most people were either playing the back tees or all the way up to the senior tees, very few that I saw were playing the whites. There was no real advantage in doing so. The white tees were not far from the blues on the majority of holes.

Interesting! I can’t remember noting a par 3 as the #1 handicap hole either!

What were the tee time spacings? Any different now than years previous? A five hour round on a course playing around 6000 yards is painfully slow... but better than sitting here getting more snow like we’ve got this week.

 

[AnthonyC]

I think I'd wait for the next tee box....