What is the primary reason for slow play?

[Acesteve]

actually I don't think most guys internalize what causes slow play. Instead they think I a doing my part, which they might not be doing. for 4-somes playing around 90 shots each, the two most important things are ready golf and short pre-shot routines. People forget that on a tee you can't play ready golf but rather everyone is totally in series. So if each guy takes 90 seconds that alone is 100 minutes in a round. Note that a guy shooting 90 has 72 more shots to find, walk to, and hit. So being ready to hit your shot when it is your turn and taking only about 15 seconds to pull the trigger is huge

 

[thewilderside]

I voted for three items that stand out to me. The first is 8 minute tee-times. Simple math tells you that will lead to congestion. Second was golfers not being ready to play. I interpreted this as guys who don't play ready golf. If my group has clear sailing, but the group behind us is being held up we should be playing ready golf, end of story. The third one I voted is for the 5th practice shot. Especially if there's a group behind us it makes me a little crazy when someone takes a two minute pre-shot routine before hitting.

 

[Jman]

#1 for me really isn’t on the list, it’s just not playing ready golf.

 

[GoldenBuff]

I’m just going with human nature. I think if you model any human activity that involves sequential activity by a group, it will end up slow.

 

[F.N.G]

Courses pqckong their tee sheet too tight making the traffic jam on the highway effect. Where one tap of the brake lights gets a slowing reaction for miles after. We have a course here was was 7 mins apart for years. 6 hr rounds were normal on the weekend. Now since Covid they are 15 mjns apart. I have gotten around twice not in just under 4 hours. Night and day difference.

 

[AndyL0711]

i play with my older father who does not understand what ready golf is. to him going out on a sunday morning with his boys is about having fun and talking his ass off. i love playing with my dad but he is the slowest player EVER!!!! so that can affect our group, when everyone else feels like they have to pick up their pace because of his. either way i love getting out with my dad and will take 5 hour rounds as long as i can with him.

 

[Briton G]

The thing that sticks out to me the most when it comes to slow play is the golfers that take too long to hit the ball. I appreciate newer players that just get up and don't have too many thought and just hit it. They don't take practice swings, they don't sit over the ball afraid to mess up.
I personally do not take any practice swings. I get behind the ball pick a target line, set up and swing. it takes about 10 seconds all together.

Say you have someone that take 30+ seconds on their pre-shot routine and they usually shoot 90. That means per round they take an average of 45 minutes just on their pre-shot routine. My personal opinion is if you are not a professional, there is no need to take more than 1 practice swing or take a long time to hit the ball.

 

[MrDC]

A culmination of everything, along with courses not policing the action.

But overall I would say the most common reason for slow play is just congestion and poor golf, no matter how ready people play and avoid the no-no's a group of 4 maxing out on every hole is going to take a while.

 

[Just_Brad]

People see others play, be it on TV or on the course, and think they need to replicate it.

Courses could help out a lot by reinforcing ground rules before letting people out. Play ready golf, let people play through, be considerate, and pay attention to what is going on around you.

 

[ArmyGolf]

I'm late to this thread and haven't read any comments.

But the #1 cause of slow play, is slow people. Just like the #1 cause of fast play, is fast people.

 

[NycDPT]

I would also say people who spend a long time looking for lost balls... be respectful drop a ball keep playing

 

[InTheRough]

Most courses I play are at 4 hr to 4:15 pace. So I don't push it.

 

[Knucklehead]

Kinda surprised “ball searching nuts” wasn’t on the list.

 

[RayG]

None of the above.
“Entitlement”

 

[greenOak]

For the 60% of people who are blaming golfers who aren't ready to play the course, let me tell you about my experience playing muni golf in Scotland. I have never seen such universally terrible play on the course. Outside our group, I doubt we saw anyone who could legit break 110 out on the course. We also didn't have a round that lasted more than 3.5 hours. There was practically no wasted time. Ready golf was always played (yes that means also on the green). Pre-shot routines didn't last longer than 10 seconds. People would just pick a club, fat/top/shank their shot, cuss loudly, walk to their ball and repeat. They also had small flags on the first tee that you would place to mark any errant shots you came across. There were even non-golfers walking their dogs on the course who would do the same. As a result, very little time was spent looking for balls. I know this type of atmosphere is not everyone's cup of tea, but it certainly was an eye opener as to how fast golf can be played.

I think long pre-shot routines and cramming tee times too close together are the two biggest reasons for slow play. That being said, at least in this neck of the woods, I've found slow play to not be much of a problem. I played 36 rounds last year and only had one round last longer than 4.5 hours. At least 80% of my rounds were faster than the recommended pace. It's gotten a lot better imo.

 

[DG_1234]

The majority of players take too little club and leave their ball well short of the greens all day long. So, faulty club selection is a primary contributor to slow play.

 

[Junkyard]

This afternoon I saw what I believe is a good example of a major cause of slow play, which is a group not following the "ready golf" principle. The second group ahead of us was on a par four where we could clearly see the golfers in the fairway, and said golfers were clearly out of their range however the men waited an extra minute or so on the tee. So they consumed more time than was necessary, but then proceeded to drive ahead to let the lady in their group play from the red tees. She proceeded to hit it about 75 yards, and watching her next two shots that showed it was not an anomaly.

So the question is, since the men were going to wait anyway, why not let the lady move ahead and hit her shot while they were waiting. Neither group (men or women) were in a position where they would be hitting into the group ahead, but they compounded the delay the way they did it. When my group reached the tee, I had "the honour" as I had eagled the previous hole (birdies or eagles are the only etiquette we follow otherwise it's 110% ready golf). The group ahead of us was still within my range so I told the shorter guys to hit first. By the time it was my turn the fairway had cleared and I was able to hit without causing any undue delay.

Playing in a smart order on the tee is just as important as being ready to hit when it's your turn in the fairway or on the greens and I think a lot of people forget about that part.

 

[BigMac]

This afternoon I saw what I believe is a good example of a major cause of slow play, which is a group not following the "ready golf" principle. The second group ahead of us was on a par four where we could clearly see the golfers in the fairway, and said golfers were clearly out of their range however the men waited an extra minute or so on the tee. So they consumed more time than was necessary, but then proceeded to drive ahead to let the lady in their group play from the red tees. She proceeded to hit it about 75 yards, and watching her next two shots that showed it was not an anomaly.

So the question is, since the men were going to wait anyway, why not let the lady move ahead and hit her shot while they were waiting. Neither group (men or women) were in a position where they would be hitting into the group ahead, but they compounded the delay the way they did it. When my group reached the tee, I had "the honour" as I had eagled the previous hole (birdies or eagles are the only etiquette we follow otherwise it's 110% ready golf). The group ahead of us was still within my range so I told the shorter guys to hit first. By the time it was my turn the fairway had cleared and I was able to hit without causing any undue delay.

Playing in a smart order on the tee is just as important as being ready to hit when it's your turn in the fairway or on the greens and I think a lot of people forget about that part.

Good point. We do the same thing - if the group ahead of us is in range for some but not others, somebody will invariably step up and say “I’ll hit, I can’t reach them”. Same goes for approach shots if somebody is laying up vs. going for the green.

We don’t rush our game, but we save time wherever it’s reasonable to do so.

 

[JDax]

If I pay $80 to $100 and it's the first time I have gotten out in a month, I'm going to enjoy it. I am still considerate to other golfers but I'm not going to feel rushed and have my day ruined.

I'm not on the course to run from shot to shot and break time records. I'm there to have fun.

Easily the most overblown topic on these boards.

How much time does a regular round take for you?

 

[leftshot]

This afternoon I saw what I believe is a good example of a major cause of slow play, which is a group not following the "ready golf" principle. The second group ahead of us was on a par four where we could clearly see the golfers in the fairway, and said golfers were clearly out of their range however the men waited an extra minute or so on the tee. So they consumed more time than was necessary, but then proceeded to drive ahead to let the lady in their group play from the red tees. She proceeded to hit it about 75 yards, and watching her next two shots that showed it was not an anomaly.

So the question is, since the men were going to wait anyway, why not let the lady move ahead and hit her shot while they were waiting. Neither group (men or women) were in a position where they would be hitting into the group ahead, but they compounded the delay the way they did it. When my group reached the tee, I had "the honour" as I had eagled the previous hole (birdies or eagles are the only etiquette we follow otherwise it's 110% ready golf). The group ahead of us was still within my range so I told the shorter guys to hit first. By the time it was my turn the fairway had cleared and I was able to hit without causing any undue delay.

Playing in a smart order on the tee is just as important as being ready to hit when it's your turn in the fairway or on the greens and I think a lot of people forget about that part.

Absolutely! As someone who more often than not has "honors" and makes my share of birdies I would take it one step further and say screw honors. If it makes sense to have people go in a different sequence for pace of play--let's do it!

 

[WLG1952]

Just looking at my local course's parking lot this morning, one could argue that great weather, and weekends for slowing up the pace of play. Our course was jam packed this morning.

 

[Acesteve]

Found a new way to have a course slowed today. It was bit wet and cold and many no-shows today. Two guys are on the tee box when we went into the pro shop to pay, then we went to the bathroom. When we came back out the two guys were still just talking it up on the tee box with no one in front of them. They looked at us as we started to wait almost like they were waiting on someone. Finally they teed off. They slowed us down on every hole. They were two riding. We were a twosome walking.

just plain clueless and rude needs to be added to inventory of possible reasons

 

[leftshot]

Found a new way to have a course slowed today. It was bit wet and cold and many no-shows today. Two guys are on the tee box when we went into the pro shop to pay, then we went to the bathroom. When we came back out the two guys were still just talking it up on the tee box with no one in front of them. They looked at us as we started to wait almost like they were waiting on someone. Finally they teed off. They slowed us down on every hole. They were two riding. We were a twosome walking.

just plain clueless and rude needs to be added to inventory of possible reasons

Yeah, we agree. That's basically what I said in post #96.

 

[AndyL0711]

How much time does a regular round take for you?

Usually around 5 hours. I have played near 6 hour rounds...have also played a few near 4 hours but most are 5. It's gets busy Sundays around here.

 

[BigMac]

Found a new way to have a course slowed today. It was bit wet and cold and many no-shows today. Two guys are on the tee box when we went into the pro shop to pay, then we went to the bathroom. When we came back out the two guys were still just talking it up on the tee box with no one in front of them. They looked at us as we started to wait almost like they were waiting on someone. Finally they teed off. They slowed us down on every hole. They were two riding. We were a twosome walking.

just plain clueless and rude needs to be added to inventory of possible reasons

Yesterday we played the front nine as a foursome and the back nine as a threesome. We caught up to a twosome on hole #3, and were right on their tails the whole rest of the round. Watching them play, they were absolutely clueless about how to play ready golf, and didn't give a **** about their pace of play (or holding up people behind them) either. They were playing at least one tee box too far back, but It's not that they were losing a lot of balls or spraying it all over the place - they were just plain slow.