At What Point Do You Tell a Random To Hurry Up?

CobraX51

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Daylight Savings time is here and sometimes you tee it up on a given weekend around 2:00 or whatever. Maybe you had errands in the morning, maybe you had family activities, or maybe you were just sick of watching the sh!tty ass Josh McCown Jets and booked a tee time with a friend.

We got paired up with 2 randoms, which was fine. One kid who looked to be in his early 20s said he was playing the tips at like 7000 yards, more power to him. My buddy and I were going to play 6400 yards but the other random in our foursome was playing 6700 so we joined him so we wouldn't have a foursome playing 3 different tee boxes.

The issue was the kid playing the tips. He had the game to play the tips, he bombed it, hit some great irons, and besides one bad hole he played very well.

Mind you, we teed off at 2 and know we gotta finish at or before 6 due to darkness.

This kid would walk up to the tee box with his rangefinder. Laser a bunker or tree which is easily 300+ out and then go back to his cart to grab driver or 3wood. He would look at the fairway from the tee box as if he was playing at Shinnecock, rehearse his swing, stand over the ball, half backswing, then hit his full swing, he did this every single time, only on Par 3s he would take 2 or 3 irons.

To our delight, he said he was only playing 9, he shot like +2 or +3, again a great player. The 3rd random immediately said to us that the kid was super slow and it was annoying. My buddy and I just shrugged and said "Yeah we're just having fun out here." The 3 of us breezed thru the back 9 to the point that on 18 we had just enough light to finish the round. Had we played the 2nd 9 with this kid their would be no way we finish this, we'd probably get in about 15 holes tops.

What is a respectful way to either tell a random to pick it up or simply say "Look dude we are trying to finish this round so we are going to just skip onto the next hole" without making him feel like a POS for being Jordan Spieth on a GolfNow Hot Deal round?
 
Since it was split tee boxes, did you guys offer to go first so he could get his yardages and such while he was waiting anyway? I don't really see an issue with someone wanting to know numbers to hazards and such before deciding what to do, kinda like you wouldn't just grab an iron on a par 3 without knowing the yardage to the pin?
 
Since it was split tee boxes, did you guys offer to go first so he could get his yardages and such while he was waiting anyway? I don't really see an issue with someone wanting to know numbers to hazards and such before deciding what to do, kinda like you wouldn't just grab an iron on a par 3 without knowing the yardage to the pin?

Why not take a driver and FW with you when you laser?
 
Why not take a driver and FW with you when you laser?

Could do that as well. What if he’s a true internet golfer and takes iron off the tee though? Then three clubs to the tee is silly talk.
 
Could do that as well. What if he’s a true internet golfer and takes iron off the tee though? Then three clubs to the tee is silly talk.

Figure it takes 1 minute to go to the tee box, laser, walk back, grab clubs, put laser away and walk back up and put ball on tee.
That is 15-18 minutes a round extra before we even get into a pre shot routine, right? That is silly talk
 
Figure it takes 1 minute to go to the tee box, laser, walk back, grab clubs, put laser away and walk back up and put ball on tee.
That is 15-18 minutes a round extra before we even get into a pre shot routine, right? That is silly talk

That’s 15-18 if the group is waiting on him to do his song and dance and not doing anything at all in the mean time though. If you ask him if he minds and he says nah man do your thing, I’m not sure what to hit yet? Is there really a loss of time?

I guess I don’t see it much different than just zapping it from the cart while next to the clubs like you’d do while in the fairway waiting for your next shot? Then again, I try and get that stuff done while someone else is going through their routine cause I don’t like putzing around that much.
 
If you are @mikedean441, you really get after them on the 18th hole.

"Your playing partners are putting and you are working on your post shot practice swing!"
 
kinda like you wouldn't just grab an iron on a par 3 without knowing the yardage to the pin?
It takes me 2 seconds to laser a yardage from the cart on a Par 3 and I know which club to grab as well as telling my playing partners how far the hole is so they have an idea what to grab as well. Headwind, tail wind, front pin, back pin, grab and go.

JB said:
Figure it takes 1 minute to go to the tee box, laser, walk back, grab clubs, put laser away and walk back up and put ball on tee.
That is 15-18 minutes a round extra before we even get into a pre shot routine, right? That is silly talk
So at what point do you tell someone that you just met to pick up the pace? This kid has gotta be a 2 handicap or less and having someone like me hacking it around for bogeys and mix in a double or two from the tee box in front of him is kind of rich?

This isn't a scenario that happens a lot, this kid was super deliberate, but if I'm trying to get a round of golf in what's a respectful way to tell him?
 
That’s 15-18 if the group is waiting on him to do his song and dance and not doing anything at all in the mean time though. If you ask him if he minds and he says nah man do your thing, I’m not sure what to hit yet? Is there really a loss of time?

I guess I don’t see it much different than just zapping it from the cart while next to the clubs like you’d do while in the fairway waiting for your next shot? Then again, I try and get that stuff done while someone else is going through their routine cause I don’t like putzing around that much.

Right, but nobody in the world plays ready golf, right? Instead we wait for each person to do their thing and then it starts.
I agree zapping it in the cart would make sense with a shot that is not pin seeking like a tee shot, but sometimes elevated tee boxes eliminate that.
 
... Once it is clear a player is much slower than the rest of the group, I think it is perfectly OK to say either they pick up their pace or you will go ahead without them. I am an afternoon golfer and play twilite quite a bit and and I always find it frustrating that someone with the first twilite time backs up the rest of the course. Granted pace of play is a personal issue but twilite golfers have an obligation to finish in less than 4 hours or play earlier in the day. It is just common courtesy.
 
I don't see anything wrong with saying while walking off of a green when everyone is together, "Guys, we really need to speed it up a bit if we're going to finish by dark." Direct it at no one. If that doesn't help, then you've probably done all you can politely do.
 
Right, but nobody in the world plays ready golf, right? Instead we wait for each person to do their thing and then it starts.
I agree zapping it in the cart would make sense with a shot that is not pin seeking like a tee shot, but sometimes elevated tee boxes eliminate that.

That might be the problem, I’m thinking as someone who plays ready golf so to not waste time.
 
I don't see anything wrong with saying while walking off of a green when everyone is together, "Guys, we really need to speed it up a bit if we're going to finish by dark." Direct it at no one. If that doesn't help, then you've probably done all you can politely do.

This is probably the most diplomatic statement, then maybe direct it at the specific individual the second time.

3rd time just drive off into the sunset.
 
If you are @mikedean441, you really get after them on the 18th hole.

"Your playing partners are putting and you are working on your post shot practice swing!"
Wow i had forgotten about that
 
If I was concerned about finishing the round I would pretty immediately explain we are trying to get the 18 in and don't want to rush him so we are skipping up a hole.
 
I don't see anything wrong with saying while walking off of a green when everyone is together, "Guys, we really need to speed it up a bit if we're going to finish by dark." Direct it at no one. If that doesn't help, then you've probably done all you can politely do.

I like this response and have used this in the past if we are at risk of not finishing the round. Most of the time it works for me.
 
I usually ask the guy if he has to work tomorrow, because I do. or "subtle" comments like, winter is coming you know? let's finish this up before Christmas. works even better when you do it between the time they address the ball and their swing
 
For the record, Daylight Saving Time just ended.

I like the subtle, passive-aggressive comments. Seems to be about my style.



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i'll make a comment here or there about people waiting on us, or it being open in front, or losing daylight. but if the person never speeds up, i just suck it up. it's not worth a confrontation over recreation.
 
i'll make a comment here or there about people waiting on us, or it being open in front, or losing daylight. but if the person never speeds up, i just suck it up. it's not worth a confrontation over recreation.
It's not about recreation when they're effectively wasting your money.

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I would of advised at 1st tee: Nice to meet you but we plan on playing quickly to beat sundown. That way the other guys have an idea at least. Or once you saw he was slow, hey since you are only doing 9 we are going to go out ahead of you.
 
the problem with alot of this is that most people dont ever consider what they do as being slow. Thats often enough even more so the case when the player happens to be pretty good at it. Hence is what often happens on greens and overly rediculous putting practices. But I cant tell you how many countless times Ive witnesssed a ("we have to pick it up")
acknowledgement within a group and yet those who do things maticulously continue right on in thier same maticulous time consuming ways without adjusting them one bit to be more time efficient at doing them. Its the old ...."Nothig changes if nothing changes" saying. People just dont realize they need to make the change cause they dont think its them. Either that or its an "all about me" mindset.

Playing to get rounds in before dark is always an issue. Bottm line is....forwhetever ones reasns are (and we all do have lives and reasons) they just dont matter and they arent relative. We just have to know that when we flirt with darkness it is what it is. I play someties in afternoons too and honestly If I cant get out with enough time for there to be spare daylight time (more than enough) then I either just dont go or i go with the idea I may not finish. I hate that but it is what it is. I know I have to give myself a tee time with 4:20 hrs till darkness so there will be a real chance. Anything less and I know there is a chance I may not finish due to pace. It usually does actualy work with anything about 4+ but it doesnt always and so I know before I play that anything less than 4:20 hrs of daylight I need to get a bit lucky. That is no ones problem but mine. Regardless of my job, my obligations, family etc... I know that i need to plan on 420 out of my life to be at the course in order to play 18. If done erlier then great but if I only have 410 or 4 or 350 available spare time then I always know it may not happen to my liking. Its just the way it is.

That said , most of us are nice folks and many of us have a bit of a hard time when it comes tryng to tell someone (especially a stranger) something negative. I suppose it depends how friendly the round with the person is. Some people can speak to each other without such a bad vibe or tone while still getting the point across in a friendly manor. Some dont know how to do that at all. Its always an uncomfotable thing. In the situation described I would have mentioned something nicely in a friendly way if i felt the person would have been receptive to it. I just dont know...it depends on the atmosphere, the personalities, and the company involved.
 
i'll make a comment here or there about people waiting on us, or it being open in front, or losing daylight. but if the person never speeds up, i just suck it up. it's not worth a confrontation over recreation.

This is probably the way I'd go. If it really got to me I'd tell them that we're really trying to get 18 in and are going to break away from the group so we can play quick.
 
Simply say: If we are going to finish before dark, we need to speed things up.
 
Or once you saw he was slow, hey since you are only doing 9 we are going to go out ahead of you.
We expected him to play 18. Then after the 9th hole he says "Had a good time guys but I'm only playing 9 today."...Shook hands and floored it to the 10th tee. So it was a welcomed surprise he was only playing 9.

rollin said:
That said , most of us are nice folks and many of us have a bit of a hard time when it comes tryng to tell someone (especially a stranger) something negative
That was my point. If it's a group of friends I have no problem being told or telling someone to pick it up, even those 5 footers for double bogey, just pick it up.

The kid was nice, respectful, and he was one of the better players I've been paired with, 7000 yards is no joke and he played very well.

How am I supposed to tell the guy to hurry up when I barely know his first name? Water under the bridge but whatever.
 
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