Tadashi70
Well-known member
You guys that like to walk make these statements as if they are fact. I play in a men's group on the weekends and 90% of the guys walk. We play 430-500hr rounds on the regular. The clog has nothing to do with walking or riding but player. SLOW PLAY IS SLOW PLAY, no matter how you look at it. Based on my experience you fit golfer slow play down more, sowering yourselves with complements about being fit between shots :alien2:
You walkers are just as responsible for slow play as riders.
You walkers are just as responsible for slow play as riders.
Of course a singleton driving on an empty course can play faster than a singleton walking the same course in the same conditions. No contest, no argument. But the question is not about how fast the fastest and best players could go on the best days with the best vehicles. It's about who causes the clogs that create slow play and why.
That's a different story and it causes me to agree with bald guy. Clogs on courses are usually caused by riders, not walkers. My reasons for thinking this are based on my years working as a course marshal. Slow play on a Muni on any given day can usually be attributed to a "clog" somewhere on the course. Unclog the clog and pace picks up across the nine. These clogs are almost always caused by a single slow foursome (or moresome) riding in carts. Sometimes they are composed of skilled golfers engaged in a grinding, overly-serious match, but more often than not they are caused by newbies in carts who don't know any better or who have drunk a little too much.
For them golf is a rare outing akin to a celebration. They always rent carts because they are not used to walking, they think it's the thing you do, and they want to have fun driving the little Disney cars. They bring their wives, kids, and the beer. They don't know where to park them or how to get a couple of clubs and walk to the ball. They drive to one ball, hit, then drive to the next (even if it's only ten yards sidewise), then hit the second. They rarely play ready golf, they wait for the worst in the group to catch up.
Walkers, on the other hand, are more fit and tend to play more. As a result, they know the rules more and violate etiquette less. They also get out of the way faster if ever they are caught by a faster group. They just wave you up, duck in the trees, and you go. Four walkers walk separately to their four drives and hit them, they don't huddle together then commute from station to station. I agree, walkers cannot walk a course as fast as a good golfer riding in a cart -- BUT THEY DON'T CAUSE CLOGS. And most importantly of all, a walker generally can't carry enough beer in his bag to impair his judgement and become a problem. The only slow walkers I see are the 80 year old veterans who still insist on walking and love to fish balls out of ponds. Their hearing and vision are often as impaired as their knee joints and sometimes they'll tend to putter a bit before they see you. But they are rare and deserve a break.
I realize that my overview doesn't hold for country clubs, courses that must be ridden due to distances between tees, and upscale resort courses. Different factors come into play on those sorts of courses. I also think that courses in the west tend to be faster than courses in the east. I don't know why this is, but the 90 degree rule and cartpath only rules have a lot to do with it and they seem to be more in force in the east.