4:15hr is actually a pretty reasonable pace of play for our group

If you have called the following group through and you then find your ball you should really stand aside and let them go on - etiquette. You shouldn't recall your 'wave through' - though we should be pragmatic and consider whether you waiting for them actually slows this up more than if you just play on and explain to them at some point. Even if you play on however I believe it is still courtesy to stand aside as soon as they are ready to play.

I agree - I was just playing devil's advocate to prove a point! :p
 
We have a group that go out before our roll up on a Saturday. They are painful. They have been asked politely, moaned at, and even had it put in writing but they ain't letting no-one through for anything. We have wearily grown to accept it. Despite this, we still play in four hours or less. To be honest Hawkeye and I tend to have a good natter, usually moaning about Fulham and we're getting better at ignoring the pace of play. I find it helps me not get so het up come a medal and the pace of play is inevitably slower

Yup - we've got one of them - go out just before our sat am roll-out. And one is (was?) a committee member should really know better.
 
OK, so this isn't an exact science and most people probably don't care but...

...using the gpx data from my GPS I have looked at the last 11 rounds I played last year at RAGC. I usually start my GPS as soon as I get the clubs out of the car and turn it off just before I put them back in, hence why it isn't an exact science, but I tried to take the time that I arrived on the first tee to the time I started the walk back to the car park from the 18th green and will include the time needed for me to mark the cards and add the scores up (I always do the card for our group in the roll up, I'm a bit anal like that :D). I have worked out which rounds were comps but aside from that, I don't know if I was in a 3 or 4-ball but know for sure there would have been 4-balls in front of us.

Quickest Round
3h 45m, this was a stableford comp played in a 3-ball

Slowest Round
4hr 20m and played in our Sunday greedy. I remember this round well as we stood waiting for the group in front for what seemed like hours. I am actually surprised it was only 4hr 20m as if you'd have asked me as I came off the course I would have sworn it was closer to 5 hours. This was when one of the group in front told me we were "playing a bit quick" as I past him on my way to the 7th green and he left the 8th tee (par 3), and that they were apparently being help up by the group half way down the 9th fairway :confused:

Average Round
4hr 05m.

Competitions
The 3 quickest rounds were all stableford comps where I would have been in the 1st hour. In total 4 of the top 5 quickest rounds were comps, the 5th quickest being a medal at 4hrs flat.

Moving Time & distance
My GPS is attached to the handle of my trolley and my trolley was moving for an average of 1hr 17m and stationary for an average of 2hr 47m. The amount of time my trolley is moving has a range of about 4 mins from least to most over the 11 rounds, the amount of time it is stationary has a range of 33 minutes from least to most.

My trolley moves 4.5 miles on average

Summary
I have no idea what any of this means except that 4hrs 20 minutes on our course seems like a lifetime but is in fact not that long compared to some courses.
 
OK, so this isn't an exact science and most people probably don't care but...

...using the gpx data from my GPS I have looked at the last 11 rounds I played last year at RAGC. I usually start my GPS as soon as I get the clubs out of the car and turn it off just before I put them back in, hence why it isn't an exact science, but I tried to take the time that I arrived on the first tee to the time I started the walk back to the car park from the 18th green and will include the time needed for me to mark the cards and add the scores up (I always do the card for our group in the roll up, I'm a bit anal like that :D). I have worked out which rounds were comps but aside from that, I don't know if I was in a 3 or 4-ball but know for sure there would have been 4-balls in front of us.

Quickest Round
3h 45m, this was a stableford comp played in a 3-ball

Slowest Round
4hr 20m and played in our Sunday greedy. I remember this round well as we stood waiting for the group in front for what seemed like hours. I am actually surprised it was only 4hr 20m as if you'd have asked me as I came off the course I would have sworn it was closer to 5 hours. This was when one of the group in front told me we were "playing a bit quick" as I past him on my way to the 7th green and he left the 8th tee (par 3), and that they were apparently being help up by the group half way down the 9th fairway :confused:

Average Round
4hr 05m.

Competitions
The 3 quickest rounds were all stableford comps where I would have been in the 1st hour. In total 4 of the top 5 quickest rounds were comps, the 5th quickest being a medal at 4hrs flat.

Moving Time & distance
My GPS is attached to the handle of my trolley and my trolley was moving for an average of 1hr 17m and stationary for an average of 2hr 47m. The amount of time my trolley is moving has a range of about 4 mins from least to most over the 11 rounds, the amount of time it is stationary has a range of 33 minutes from least to most.

My trolley moves 4.5 miles on average

Summary
I have no idea what any of this means except that 4hrs 20 minutes on our course seems like a lifetime but is in fact not that long compared to some courses.

See, this is why I'm a NIMBY to slow play.

In 3 balls, I have never been on my golf course for 3hrs 45mins. Not even in club champs.

If I had to endure that length of time on the course, I might have a different outlook. But I don't, so I don't!! :)
 
I think that some people on here must have too much time on their hands and a high boredom threshold, if they believe that 4 hours 15 minutes is an acceptable time for a round of golf. Personally I hate having to wait several minutes before I can play each shot, as I get cold and stiff, and my swing goes to worms. By the way, my GPS watch includes an odometer, so I measured how far I walked today. Playing off the forward yellow tees (6014 yards) it was 5.1 miles, clubhouse back to clubhouse. I measured it once before off the very back blue competition tees (6700 yards) and made it 5.8 miles, although I was a little wayward on that day. Our course includes some quite long walks, particularly from the 3rd green to the 4th tee, 9th to the 10th, 11th to the 12th, and 15th to the 16th. :)
 
Last edited:
I think that some people on here must have too much time on their hands and a high boredom threshold, if they believe that 4 hours 15 minutes is an acceptable time for a round of golf. Personally I hate having to wait several minutes before I can play each shot, as I get cold and stiff, and my swing goes to worms. By the way, my GPS watch includes an odometer, so I measured how far I walked today. Playing off the forward yellow tees (6014 yards) it was 5.1 miles, clubhouse back to clubhouse. I measured it once before off the very back blue competition tees (6700 yards) and made it 5.8 miles, although I was a little wayward on that day. Our course includes some quite long walks, particularly from the 3rd green to the 4th tee, 9th to the 10th, 11th to the 12th, and 15th to the 16th. :)

..and how long did it take?
 
See, this is why I'm a NIMBY to slow play.

In 3 balls, I have never been on my golf course for 3hrs 45mins. Not even in club champs.
! :)

I played back in the old days and was never aware of golf being played quicker than it is today.
Played in a club comp in Carnoustie forty years ago and stood on the forth tee two hours after leaving the first tee.(severe rough, tight fairways and a howling gale)
I am sure the above gent can wander round Spey Valley/Dornoch/Nairn in his above stated time, especially if the course is enjoying the usual sporty breeze.
I do feel if a golfer is playing a short, open course- an oversized pitch and putt - they should maybe appreciate that others play real courses in sporty conditions and times will therefore vary.
I do think the remedy for the fast players or the ones who will give up life/golf due to slower players, is in their own hands - pick an early starting time .... simple!
 
I think that some people on here must have too much time on their hands and a high boredom threshold, if they believe that 4 hours 15 minutes is an acceptable time for a round of golf. Personally I hate having to wait several minutes before I can play each shot, as I get cold and stiff, and my swing goes to worms. By the way, my GPS watch includes an odometer, so I measured how far I walked today. Playing off the forward yellow tees (6014 yards) it was 5.1 miles, clubhouse back to clubhouse. I measured it once before off the very back blue competition tees (6700 yards) and made it 5.8 miles, although I was a little wayward on that day. Our course includes some quite long walks, particularly from the 3rd green to the 4th tee, 9th to the 10th, 11th to the 12th, and 15th to the 16th. :)


Everybody hates waiting several minutes to play each shot but it doesn't necessarily mean that's the reason for a 4:15 round!

I've gone round in 4:30 and had zero waiting and I wasn't bored

I think too many recall quick rounds from years ago with rose tinted glasses and that the memory fades of the longer round that surely existed

Edit: I must have got on before the IT bods make the forum read only for today... feel like a bit of a rebel!
 
And was about 4 hours unacceptable for you?
I would have liked it to be a bit quicker, but one player taking about a minute to hit each shot didn't help. His pre-shot routine includes several practice swings and half swings, lots of re-gripping and fidgeting with his posture before he is ready to commit to his shot. We have another player at our club who just freezes over the ball for about a minute before he can pull the trigger. All things copied from the PGA Tour I suspect!
 
I dont time the each round but I do find that some 'seem' slower than others when infact they aren't.
I did walk off one round in the saturday comp last year after 5 hours and we were only on the 13th....

I dont like being to speedy or being rushed but I do make a point of a brisk walk between shots and between holes giving a bit more time at the shot.
Average is between 3:45 and 4:15 it would seem.

First society on Sunday. I will time that as they do seem slow....
 
I would have liked it to be a bit quicker, but one player taking about a minute to hit each shot didn't help. His pre-shot routine includes several practice swings and half swings, lots of re-gripping and fidgeting with his posture before he is ready to commit to his shot. We have another player at our club who just freezes over the ball for about a minute before he can pull the trigger. All things copied from the PGA Tour I suspect!

I'm guessing that the 'minute' frozen is overstating things a little (maybe its like when we're on hold on the phone and we think 10 minutes has passed when really it was only three or four, time does appear to slow down when we're inactive and more so when we are counting down to doing something)
 
I would have liked it to be a bit quicker, but one player taking about a minute to hit each shot didn't help. His pre-shot routine includes several practice swings and half swings, lots of re-gripping and fidgeting with his posture before he is ready to commit to his shot. We have another player at our club who just freezes over the ball for about a minute before he can pull the trigger. All things copied from the PGA Tour I suspect!

I suspect the guy who freezes for a minute has far too many swing thoughts going through his head.
 
I'm guessing that the 'minute' frozen is overstating things a little (maybe its like when we're on hold on the phone and we think 10 minutes has passed when really it was only three or four, time does appear to slow down when we're inactive and more so when we are counting down to doing something)

I think that some players' pre-shot routines do definitely contribute to slow play.
 
3ball medals (or stablefords infact) often take 4 1/2 hrs at ours, if you go around in less then your happy but generally speaking that the median for almost all qualifiers here.

Played yesterday in a 2ball caught up with 3ball after 8 holes and waited for quite a lot of shots after that (not all, and certainly not minutes each shot) and we finished in 3 3/4 hrs. Didn't run around the courses, and I know some that do ! Certainly when I've been out on my own I've gone around 9 holes in 1 1/2 hours (with lots of repeat shots).

Sorry but anybody saying that golf should take this amount of time, and things not being acceptable is totally out of order. Golf is supposed to be relaxing, not a route march. Slow players do exist but not as prevalent as many believe. Our course is fairly long, with a couple of walks between holes that add to the time , and too many blind tee shots that cause a delay at the start of the round. But many people are happy with playing golf to a more leisurely pace without having to worry about getting round in xxx time limit.
 
I'm guessing that the 'minute' frozen is overstating things a little (maybe its like when we're on hold on the phone and we think 10 minutes has passed when really it was only three or four, time does appear to slow down when we're inactive and more so when we are counting down to doing something)

I agree, even freezing for 10 seconds would feel like an eternity, so it's more likely to be less than even that.
 
I would have liked it to be a bit quicker, but one player taking about a minute to hit each shot didn't help. His pre-shot routine includes several practice swings and half swings, lots of re-gripping and fidgeting with his posture before he is ready to commit to his shot. We have another player at our club who just freezes over the ball for about a minute before he can pull the trigger. All things copied from the PGA Tour I suspect!

You need to tell him he is playing too slow and if it makes it easier also say that in other company his speed will be an issue for his PPs - and don't take any 'we weren't holding anyone up' - he was holding you up.
 
Top