Do you think this is a valid solution to slow play?

[Dodger]

I am hearing that a club have decided to change half a dozen competitions that have,throughout the history of the club,been played under strokeplay format but are changing them into Stableford format.

The reason given?

To try and speed up play.

What are your thoughts? Should the traditions of the club be forgotten about and do you think that by playing stableford it will really speed play up?

My thoughts?

My thoughts are that it is disgraceful that trophies that have a long tradition and have in some cases been presented by people connected with the cups name to play for are being changed and that the club are concentrating on totally the wrong thing if they are wishing to eradicate slow play.

Fire away with your thoughts....I am very interested in what the masses think.

 

[Mr_T]

I think it's appalling, yes clubs should be actively working to speed up play but sacrificing club tradition is not the way to do it imo, personally I think the best way would be to have course marshals although this obviously requires volunteers what doesn't sound like a desirable job

 

[chris661]

Nope, and to be honest seems a bit disrespectful.

I can understand why they are doing it but it wont speed up play.

 

[JustOne]

What Mr_T said.

A joke! If slow play is that much of a problem that you gotta start tweaking comps pay a marshal for goodness sake.

 

[rosecott]

I would hate for there to be a swing away from strokeplay to stableford. Clubs should be looking for a balance. You must have a significant number of strokeplay events as they are the true test of golf.

 

[rickg]

Shocking decision!

 

[SocketRocket]

Not a good idea.

I think some consideration should be made to having cards marked with the start and finish time in competitions. Maybe there could also be a way to enter the these times in the computer software when entering your score, it would be fairly easy to see what groups were holding up play.

 

[birdieman]

I think its poor, stableford for me is not a true test of golf in that you can throw caution to the wind to a degree and half the field don't seem to understand that after 6 shots you may as well pick up so it's not much quicker anyway.

 

[richart]

Still think course marshalls with cattle prods is the only way to speed up play.

I have never noticed stablefords being significantly quicker than medals, especially when it seems some players still finish the hole, and then realise their net nine doesn't actually score a point.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

A disgusting decision. It seems the club concerned has little concept about the issue. Stableford isn't significantly faster than medal play in comps at my place anyway. We have a number of majors (gold letter events) and the majority are medal events and I wouldn't like to see any of them changed. There are enough stablefords in the calendar already and one or two are majors (usually played over the bank hols and so a two round cumulative - at least it means the once in a lifetime round has to be backed up)

What next - club championships reduced to stableford so every tom dick and harry has a chance to win it. That is THE one to win at every club and you have to play very well to even win the nett prize at my place. I know 90% of the field will never win the main title but the nett prize has its own trophy and is still the highlight of the year to try and do well in

 

[niceboy]

Sounds like your next club Captain has a big handicap tp play with ?

I am hearing that a club have decided to change half a dozen competitions that have,throughout the history of the club,been played under strokeplay format but are changing them into Stableford format.

The reason given?

To try and speed up play.

What are your thoughts? Should the traditions of the club be forgotten about and do you think that by playing stableford it will really speed play up?

My thoughts?

My thoughts are that it is disgraceful that trophies that have a long tradition and have in some cases been presented by people connected with the cups name to play for are being changed and that the club are concentrating on totally the wrong thing if they are wishing to eradicate slow play.

Fire away with your thoughts....I am very interested in what the masses think.

 

[Imurg]

I can see the thinking behind it but I can't see that it would speed play up particularly.
There are other, better ways to tackle the slow play issue.

 

[bladeplayer]

as a fan of stroke play over any other form of golf id hate this . i can see the idea but it would only work if you were assured every1 would pick up when you were out of the hole , cant see this ever happening , Its amazing at times what ideas some people have , even high handicappers should see ( whether you enjoy it or not) strokes as the only way of realy guaging where your game is at.

 

[Tommo21]

I think there are good reasons to change things at golf clubs. Lots of old ideas and “that’s the way we’ve always done it” doesn’t wash with me. However, stableford, for me anyway, is fine for the odd competition, outing, corporate days and such like. You can take it as serious as you like but It’s generally a more a fun way of playing golf, not like true medal play where every shots counts.

If a club wants to lessen a trophys status because they want to try and speed up play tells me it’s a club devoid of true ideas. Rather than tackle the issue………….

 

[MashieNiblick]

Not a good idea. It is just avoiding the real causes and won't in my view significantly speed up play. I don't think our stableford events are generally played much more quickly than the medals.

 

[Slab]

The info is a bit limited, we've no idea if this is a component of a larger scheme to tackle pace of play or if this is indeed a standalone proposal


Based on info it seems crazy (which is what makes me think there must be more to it)

 

[wookie]

Not a good idea and shying away from actual issues I think.

 

[bobmac]

It's just a lazy fix.
Someone has had an idea and said that will help slow play, which of course it won't.

Golfers have been educated by the golf on TV that a round of golf takes 5 hours +
Clubs need to educate golfers that it doesn't. :angry:

If it's a club comp, then on that day they should have a course marshall.
Problem solved

 

[Slab]

I can’t believe that up & down the country golf committee members appear to lose their faculties that they must possess in the real world. It seems that the issue of pace of play manages to turn these otherwise functioning members of society into a group that can’t fathom the basics

Think of it like this: you are faced with the question & result of 2+2=5

To fix it what do you do? You need to look at the entire 2 + 2 portion because 5 is the right answer! Why, because we’re actually counting four 2.25’s (or some other split)

Same as pace of play:
Course/Club + Players/Weather = Pace of play

The pace of play experienced at every club is exactly what was planned for & while you can lower one component by say 0.25 in the 2+2 equation, overall it’ll still be a result higher than 4 unless you sort them all!

Either fix all four areas (near impossible) or accept that pace of play will be higher than desired

& it starts with accepting that the RandA pace of play guidelines are wrong (i.e = 4)

 

[bobmac]

Either fix all four areas (near impossible) or accept that pace of play will be higher than desired

So are you saying it's near impossible to get the golfers to play more quickly so clubs have to just accept it?