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

You're right of course Imurg there's only similarities not a transferable solution but from what I see there's little or no flexibility by clubs (& many players) to build any time into their round time for anything outside utopia gameplay (taking it to extreme with that description I know)

Firing groups of when the one in front is out of range is generally only going to have one outcome. Obvioulsy there's no value in setting them off an hour apart either but having only one (or even two) spacing's that are used year round regardless of conditions/volume/event etc is asking for trouble

As has been pointed out the rules are there to let groups through, stop faffing about etc so it is a total solution that's needed. maybe it happens up and down the land & I'm too inexperienced to see it but where are the threads saying I've written to my club as there's no culmulative guide time on our scorecards or we're being sent out 8 minutes apart when really its a course that needs an 11 minute spacing. Its generally the slow player getting it in the neck (as they should when a total solution is in place)

When a group is being chased on the 2nd/3rd becasue of poor management where's the players incentive to pick up the pace? if they go faster the spacing will simply drop to 4 minutes
 
Total sloution or final solution ;)
I'm not sure we'd need to go quite so far as to adopt the rules of the Richard Bachmann book the long walk to golf.

I'm glad I'm out of it. I'm not a fan of reducing medals to stabs and dumbing down the competition. When I started playing I counted my shots, join a club and they don't want to do it anymore only counting points. It's bad enough having spa's in medal play.

At a place near us they go to 3 balls for the 1st hour in medals. They introduced guidelines and penalties for slow play for comps. They did however turn all the midweek comps bar 1 into a stab :( (it used to be every other).

O/T: Where are the smileys in this place? Found 'em
 
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I'm not a fan of too much stableford (which there is everywhere these days) as it is so think it's a pretty poor decision.

As other's have said, often the weekend comp is somebody's only game of the week so they want to play the hole out, which is fair enough. However it does result in Stableford rounds taking about the same time as medal in my view.

The spacing issue is one of the problems at my place. There's usually a queue of people at the first tee chomping at the bit to get away so as soon as the group ahead are out of range they tee off. If one of the first group struggles around the green, the group on the fairway are waiting as are the next group on the tee. Instant (perceived) hold ups in play. I say perceived as they are actually following too quickly thereby causing the hold ups themselves.....

I agree with the thing about marshals but having someone from the club keeping the groups spaced on the first tee (i.e. stop them teeing off ahead of time) would have just as big an affect IMO.
 
I dont think that transferring a comp from strokeplay to stableford will have any significant effect on timings,

The only real solution is to have 4 separate courses for each golf club, designate 1 course for 2 balls and singlies, another for 3 balls, another for 4 balls, and another for the women.

The courses can be rotated

Sorted, now all we have to do is tear down some housing estates and surermarkets and turn them back into golf courses :-)

Fragger

You know it makes sense
 
Slab could you change your script, so it it is like everyone elses ? It is so small I can only read it by squinting at the screen like old man Steptoe.
 
Will do, sorry, I have a habit of typing longer posts in Word then pasting into the text box, didn't realise it would change appearence :eek:
 
Slab said:
On a quiet course in good conditions I’ll go round in a little under 3hrs as a two ball adding another 10-15 for a poor round or bad weather (or add 30 for a poor round in bad weather :))
Click to expand...


Ah, so you are one of the slower players here - i thought you were suggesting you were quick ;)
 
Im trying to think of a reason to play devils advocate here......but i can't , its a ridiculous idea. Is it goign to a vote at the AGM ? I cant for one minute think it will be passed.
 
Wow. There are certainly a lot of opinions on this thread!
In 'board' competitions and monthly medals (and even stablefords) it is often slower. Our club used to (and still does in some of the 'majors) draw the players so that the lower handicappers tee off first. In most comps thay now do the draw so a 28 handicapper could be playing with a couple of low single figure players. Either way it didn't make that much difference. If the game is slow in a comp, I expect this and it gives me more time to do some practice swings. It's only when I'm out for a friendly that slow play (and not letting players through) winds me up.
Board competitions should always be kept in the same format in which they began. If not, they should rename it as it is an entirely different competition
 
Bash said:
Wow. In most comps thay now do the draw so a 28 handicapper could be playing with a couple of low single figure players.
Click to expand...
Sorry should have made it clearer; they now do an unbiased draw so you could be playing with anyone, be it a couple of 28 handicappers or a couple of single figure players
 
Irrespective of whether the club in question changes comps to stableford or not, slow play will continue to exist. Everyone to some degree or another is trying to play as well as they can and beat their handicap. Why is there this morose fascination with how slow it takes to go round anyway. If you don't like a 4 hour medal round, find an easier course where pace of play is quicker because you can be 50 yards off line and still have a shot or accept that some people like to take the considered approach to their competitive round. Of course, hack it into oblivion, play a provisional and if the group behind are on the tee call them through.

That to me is where clubs can change the pace of play. We have some golfers at our place who even in a social game would rather impale themselves on a rusty golf shaft than entertain the idea they are out of position and call a group through. If they keep this mindset into a comp then of course it'll get bottlenecked. However changing mindsets, pre-conceptions and admitting fallability is a lot harder to get done than stretching gaps between tee times and devaluing a club competition less a medal takes too long to play
 
In response to the original post. No stick to the medal comps.
Re slow play. It is not so much the time taken for a round it's the rhythm of the round. Half an hour longer between one round and another may be indistingishable if each have been played at a steady rhythm. It's the difference between waiting half an hour for a bus and watching a great game of football/rugby. The first lasts for ever the second passes in the blink of an eye.
 
Terrible decision and won't speed up play. It's still after all the same slow players playing the comp. To me this is more about people not wanting to play medal because they can't get away with mistakes. I would be very concerned if any club I was a member of started doing this and would be complaining and possibly looking for another club. Stableford is watered down golf, medal is the way it should be played
 
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