Got a moan about slow play during a medal... Oops

harpo_72

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Well we had a couple of issues looking for balls on a few holes, provisionals had been played and there was a look. But the group behind were not in range, they thought they were ... But they were not. We then got away from them and carried on pretty much at a reasonable pace. But about 9 holes later they had been waiting for us to clear the green, again this was a bit imaginary or one of them had played a short drive and was out of sequence. However one came over and had a polite word, told us we were backing up the course etc... And we had lost a hole to guys ahead. Which was fair enough about the group in front but they were running. So we pulled away from them again, by 2 holes they were a hole behind us.
The thing is they had no idea what slow play was ... Which makes me wonder how many people do?
 
Ahh so its all your fault!!! :) Well done for accepting the fact. We all have done it - it happens - there's a lot of arrogant people out there who wont accept or believe they are playing slowly. Let alone be polite and do something about it.

In my opinion - avoid slow play by doing three things - keep up with the group in front and keep to an agreed time to complete a round depending on your own particular course your playing and finally let people through if you get in to difficulty with balls etc.. Do that and it solves heaps of issues.

I do think weve done the slow play thing to death though......:rolleyes:
 
Based only on what you've written, and not having been there, it sounds like you were in the wrong! If you lost more than a hole in front, surely it doesn't matter if they are running or not! Maybe the guys behind you play at that pace as well, and if you had let them through, they would have kept up!
 
:thup::thup::thup::thup::thup::thup::thup:
A slow player admits his guilt, you lost ground on those in front, remember to keep up with those ahead of you and not ahead of those behind you .:D
 
Well we had a couple of issues looking for balls on a few holes, provisionals had been played and there was a look. But the group behind were not in range, they thought they were ... But they were not. We then got away from them and carried on pretty much at a reasonable pace. But about 9 holes later they had been waiting for us to clear the green, again this was a bit imaginary or one of them had played a short drive and was out of sequence. However one came over and had a polite word, told us we were backing up the course etc... And we had lost a hole to guys ahead. Which was fair enough about the group in front but they were running. So we pulled away from them again, by 2 holes they were a hole behind us.
The thing is they had no idea what slow play was ... Which makes me wonder how many people do?

A couple of bits I picked up on:

1. How do you know you weren't in range? If in doubt I'd never play my shot in case I hit people.
2. As you'd lost a whole hole, when they had a polite word why not ask them to play through?
3. They'd caught up with and were waiting on 3 occasions, were you waiting for the group in front to clear away?
4. "The thing is they had no idea what slow play was ... Which makes me wonder how many people do?" - going only on what you've written, and I know it's hard to judge, I'd suggest "you" is the answer.
 
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:thup::thup::thup::thup::thup::thup::thup:
A slow player admits his guilt, you lost ground on those in front, remember to keep up with those ahead of you and not ahead of those behind you .:D
That's all a golfer needs to do. Keep up with the group in front.
 
You know when your out of range when they are standing at the 250 marker thinking they will hit a shot longer than their tee shot .. Bit over ambitious. They were waiting for us to clear the green on 3 separate holes through 18. This indicates they were quick but not quick enough. What the group is doing in front only is relevant when they hold you up, the group behind are only relevant when you hold them up... Basically they would have held us up if we let them through as they were having more bad holes.
Sorry should backed up my statements ... I don't hang about and rarely waste time looking in the rubbish if its in, the provisional is played a quick look roughly where it was and move on, if there is no chance it's straight to the provisional ball.
What was going on here was bad golf being blamed on others, they could not pace themselves properly, also there was no groups stacking up behind them. If you want to go to the bar ... Skip the round of golf and go direct.
 
Sorry should backed up my statements ...

I found to my detriment that this is the case, always difficult to judge a situation like this as you never get 100% of the story and its very easy to jump to misguided assumptions and judgements of people.
 
The 1st group out in our comps are done in a shade over 2hr 30.

The 2nd group out invariably lose at least 2 holes on them

I played in an Open comp and was in the first group out, we were 1hr 25 min ahead of the 2nd group :mad:



Back on topic.

I would have let them thru, even more so when it came to them actually approaching you and there was no one ahead, and no one behind them.
 
Apart from the idea of letting folk through being something of an ego issue....

There is a misconception about what is 'a hole behind'/'lost a hole', what is 'out of position', 'behind' and 'up with play'

To be a hole behind, you have to be an entire hole plus 1 shot plus safety distance behind on a Par 4 or they must be on the next tee of when you are on a Par 5

In a properly flowing fully laden course, you rarely have to wait for the guys in front to clear but you will not be 2 shots away from them. That is up with play, If they are more than 1 shot but less than 2, you are potentially behind. Note the overlaps, as incidents can cause temporary positioning issues. If they are between 2 and 4 shots away, you are out of position. To be a hole behind, they would need to be more than 5 shots away from you. The 'out of position' and 'hole behind' distances are rather larger than most on-course golfers use - they normally rate 'out of position' as 'hole behind' as that is often physically the positions.

So I will invite you through if you are quicker or if we have lost a hole. Do not expect to be invited through (though it could well happen) if we are merely out of position.
 
To be a hole behind, you have to be an entire hole plus 1 shot plus safety distance behind on a Par 4 or they must be on the next tee of when you are on a Par 5

In a properly flowing fully laden course, you rarely have to wait for the guys in front to clear but you will not be 2 shots away from them. That is up with play, If they are more than 1 shot but less than 2, you are potentially behind. Note the overlaps, as incidents can cause temporary positioning issues. If they are between 2 and 4 shots away, you are out of position. To be a hole behind, they would need to be more than 5 shots away from you.

:eek::eek::eek: :rofl:

What about, if they are quicker than you and there's space ahead.....let them through :rolleyes::whistle:
 
If they were waiting just 3 times for you to clear the green then to me that's not really holding someone up... or suggests you were playing at roughly the same pace... obviously with lost balls, provisionals, certain holes and dependent on how people play, you slow down and speed up... not sure it makes sense to let people through, only then 2 holes later they let you play through and so on...

Having said that I'm all for letting people through and if they moaned I would have simply let them through to save the hassle. Ok, if they then don't catch up with the group infront and delay you, you can have the smug satisfaction of having a word with them...
 
In our case they were not... no ego here, if we were looking for stuff then yes but we weren't the fact that his comment was made and he made 3 points 2 of which were incorrect and then they fell behind suggests he was in the wrong. You have to understand that on courses there are natural bottlenecks... He spoke to us on a bell hole. We rang the bell as soon as possible we cleared the green teed off on the next before they had played their shots towards the green (I say towards because they missed). We then proceeded to play out and finish the par 3 before they got to the green on there next hole.
 
There is a misconception about what is 'a hole behind'/'lost a hole', what is 'out of position', 'behind' and 'up with play'

To be a hole behind, you have to be an entire hole plus 1 shot plus safety distance behind on a Par 4 or they must be on the next tee of when you are on a Par 5

I would be very interested to know the source of your definitions. Section 1 of the rules merely states:

"It is a group’s responsibility to keep up with the group in front. If it loses a clear hole and it is delaying the group behind, it should invite the group behind to play through, irrespective of the number of players in that group."

"Where a group has not lost a clear hole, but it is apparent that the group behind can play faster, it should invite the faster moving group to play through."

If there is additional guidance on definitions that can be passed on to players, can you point me in that direction?
 
:eek::eek::eek: :rofl:

What about, if they are quicker than you and there's space ahead.....let them through :rolleyes::whistle:
Depends what you mean by 'quicker than us'

If obviously quicker (fewer players) then let through at earliest convenient opportunity.
If space ahead - you need to define that; I already have - then maybe, depending on whether we make up any out of position - which obviously we will try to do. As stated that may happen, but don't expect it. Remember that if the gap is 3 shots - the equivalent to being on the Par 4 tee when the group on front is putting, then that's only out of position. Of course, if we don't make that up and it's convenient, then the argument for letting them through is stronger.

Forgot 1 piece of info. There is a distinct argument for the Starter (or Pro/Committee) holding folk on a Par 4 1st until the guys ahead reach the green (even though that makes you potentially behind). Studies - in the US -have shown that by doing that players don't acquire the 'we are being held up' mentality and play quicker. That means that Tee times are at lest 9 minutes - 10 is better. It was nver a surprise that a course that had 6 minute tee times also had 5 hour rounds even when folk let others through!
 
That means that Tee times are at lest 9 minutes - 10 is better. It was nver a surprise that a course that had 6 minute tee times also had 5 hour rounds even when folk let others through!

We tee off the 1st when the group ahead are 'out of range', it's a mahoooosive cause of slow play. If just one of them misses the green with their approach you're already stood twiddling your thumbs in the middle of the fairway. We also have a couple of call up/down holes and they really mess things up.
 
My rangers were always told that when things get confrontational back off and get a witness [re-inforcements].
I always remember one occasion when I was called out this purple faced golfer grabbed my arm and said 'how can I possibly be slow, just look at my card'. He was +1 after 14.
Trouble was he was also three holes behind with three groups waiting on the SAME hole.
He was not amused when we told him to stand aside and let the waiting groups play through.

OP you failed to say how many groups you were backing up?
 
My rangers were always told that when things get confrontational back off and get a witness [re-inforcements].
I always remember one occasion when I was called out this purple faced golfer grabbed my arm and said 'how can I possibly be slow, just look at my card'. He was +1 after 14.
Trouble was he was also three holes behind with three groups waiting on the SAME hole.
He was not amused when we told him to stand aside and let the waiting groups play through.

OP you failed to say how many groups you were backing up?
none .. It was clear behind them, we checked because he said we were. If we had been then yes he had a case and I would have let them through. I have no issues with calling people through but at my course there are certain members who have no idea and will walk across your shot because they are in a hurry.
 
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