How do you deal with this slow play incident?

[dufferman]

Sorry to keep bringing up slow play, but...

Played Sunday at a Pay & play course. Had a society of 4 4-balls go out, with the final tee time for the society 2 groups ahead of us. In front of us were a 2-ball, carrying, then the 4 4-balls in the society.

The final 4-ball in the society had dropped off the pace by 1 1/2 holes. As they were putting on the 7th, the next group along were walking up the 9th fairway. This meant the 2 ball are on the fairway waiting to approach the green, we're on the tee waiting to tee off and a 3-ball behind us are finishing up on the 6th green.

As we walked up the 7th fairway, and the slow 4-ball were walking up the 8th fairway adjacent to us, so I spoke to one of the group and asked them if they could let the 2-ball play through. He said that because they are in a society, they couldn't / wouldn't let the 2 ball play through as "it would break up the society and some of us wouldn't like that".

We told him that's not the point, there are 2 groups on the tee waiting for you to clear etc etc, and he said he'd "see what he could do".

What a plonker.

Anyway, here's the issue. We then spoke to the 2 ball and told them you might be able to play through now we've pointed out the delay. They then said "it doesn't matter, we're happy to wait and take our time".

I was a bit shocked that they were happy to wait for a good few minutes on each shot, but that's up to them. The issue was, that we are now a 4 ball playing faster than a 2 ball, with 2 three balls behind starting to get impatient and firing balls up quite close behind us. We were prepared to play through, but clearly the 2 ball not playing through the slow 4-ball meant it would be rather messy for a 4 ball to play through twice... would that have caused an even bigger delay on the course?

The 2 3-balls behind would have easily caught up with the 2 groups ahead of us if we'd of played through, causing the 2 ball and 4 ball to have to wait a ridiculous amount of time to play again. Is there a ruling or something to stop this from happening?

I had visions of the 2 ball letting 4 or 5 groups through before being able to play without holding anyone up! (not that it really mattered to me)

As it happens, the slow 4-ball must have gone in for a drink or left entirely after the 9th, as they disappeared from the course on the 10th.

I think it also highlights the issues that can occur when one group want to push on and another are happy to go with the flow. I am usually of the 'who cares how long it takes' camp but I was playing well, and wanted to keep the game going!

 

[Deleted member 18121]

I guess the next step would to have asked for your group to play through the 2 ball and then for you to play through the society.

 

[Slab]

Can't think I'd deal with it differently to any other cause of a delay, just chill till its safe to hit then crack on


Hope your round didn't deteriorate but if it did (& playing devils advocate) I'd say if any poor shot attributed to the delay had as much consideration as you seem to have spent plotting all the groups relative positions maybe it would've yielded a better result



Let a 2 ball through our 4-ball at the turn yesterday, my god they took an age to pass (and looked shocked to be invited through) Once through they disappeared after 2 holes but it makes you wonder if its worth it (nailed my drive on 10 though)

 

[dufferman]

Can't think I'd deal with it differently to any other cause of a delay, just chill till its safe to hit then crack on


Hope your round didn't deteriorate but if it did (& playing devils advocate) I'd say if any poor shot attributed to the delay had as much consideration as you seem to have spent plotting all the groups relative positions maybe it would've yielded a better result



Let a 2 ball through our 4-ball at the turn yesterday, my god they took an age to pass (and looked shocked to be invited through) Once through they disappeared after 2 holes but it makes you wonder if its worth it (nailed my drive on 10 though)

It didn't really affect my game, I was playing well until the 15th where a 9 on a par 5 caused all kinds of havoc, but the 2 ball were out the way by then and the 3 ball behind were a good distance away too.

Sad as it sounds, as the 2 ball told me they were happy to wait, all I could think was "The forum would have a few things to say to them...!"

 

[Fyldewhite]

I usually just ask slow groups to get a shift on and catch up and that usually works tbh. If they don't speed up they then usually start to think about waving you through as they know they are "on the clock" so to speak. Busy courses sometimes get in a "well there's nowhere to go anyway" mentality and waving groups through can cause more delays that it solves for those further back.

 

[Marshy77]

It didn't really affect my game, I was playing well until the 15th where a 9 on a par 5 caused all kinds of havoc, but the 2 ball were out the way by then and the 3 ball behind were a good distance away too.

Sad as it sounds, as the 2 ball told me they were happy to wait, all I could think was "The forum would have a few things to say to them...!"

Maybe they just wanted to enjoy the round and not be bothered about having to wait.

 

[Curls]

I played recently as part of a two ball behind a society of 5 groups of 4 balls. On the 3rd tee the group, though they were waiting for their buddies ahead to clear the green, asked us if we wanted to play through. When their buddies saw us behind them they let us through, even if they were keeping up with the group ahead, couldn't have been nicer and we chatted to all groups saying thanks and good luck. By the 7th we were clear and did the rest of the course at our own pace. Needless to say, we were home and hosed long before they finished up. And here's the thing. Had they not let us through, would they have finished a minute sooner, or enjoyed their day any less? No. Had they not let us through, would we have enjoyed the day any less? Probably.

We mentioned their excellent attitude to the pro on our return and he said he'd make sure to thank them and remember them for future bookings.

Unfortunately not the norm...

 

[patricks148]

I suppose this just highlights that you should keep up with the group in front and not just accept that its slow, this just has knock on effect behind. Id have asked the 2 ball if they minded if we went though the group in front instead.