how long is too long for a game of golf?

In my honest opinion i enjoy a round of golf far more when i have no one ahead of me. From past experience the problem has nothing to do with how good of a golfer someone is but how quickly they are to do things. I often see groups of 4 balls take 5-10minutes just to tee off. It shouldn't take longer than 20-30 seconds for each golfer to tee off. And then immediately walk to their balls.

Another thing that infuriates me is when all 4 golfers go to look for a ball BEFORE hitting there own shot. Hit your ball and then go look.
 
Hear hear. Wave the group through and then look for the ball.
el marko said:
In my honest opinion i enjoy a round of golf far more when i have no one ahead of me. From past experience the problem has nothing to do with how good of a golfer someone is but how quickly they are to do things. I often see groups of 4 balls take 5-10minutes just to tee off. It shouldn't take longer than 20-30 seconds for each golfer to tee off. And then immediately walk to their balls.

Another thing that infuriates me is when all 4 golfers go to look for a ball BEFORE hitting there own shot. Hit your ball and then go look.
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el marko said:
In my honest opinion i enjoy a round of golf far more when i have no one ahead of me. From past experience the problem has nothing to do with how good of a golfer someone is but how quickly they are to do things. I often see groups of 4 balls take 5-10minutes just to tee off. It shouldn't take longer than 20-30 seconds for each golfer to tee off. And then immediately walk to their balls.

Another thing that infuriates me is when all 4 golfers go to look for a ball BEFORE hitting there own shot. Hit your ball and then go look.
Click to expand...
Doesn't that rather depend on whether the lost ball is shorter or longer than the other balls? Three or four golfers looking for a lost ball on the way to their balls are more likely to find it quickly than just one golfer, and then they don't have to walk back to search. :)
 
We play our comps in fourballs and if you get round in under 4 hours you are doing well. 4 - 4 1/4 is the norm. There was one old boy, in his 80's, who thankfully retired last year, who insisted on walking and his rounds took at least 5 hours every week. His 'record' was 5 hours 40 mins in a threeball and he was then advised that he should go out in a buggy as no one wanted to play with him if he walked again.
 
Green Bay Hacker said:
We play our comps in fourballs and if you get round in under 4 hours you are doing well. 4 - 4 1/4 is the norm. There was one old boy, in his 80's, who thankfully retired last year, who insisted on walking and his rounds took at least 5 hours every week. His 'record' was 5 hours 40 mins in a threeball and he was then advised that he should go out in a buggy as no one wanted to play with him if he walked again.
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Sounds a bit mean and disrespectful to me, so not surprised he retired from the game! Couldn't you just have paired him up with some other slow players and sent them out at the back of the field? :mmm:
 
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delc said:
Sounds a bit mean and disrespectful to me, so not surprised he retired from the game! Couldn't you just have paired him up with some other slow players and sent them out at the back of the field? :mmm:
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But then they just hold up the course after the competition....

Simples...if you're slow, let others through.
 
Hickory_Hacker said:
Foxholer,

I keep repeating my 'horror' story about playing at a relatively prestigious club as a guest and overhearing the response of 2 elderly guys when asked how their round went - 'Excellent! 2 hours 45.' was the reply! Obviously different priorities!

That's just nuts, it borders on stupidity that golf's a race. It is what it is but when the speed of play gets to 4 hours (or worse) then someone's responsible :(
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For the old guys, the exercise - brisk walk - was their priority. I don' believe they had any real interest in how well they scored. That course is normally a 4:15 course for 4-ball, which is pretty much the standard 'down South'. Standard for many links courses in Scotland is 3:15-3:30, but I'm not really sure why. There's no real difference between length, speed of actual play/walking or the amount of faffing about - and I've experienced both environments.
 
Foxholer said:
For the old guys, the exercise - brisk walk - was their priority. I don' believe they had any real interest in how well they scored. That course is normally a 4:15 course for 4-ball, which is pretty much the standard 'down South'. Standard for many links courses in Scotland is 3:15-3:30, but I'm not really sure why. There's no real difference between length, speed of actual play/walking or the amount of faffing about - and I've experienced both environments.
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Maybe the Scots are too mean to pay for Sky Sports TV, so they don't get corrupted by watching the slow play on the PGA and European Tours! :)
 
Foxholer said:
For the old guys, the exercise - brisk walk - was their priority. I don' believe they had any real interest in how well they scored. That course is normally a 4:15 course for 4-ball, which is pretty much the standard 'down South'. Standard for many links courses in Scotland is 3:15-3:30, but I'm not really sure why. There's no real difference between length, speed of actual play/walking or the amount of faffing about - and I've experienced both environments.
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My English buddies that I meet up with are quite slow, in fact I'm being polite because they're a nightmare. A genuine difference is that they guys talk a lot and I mean a lot, all pansy stuff and the last time one even started talking about his wife! In Scotland my mates are not anywhere near as sensitive and talking isn't seen as an exercise, pretty much just golf and get on with it. :fore:
 
delc said:
Sounds a bit mean and disrespectful to me, so not surprised he retired from the game! Couldn't you just have paired him up with some other slow players and sent them out at the back of the field? :mmm:
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Most of the other slower players, mainly guys in their 70's but not exclusively, went round in buggies but he preferred to walk. Every week his group had to let numerous other groups through and it slowed the whole field down. It was his choice to walk and he did realise that he was spoiling other peoples enjoyment of the competition. He did go out near the back of the field most weeks but as it is a 9 hole course the first groups out soon caught him up.

He does still play at the club but limits his golf to 9 holes of social golf on Sundays and midweek.
 
Green Bay Hacker said:
Most of the other slower players, mainly guys in their 70's but not exclusively, went round in buggies but he preferred to walk. Every week his group had to let numerous other groups through and it slowed the whole field down. It was his choice to walk and he did realise that he was spoiling other peoples enjoyment of the competition. He did go out near the back of the field most weeks but as it is a 9 hole course the first groups out soon caught him up.

He does still play at the club but limits his golf to 9 holes of social golf on Sundays and midweek.
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Good for him! My late father and I used to play occasionally with an real old guy in his late 90's. He could only manage 9 holes, but he was still a fairly decent golfer (I believe he had played off scratch in his younger days). He couldn't hit the ball very far, but his short game was deadly! :)
 
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delc said:
Maybe the Scots are too mean to pay for Sky Sports TV, so they don't get corrupted by watching the slow play on the PGA and European Tours! :)
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:rofl:

Aye, that and its too cauld tae be oot ower lang, whit wae the win blawin up wer kilts n whit no tae. :D
 
delc said:
Sorry, but could you translate that into English please? :confused:
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Certainly dear boy.

Yes, that and it would be too cold to be outside overly long, what with the wind blowing up our kilts and what have you as well.

That do. ;)
 
We have all played in slow groups. The key to keeping the course moving though is to know when and how to let a following (faster) group through. Do it properly and at the correct and an appropriate time and the field will hardly notice any hold up. And the thinking that says 'no point in letting them through as they can't go anywhere' is also wrong - and part of the knowing 'when' to call through.
 
delc said:
Doesn't that rather depend on whether the lost ball is shorter or longer than the other balls? Three or four golfers looking for a lost ball on the way to their balls are more likely to find it quickly than just one golfer, and then they don't have to walk back to search. :)
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I guess it depends. It seems like common sense is largely lost on the golf course. Ive always found that 2 is enough people to find a ball. At the end of the day if its truly lost it wont be found by 4 golfers anyway.
 
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