Round ruined by slow play....

[Hendy]

Out today in our presidents day and was 1 over after 11 holes. Then hit a brick wall with over 25+ hc's and slow play normally I am not against anyone playing however having to stand over every shot for 4/5mins just destroyed my rhythm.

Slipped to 3 over and was standing almost 10mins then on the 16th 200 yards out waiting for these men to try find a ball then watched them walk off the green like they had all the time in the world marking cards and putting clubs away...

Anyways then I blow it ended with a 8 on that hole which was a par 5 normally a birdie or a easy par, really sicken played my best golf ever to I got held up with these cowboys in a stroke comp, I then par'd 17th then dropped another one at 18 to finish with a poor 77 gross.

Really felt I had it in the bag today, tho lesson learned never to play behind the likes again.

Another example I watched one of the hit a ball OB 3 times off the tee. I don't have the patience to be stuck behind that in one of the biggest comps of the season.

I started at 25 myself tho can honestly say I never hold anyone up and if I was I let them play on and I'd stand aside, these guys clearly did not have a clue,

Rant over,,,

 

[Foxholer]

Much as I dislike slow play, it wasn't the slow play that ruined your round!

It was your reaction to it - and subsequent loss of focus!

Not having patience, as you state, is your problem, not theirs.

 

[Ian_S]

Gutted you couldn't capitalise on such a good front 11, and agree slow play is annoying, but....

You are going to come up against slow play on the golf course, and fairly often. Now, they should probably let you through, but we all know that isn't always going to happen. Instead of ranting at it and using it as an excuse, you're going to have to find a way to deal with it. That is, unless you're happy taking 7 shots from 200 yds out every time you catch up to a group.

Don't get me wrong, slow play ahead is frustrating, but there are far too many people out there who seem as though they'd love nothing more than a slow group ahead of them just so as they have a reason why they sucked. The group ahead didn't make you score an 8. There's only one person responsible for that and you know who it is.

 

[JustOne]

Much as I dislike slow play, it wasn't the slow play that ruined your round!

It was your reaction to it - and subsequent loss of focus!

Not having patience, as you state, is your problem, not theirs.

I agree.

I don't mind waiting for the people ahead, they are trying to get the ball in the hole too.

Recently have had a few slow rounds where my own playing partners have hit umpteen balls into the rough and we've had to let up to 4 groups play thru, some days it's quick and some it's slow... I just worry about my shot when it's my turn to play.

 

[mpluis]

Slow play is putting people out of the game, why not give people 10 min to play a par 3 (15 if there is 3 or 4 people).

There are so many rules to this game, to be a fair game, it´s not fair to put people on a position they leave the game
or lose interest or be affected by others conduct. for me drop the 5min lost ball time and set a fair time to everybody.

The game wins.

 

[Fader]

Much as I dislike slow play, it wasn't the slow play that ruined your round!

It was your reaction to it - and subsequent loss of focus!

Not having patience, as you state, is your problem, not theirs.

Totally agree with this post.

Yes slow play is frustrating but its down to you as the individual how you deal with it, I also feel the judgement based on them being slow because of their ability level is poor. Just because someone has a higher handicap doesn't mean they will be automatically slower just because they take more shots etc. I've played with some seriously good Cat 1 players who keep the ball in play but are like watching paint dry as they play slower than a snails pace.

How you deal with slow play seems be more the issue of why you subsequently allowed your score to collapse, perhaps need to learn to have more patience and find a way of dealing with it as this won't be the last time you come up against slow play.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Apart from the recession slow play is one of the main reasons golf is in decline.
Most people don't wish to spend 6+ hours traveling and playing a sport.
I could travel from Glasgow to Bristol in the time many folk take to play 18 holes.

 

[Hendy]

Agree with troon, I admire the fact they are giving the sport a go but no call to be holding up the whole show,

Normally a sat comp its busy play every week, tho there is slow and there is slow, these guys were taken the biscuit. They must have had a 6 hour round of golf. If I had to play behind that every week I go mad, normally mid week you get around 3 and a bit hours clear run, weekend normally 4 hour, tho felt like it took twice as long to play last 7 holes as it did to play the first 11!

And I the fact they see us standing and they make no effort to even get their bags moved so we can even play our shots to the green.

 

[duncan mackie]

Rant over,,,

So, what did you say to them, and what did your committee say to them?

I take it that there were clear holes in front of them at the finish?

 

[bobmac]

Depends on the situation.
If the whole course is packed with no gaps, relax, there's not much you can do about it.
If the group in front have lost holes on the group in front of them, then you could be forgiven for getting angry.

 

[Hendy]

Lol yea rant should be over cooled off a bit now.

Well personally I did not say anything however on the par 3 15 were one of them hit 3 balls Ob he turned to us (waiting on the box) and said what should I do now. The guy with me said go home. Bit over the top but I guess it was effecting him as well and these guys were not letting us passed.

There was at least 3 holes clear in front maybe more by the time we got behind them

Edit: comps guy phoned me last night then to say I won the front nine with one over was that pissed I had said a few words to him but said these things happen.

Its OK now was just so pissed last night,

 

[Buddaah]

Me and the brother in law got stuck behind a 4 ball at our local park course... 2 of them were decent but 2 of them quite poor and we were on every tee with them from the 3rd to the 9th but they still wouldn't let us play through. The 8th is a blind tee shot over a hill and after 5 minutes of them disappearing I tee'd off, walking up over the brow I saw all 4 of them just start walking towards the green and my ball was 50 yards further than them. On the next tee the 'bigger guy' told me to slow down as I nearly killed one of the lads...to which I replied your too slow and should of let us pass hours ago....he then tried to stare me down but after a while of this they let us through. I know it's probably worse etiquette to fire a warning shot but I gotta say it works!

 

[Fader]

If you were waiting on the tee whilst they were playing rather than a snide remark did nobody broach the subject of calling you through!

Its easy to bemoan slow play, complain its caused the ruin of your round but when you are stood side by side and have the ability to ask to be called through or bring up the issue its just ignored and swept under the carpet so you can continue to be held up and complain after the fact!

I'm sorry but common sense alone should have got one of you to ask to play through, the fact nobody did or at least that's how it seems is just as bad as allowing someone to hold you up when you've had a perfectly good chance to address and resolve whilst still playing.

 

[Hendy]

Yea guess we should have asked tho the rest of us felt a little awkward after Alan had said that, anyways done with now, got there names so will be making sure I won't be behind them again

 

[North Mimms]

Yea guess we should have asked tho the rest of us felt a little awkward after Alan had said that, anyways done with now, got there names so will be making sure I won't be behind them again

The standard comment on these threads is "did you ask to play through?" and in a lot of cases it's not that easy to ask if you are waiting 175 yards back. But you were on the tee with them- before you caught up with them you should have agreed within your group that you were going to ask to play through. You had the perfect opportunity in that one of them had hit several off the tee- the correct thing was to suggest that you teed off too, then carried on ahead while they looked for their balls.

As it is, you are p'd off and they have learnt nothing about calling people through

Edit- and not much point at having a go at the comp guy who rang you, when he was in no position to do anything about it, and you had the chance.

 

[Fozzie]

I'm with Hendy on this one, I know it's easy to say re-focus, but there is a lot that can be done to speed up play. There should be more marshals aware of slow play situations. Etiquette comes in the play here & a slow group should be aware of a group behind constantly waiting. personally, I would cut the time of looking for a ball from 5 minutes to 3 minutes. Most people take the pi$$ & spend longer anyway. If it takes longer than 3mins to find it, it's probably too tough a shot to play.

 

[sandmagnet]

Much as I dislike slow play, it wasn't the slow play that ruined your round!

It was your reaction to it - and subsequent loss of focus!

Not having patience, as you state, is your problem, not theirs.

spot on foxholer patience is everything in golf and focus imo

 

[jp5]

Everyone experiences slow play, and unfortunately now it is part of the game. That means how you respond to it will factor into your score as well.

 

[CMAC]

I'm with Hendy on this one, I know it's easy to say re-focus, but there is a lot that can be done to speed up play. There should be more marshals aware of slow play situations. Etiquette comes in the play here & a slow group should be aware of a group behind constantly waiting. personally, I would cut the time of looking for a ball from 5 minutes to 3 minutes. Most people take the pi$$ & spend longer anyway. If it takes longer than 3mins to find it, it's probably too tough a shot to play.

Nothing to do with Marshals, it's down to you to be aware and use common sense, if people are constantly waiting and your clear in front, let them through......it's really not complicated:smirk:

 

[JustOne]

Apart from the recession slow play is one of the main reasons golf is in decline.
Most people don't wish to spend 6+ hours traveling and playing a sport.

Knee high rough is one of the main reasons.

Ironically people don't really worry about golf being in decline... I'm sure most golfers would love to play at a quiet course with no-one around. We're a selfish breed