Rounds getting longer - Why.

[Imurg]

But a) how many members would bother with it keeping up with the projected time b) how many clubs would employ anyone to police it and c) would they honestly impose sanctions of transgressors and lose members who just want to enjoy their game

That's the problem isn't it.

We're supposed to have a Course Marshall - never seen him, especially when we're stuck behind the 4-ball from Hell.
Plus there are many reasons why a group can take longer than the recommended time to play. Search for a ball for 5 minutes on every hole and you've potentially added 1 1/2 hours to your round......

Slow play isn't the real cause of holdups.
It's idiots not letting groups play through.

If you have one group who plays at 3 holes per hour then they're going to take 6 hours. That doesn't matter as long as they let through groups playing at 4 or 5 holes per hour

 

[SocketRocket]

I see nothing wrong with someone taking their time to play their shot but they should move on swiftly between shots. So many people look like they are running on flat batteries.

Slow play really has become a problem and I find it does affect my enjoyment of the game. Maybe some kind of swipe card system on the first, ninth tee and last green that allowed a software evaluation of the days play that could pick out trends and identify problems. If nothing else it should be a motivator to get a move on.

 

[richart]

I play in a fairly regular fourball, and two of them are fairly new to the game. The major difference between the old and new players is being ready to play. Slow play does drive me mad. I love banter on the course, but do it whilst walking between shots, and don't start to tell a long joke just when it is your turn to play. Most time is wasted on the green, with golfers only looking at their line when it is their turn to putt.

Slow play started with the Pros, and it is doing the same in the amateur game. I think it is the only part of the game that would make me give up again.

 

[Oddsocks]

.

If you have one group who plays at 3 holes per hour then they're going to take 6 hours. That doesn't matter as long as they let through groups playing at 4 or 5 holes per hour

That sums it up perfectly, If you wish to take you time and enjoy your round, let others through so they can enjoy theirs

 

[Monty_Brown]

I had a game at Hanbury Manor last weekend and was impressed with their attitude to pace of play. As it happened we were first off at 8am, but with the course pretty much full for a comp behind us.

Course marshal came over and said hello when we got there, worked out that we were the first group and just said in a polite and friendly way "You're leading everyone round today so try and keep the pace up. Aim for 3hrs 30 if you can please, and let the guys behind through if you're delayed."

Hardly a revolutionary approach, but good to see the reminder being issued. It was clear, friendly and not antagonising at all.

While we were getting ready to go out, the pro said a similar thing, again in a friendly way. He wasn't obsessing about times, as he actually suggested we play off the championship tees once he'd sussed we were all decent handicaps.

I guess they were offering the same polite reminders to all the groups that day.

For me, that shows that the club is supporting a culture of brisk play and that slow play is not part of the club ethos. It needs "figureheads", whether marshal, pro, committee members etc, to be at the forefront of a change in attitudes.

Homer mentions a bit of a car park cabal who hold eveyone up at his place and there's reluctance to challenge them on it. Well I'd say the club leadership MUST deal with them if they want the rest of the club to respect their authority. So a few cantankerous sods get the hump because they are told they are slow? Tough, they are spoiling it for everyone else.

Everybody in a club has to contribute to sorting out the speed of play issue. Force it onto AGM agendas and keep badgering your secretary or committee members about it. If enough ordinary members make a noise, they will listen eventually.

Personally I'd like to see shots being penalised, comp bans and even suspensions for those that repeatedly transgress without good reason, but then I grew up playing 2 1/2 hour rounds as a junior. Funnily enough, I could regularly knock it round in sub 80 gross off comp tees without lining up putts for 4 angles :mmm:

 

[Snelly]

Some good points here.

Main issues causing slow play are: people copying what they see on TV, not being ready to pay when it is their turn and a reluctance to let faster groups through.


The solutions are less easy to identify as slow players are rarely aware that they are the problem. Signs are a good idea and club figureheads taking a lead to inform on expectations are also a good call. That said, I don't think that there will be much change until the pros speed up and the golfing media make the eradication of slow play a strategic priority.


How many articles on tips for speeding up play has GM published in the last few months? I have no idea but would argue, not enough. Why not give a page of the magazine over to a full page ad offering a fact on slow play and a tip to speed things up? Take a lead on what is the scourge of the modern game. It is for me (like Richart) the one thing that annoys me about golf today than any other.


Snelly.

 

[Monty_Brown]

Main issues causing slow play are: people copying what they see on TV, not being ready to pay when it is their turn and a reluctance to let faster groups through.
Snelly.

you've seen me in the bar then? :cheers:

 

[Hobbit]

But a) how many members would bother with it keeping up with the projected time b) how many clubs would employ anyone to police it and c) would they honestly impose sanctions of transgressors and lose members who just want to enjoy their game

The alternative is to do nothing...

But if you improved the pace of play of xx% of players others would be 'dragged' along or stand out even more. You'll never cure it but at least it can be improved.

 

[Billysboots]

GPS/laser range finders have an awful lot to answer for.

I know this is all rather simplistic, but take a 4-ball of "average" golfers who knock it round in, say, 85. 35 of those are putts. If you allow for drives and chipping, then I guess there will be 30 full shots, either at par 3's where they are measuring to the pin, or from the fairway.

If each of those 30 shots follows just 15 seconds messing around with a range finder that amounts to 450 seconds for each golfer. This equates to 1,800 seconds fiddling for the 4-ball as a whole - that's an extra half an hour as a result of technology which, whilst it may make the game easier, does nothing to speed it up.

I am sure we have all seen a mid-handicap golfer stand over his ball on a par 3 he has played hundreds of times, with the pin in the middle of the green and the hole being played off the blocks. Yet he will still insist on standing there taking two readings with his range finder. Why?! It's infuriating and unnecessary.

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

Some great points being made, will it get thro' to slow players ??, they never seem to acknowledge they are slow.

Do not 'mooch' your way round
Let faster players thro'
Be ready
Engage brain

Thats all I have to say...

 

[Hobbit]

GPS/laser range finders have an awful lot to answer for.

I know this is all rather simplistic, but take a 4-ball of "average" golfers who knock it round in, say, 85. 35 of those are putts. If you allow for drives and chipping, then I guess there will be 30 full shots, either at par 3's where they are measuring to the pin, or from the fairway.

If each of those 30 shots follows just 15 seconds messing around with a range finder that amounts to 450 seconds for each golfer. This equates to 1,800 seconds fiddling for the 4-ball as a whole - that's an extra half an hour as a result of technology which, whilst it may make the game easier, does nothing to speed it up.

I am sure we have all seen a mid-handicap golfer stand over his ball on a par 3 he has played hundreds of times, with the pin in the middle of the green and the hole being played off the blocks. Yet he will still insist on standing there taking two readings with his range finder. Why?! It's infuriating and unnecessary.

But if they hit the green and are thus quicker off it...

 

[Billysboots]

Slow play isn't the real cause of holdups.
It's idiots not letting groups play through.

If you have one group who plays at 3 holes per hour then they're going to take 6 hours. That doesn't matter as long as they let through groups playing at 4 or 5 holes per hour

I'm not sure I agree entirely.

The problem with that approach is that encourages people who want to take their time to do just that, and disregards the fact that the presence of a really slow group on the course, even if they correctly wave quicker groups through, will still cause a big bottleneck.

 

[Billysboots]

But if they hit the green and are thus quicker off it...

Fair point, but I was talking about the average golfer! How many of them actually hit greens more than 50% of the time?

My own opinion is that range finders are great for the single figure golfer who has some idea within a few yards how far he hits each club in his bag. For the vast majority of the rest of us, given the presence of 50, 100, 150 and 200 yard markers, coloured flags and so on at many courses, they are an expensive and unnecessary gimmick. Especially for those who are too inconsistent to really take meaningful advantage of them.

Which is most of us!!

 

[bladeplayer]

Played in a 13 hole comp last week , by the par5 8th they had lost 2 holes on the group ahead , they were waiting to play their 2nd shots to the green when they hadnt a hope of geting there , instead of each player going to their own ball they all headed the one way then the other way etc , as they were making their way to the 9th tee i mentioned guys ye have lost 2 full holes on the group ahead . got 2 replys .. so & yea we know .. now they did speed up a bit but to lose 2 holes in 8 is crazy .. i think awareness & been ready to play was the big problem .. 3hour 20min for 13holes ?? . 2man team event 1 to score , both to score on the par 3 (of which there was 3)

 

[anotherdouble]

For me I think SocketRocket has hit the nail on the head. It is the time people take walking or ambling between their shots. As a youngster I was always told quick between shots and take your time over the shot.

 

[coolhand]

For me I think SocketRocket has hit the nail on the head. It is the time people take walking or ambling between their shots. As a youngster I was always told quick between shots and take your time over the shot.

And unless all of the balls are right next to each other walk diretly to your own ball and be ready when it's your turn.

 

[USER1999]

Range finders have been proven to speed up play, not slow it down.

Without one, most golfers will pace out from the nearest 100,150, or 200. Often this involves walking forwards to find it, and then pacing back.
Many courses have yardage on sprinkler heads, but you have to find one first, and then pace it out.

All this takes time.

And no, I am not pacing from the 200 if my ball is nearer the 150, it will be more accurate from the 150.

And if you want me to be really, really slow, give me a course planner. I have not got a clue what I am doing with one of those.

Playing as a 2 ball, with my usual Friday partner, we can be round 18 in less than 2 hours. I use a range finder (gps). How much quicker would I be without it?

 

[Snelly]

Lovely speed of play - nice one Murph.

Only issue I have is with pacing out yardages. I just can't understand why people do it. We are not that accurate so surely an approximate guess based on a quick look is enough? It always seems to be for me...

 

[Slicer30]

The slow play debate rages onwards.

When I started last year, I played in a two ball every saturday. the main gripe for us was getting stuck behind everyone and having to wait on most shots.

Now the 2 ball has grown into 6 players, so we can have a 4 ball if a few don't turn up or 2 - 3 balls. When playing as a 4 ball its enevitable that we are gonna get groups getting close. Mainly its when we are putting on the green. We used to let groups through alot, but then people's games were getting knocked off rythm and it was becoming a bit of a battle in the group. Some of us thinking we should allow group behind through, some saying there's no point etc...

As some have mentioned, some holes are bottle necks and space groups out a little.

How many holes are acceptable to be stuck behind a group before you'd expect to be let through?

 

[StrangelyBrown]

Playing as a 2 ball, with my usual Friday partner, we can be round 18 in less than 2 hours.

I don't know how that's even possible to be perfectly honest

Each to their own though, if you're happy sprinting around I'll happily let you through