S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

Well Well. I seem to have opened a can of worms here.
For the record, Slow play is not hard to define . Unless the course is over 7000 yards with Jungle on either side of narrow fairways, anything over 4.5 hours is slow. Anything over 4 hours is marginal.

I am sorry that you think that a handicap of 13 is too high Robobum. I suppose it is in comparison to your 4. Or is that your IQ? I will reiterate my original point, which is echoed by the R&A.
see http://www.randa.org/rules/pace
I quote
“As a guide, generally two-ball rounds should take no more than 3 hours 10 minutes; three-balls should take no more than 3 hours 30 minutes, and four-balls no more than 3 hours 50 minutes. In fact, shorter round times than these should be the aim of all players, where appropriate. However, as already mentioned, it is also appreciated that factors such as course design and heat may necessitate longer round time targets and administrators should be mindful of this”.
 
I played a couple of solo rounds last week.

1st at Mid Sussex - 6000 yards off the yellows. Noone in front of me for more than one hole before letting me through. I wasn't playing awful, but I did smack a ball into the trees twice and take a few minutes finding it.

Just under 3 hours.

So how do you guys get a 4 ball around in the same time?
Click to expand...
Walk Faster!
 
Re: S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

Come on then, don't be like the politicians :D!! "Reasonable time allowance"....what is reasonable?? The same question as "what is slow play"??

Do you know what the officail pace of play schedule is at your course?? I expect it would surprise a lot of people if they found out. The county (or your club's county rep) will have done one, it tells you, in detail how long it should take to complete every hole.

At our track it is 3hrs 50 mins for a 3 ball! I've never taken 3hrs 50 for a 3 ball round but there are still times when I've been held up and it's felt slow.
Click to expand...


Our pace of play for a 3 ball medal round is 3 hours 36 minutes. Depending on who you are playing with this can seem like an eternity :(

Played with a single figure handicapper (4) in one round and had a purple patch on slightly shorter winter course and got round in 2 and a half hours. 44 points only good enough for 5th place :mad: but extra hour in the bar :) :D :p
 
Strangely, we all walk at the same time.

The time taken actually playing is very little.

Or do you genuinely think you are playing for 4 hours? 80 shots at a minute each is only one hour 20. The rest is just faffing about.
 
I played a couple of solo rounds last week.

1st at Mid Sussex - 6000 yards off the yellows. Noone in front of me for more than one hole before letting me through. I wasn't playing awful, but I did smack a ball into the trees twice and take a few minutes finding it.

Just under 3 hours.

So how do you guys get a 4 ball around in the same time?
Click to expand...
Walk Faster!
Click to expand...

No can do, I'm afraid.

I've got a medical condition.

I'm fat and unfit. :p
 
Re: S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

I despise slow play. It is unecessary and utterly selfish.

In golf, you need to be ready to play your shot when it is your turn - simple as that. This does not mean that when it is your turn, you pretend your coming up the last at The Masters and enter into an elaborate pre-shot routine with three practice swings. It means you are ready to hit the ball.

If you feel the need to have two minutes of histrionics before actually striking the ball then do it in advance of the point at which it is your turn. Failing that, drop the pre shot nonsense and hit the ball then go and find it.

Slow players are selfish players. Get on with it and give some thought to the people you are playing with and the rest of the field.
Click to expand...

I love this attitude. :D

You, of course, are right.

And everyone who disagrees with you is wrong.

No selfishness in that kind of thinking, is there ?



So if you go round in 2 hours 40 minutes, everyone who goes round in more than 2 hours 50 is rude, and selfish.

Anyone who has the impudence to take a practice swing is rude and selfish.

Anyone who changes their mind over club selection having just watched someone else's shot is rude and selfish.

Nah.

I'm thinking it's just you. :D
 
Re: S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

Slow play does my box in we play our course in 3 1/4 hours for a 3 ball and thats at a decent pace keeping our place last week at Spey Valley was over 5hrs and thats with buggies, i know its not a race but there's no need for it .

Too many people fud about especially round the greens if you play your course long enough you should no how the greens are, i think to many guys watch the pro's and go thru the montions like them,IMO move your arse cause the bar is open.
 
Re: S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

Not if you play at 0700 it isn't.
You need at least a 4 hour round, maybe longer.
Last time I was in Aberdeen, the pubs didn't open til 1400 on a Sunday.
 
I was playing a medal once, and there was a lightening delay. No one went out for 2 hours. Most of those who had been on the course had given up and gone home. Eventually, it abated, and we were allowed out. We had one three ball in front of us, and then an empty course. Oh good, me thinks, we will get round in a sensible time.
Nope. 4 3/4 hours. The 3 in front dawdled about, often standing there doing nothing, no one playing, nothing. They never once thought of letting us through, as it was a medal.
I was livid. Still haven't played or spoken to any of them, and never will.
Click to expand...

If the game in front of me is holding up play and have lost their place on the course I have no problem telling them to stand aside.If it upsets them good because they have wasted my game.Why don't the R&A reduce the 5 min.to look for a ball to 3 min.this is one rule that would IMO speed up play.
 
Re: S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

Of course there are many reasons why there is slow play starting with tee off times being too close 8 mins in our case,also you get the hackers no disrespect as i was one once and i know i slowed play down considerably,also older players as they definately walk slower,also people who have a disability that cant walk as fast,all these will slow play down.3 of the above cannot be effected as thats life and everyone has the right to play golf whatever the handicap[nice pun].There are lots of sports that are far more irritating than golf,for example a snooker player that takes well over a minute because he cant see an escape route to baulk,a tennis player like andy murray who feels he needs a towel every shot instead of using his sweat bands.Golf imo is not a race but a game that should be enjoyed,used as a nice walk,and played in the right spirit.
 
Re: S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

This is a very interesting debate and there's loads of great points, a lot of obvious ones and a lot of selfish ones. There's too many folk out there who think that the whole golf course should revolve around them and their own time keeping... Most people who play golf do so to get away from the stresses of everyday life and spend a bit of time chilling out with their mates.

However, due to the nature of the game, it's always going to be possible that a round of golf is going to take longer than planned. As a club golfer, you just have to accept it and get on with it.

Don't get me wrong, i hate standing around waiting for the slow group in front to play their shots just as much as the next guy, but it's the nature of the beast. The course is a mass of people who are very good at the game and those who are not so good... unfortunately, sometimes there's a lot of people out there who probably shouldn't be, but they have just as much right to be there as you, me and anyone else.

Having said all of that, and this may sound a bit controversial, the whole rule about letting people play through needs a good looking at.

What happens when you let a group through? Sure you've let that group through, but all of a sudden the group behind that group have to wait around even longer while the group that were in front of them plays on and they then have to wait on your group to carry on as well. This only delays things even further.

IMO, the main reason for groups taking too long to play a hole(s) is searching for lost balls. Surely, if you know where you've hit it and can't find it within around 2-3 minutes of getting there, then you probably won't find it in the next 2-3 minutes (especially if there's more than 1 of you looking for it).

I'd also imagine that one of the main reasons for a lost ball, is because players don't keep an eye on where their ball actually comes to rest. Sure you might hit a great shot, but it could bounce away anywhere depending on what it hits. There are so many players that you see taking their shot and then turning away assuming that their ball is going to end up where they intended. When they get there, it's not there then spend the next 5 minutes looking for something that's in a different place.
 
Re: S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

I can see where this is going so I will will say it.

No one should be allowed on a course if they have more than a single figure handicap - higher than that they play more shots which takes up golf course TIME.

No player over 50 should be allowed on the course even with a single figure handicap - it is a proven fact that once one is over 50 your system gets slower and this will impact on the speed of the round.

Speaking on the course is a two shot penalty - speaking means that concentration is broken which could lead to a hesitation in one's stride pattern thereby taking up more time.

Golf Clubs catering exclusively for the over 50's/non-single handicapped players will offer a transfer to the 'better' club if handicaps reduce to single figures and, of course, vice versa should handicap go up to 10 - without charging entry fee.

'Better' clubs should be created on higher terrain if at all possible so that the members can look down on the other club and leave golfers in no doubt of their standing in this new sporting status.

'Better' club starters will make use of starting pistols and the stop watches, handed out on the first tee, must be returned to the starter at round end, with the appropriate round time recorded thereon. Yellow and red cards will be shown for rounds completed outwith the stipulated time.

Running spikes may not be fitted to golf shoes as they do damage the greens, although a full five minute betterment to time for a round has been recorded by their use.
 
Re: S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

Not if you play at 0700 it isn't.
You need at least a 4 hour round, maybe longer.
Last time I was in Aberdeen, the pubs didn't open til 1400 on a Sunday.
Click to expand...

No luck mate, ours opens at 10.30 on a Sunday and you must have picked the wrong pubs in Aberdeen get down the harbour they have a breakfast license for the dockers :D :D :D
 
Re: S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

3-ball medals at our place tahe between 3hrs 50 to 4hrs 10. I don't think this is overly slow, it doesn't seem slow to me and I like to get a move on.

However, one of the guys in a society I play in has parkinsons, he loves his golf, he uses a buggy but he is slow. I played with him on Monday and we took 4 1/2 hrs for a 4-ball but who cares, the guy is doing something he loves, who am I to tell him he can't. We all do things to help him, like raking bunkers for him, ball spotting anything we can to assist and he really appreciates it. He picks up if he can't score and the person marking his card usually shares his buggy and keeps track of his shots and if we start holding people up, we let people play through.

We are very concious that he is slow and very concious, unusually for a society, of slow play but we aren't about to tell him he can't play the game he loves, with his friends in a society he's been a member of since it started 15 years ago. Slow play is slow play but there are some exceptions and can you imagine being in that situation and being told you couldn't play golf? I couldn't, and I'm not about to tell him he can't either.
 
Re: S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

But what if he was perfectly healthy, and this was the speed he wanted to play at?
 
Re: S....l...o....w P..........l.........a..............y

the midweek medals can be a bit slow (well they are seniors) which is why I always go for an early tee. however we have one guy who is totally at odds with everyone else. forever impatient, tees off too early and storms off up the course even before his partners have played sometimes. on the green, putts out and off to the next. I really hate being drawn with him, but it could be fun seeing his reaction if we made him play it again.
 
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