Slow play again

[Voyager EMH]

Should acceptable pace of play be allocated according to handicap for each player ?

Yes, but several other factors should also be taken in to account.

Every player should be assessed for pace of play and be given a rating.
Categories of alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon should be used to identify speed of players.

A brave new world of amateur golf awaits.

Sorted.

 

[Backache]

Why should the slower player change their schedule? If faster players dont want to be held up, go out at 5am ?

Do you expect the time for a round to be the same for a 65 shooter as for a 95 shooter ?

On the concept of the shared resource, that is entirely spurious. We do not pay membership as a timeshare on the course.

Most courses you cannot get out early because the greenkeepers need the time to prepare the course.

I certainly expect a 95 shooter to maintain a reasonable pace, why shouldn't they?
I certainly regularly went round in under three hours shooting that score.
Why is the concept of a shared resource spurious? It is absolutely what it is.

 

[Junior]

Just don’t lose a hole on the group in front.

 

[bobmac]

Just don’t lose a hole on the group in front.

Easy, especially if the first group out take 4.5-5 hours

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Members had to write down their starting and finishing times when playing a medal at my old club. Certainly highlighted the slow players/groups

As said earlier, moving to 10 min starting times and holding players back on the first tee made all the difference.
We started par 5, long 4 then par 3 over water.
With 7 min starting tomes there was always a queue on the 3rd tee.

 

[bobmac]

Members had to write down their starting and finishing times when playing a medal at my old club. Certainly highlighted the slow players/groups

As said earlier, moving to 10 min starting times and holding players back on the first tee made all the difference.
We started par 5, long 4 then par 3 over water.
With 7 min starting tomes there was always a queue on the 3rd tee.

How many tee times did you loose?

 

[Doon frae Troon]

How many tee times did you loose?

Slightly over one an hour in the club medals but I allocated more club tee times to balance.

As explained earlier it was part of introducing a booking system on a very busy course [50,000+ rounds pa with a club of over 1,000 members]
In casual play we lost a bit of business early on but gained it much more on the off peak times and off season times.

Golfers were reluctant to give up standing in a queue from 5 am to get an early morning weekend tee time booking.
But knowing you have a secure afternoon/evening tee time on a faster course more than made up the numbers.

 

[PaulMdj]

Slightly over one an hour in the club medals but I allocated more club tee times to balance.

As explained earlier it was part of introducing a booking system on a very busy course [50,000+ rounds pa with a club of over 1,000 members]
In casual play we lost a bit of business early on but gained it much more on the off peak times and off season times.

Golfers were reluctant to give up standing in a queue from 5 am to get an early morning weekend tee time booking.
But knowing you have a secure afternoon/evening tee time on a faster course more than made up the numbers.

What! People went out later and played fast! What foolishness is this?

 

[bobmac]

What! People went out later and played fast! What foolishness is this?

It's a shame a lot won't get a tee time, depending on the time of year

 

[PaulMdj]

It's a shame a lot won't get a tee time, depending on the time of year

Nope, in the post I answered Doon said it was fine, however, 1000 members? Good luck to them all getting a tee time, regardless of pace of play.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

What! People went out later and played fast! What foolishness is this?

Yeah........should have been, faster than the average 4.5 to 5 hours with the old 7 min booking system.

It's a shame a lot won't get a tee time, depending on the time of year

Strangely that just was not the case Bob.
At weekends Sat/Sun times after about 4pm were generally sparce [same for most courses btw]
On weekdays those times were always packed
With a secure booking time the weekend late times started to fill up. Better than when you just turned up and might have had to wait an hour to play.
The other benefit of the system was that rather than queue for an hour to get on the course golfers would arrive early and get a coffee or something to eat.
Remember all this was about 25+ years ago.

 

[bobmac]

Yeah........should have been, faster than the average 4.5 to 5 hours with the old 7 min booking system.

Strangely that just was not the case Bob.
At weekends Sat/Sun times after about 4pm were generally sparce [same for most courses btw]
On weekdays those times were always packed
With a secure booking time the weekend late times started to fill up. Better than when you just turned up and might have had to wait an hour to play.
The other benefit of the system was that rather than queue for an hour to get on the course golfers would arrive early and get a coffee or something to eat.
Remember all this was about 25+ years ago.

I was talking about the time of year ie dark at 4.15pm which means nobody will tee off after 12.
With 10 min intervals, will everyone who wants to play get a tee time before 12 if you have lost 10 tee times?

 

[PaulMdj]

I was talking about the time of year ie dark at 4.15pm which means nobody will tee off after 12.
With 10 min intervals, will everyone who wants to play get a tee time before 12 if you have lost 10 tee times?

With a 1000 members the tee times are pretty irrelevant, 8 or 10, some will lose out, it’ll be social golf only.

 

[Crazyface]

Illegal under the rules of golf.
I suspect as the American market drives golf development not much call for it.
Most balls are lost in water and knowing where it is six foot deep is not much use.

Change the rules. Also, if you knew your ball was under water, via app, you could hit another ball immediately. Also stopping nrs .

 

[woofers]

As said earlier, moving to 10 min starting times and holding players back on the first tee made all the difference.
We started par 5, long 4 then par 3 over water.
With 7 min starting tomes there was always a queue on the 3rd tee.

No surprise there. There will no doubt be some discussion around my example timings but let’s say the average time for a 4 ball to play a par 5 is 15 mins, a par 4 12 mins and a par 3 10 mins.
A group starting on the hour will finish the 1st at x.15, the 2nd at x.27 and the 3rd at x.37.
If the next group start at their correct tee time they will finish the 1st at x.22, the 2nd at x.34 but they can’t start the 3rd because the first group are there until x.37.
And so it will quickly back up.
Using 10 minute tee time intervals this doesn’t happen, the second group finish the 1st at x.25, 2nd at x.37 and are ready to go on the 3rd as the group in front finish.

 

[Junior]

Easy, especially if the first group out take 4.5-5 hours

It’s ok, my club would (genuinely and kindly) educate them to play quicker.

Or, the club could force them to go out later in the day and they’d eventually leave the club

Honestly Bob, ive been a comps sec….there are better ways to manage it than force tee times on people.

 

[bobmac]

It’s ok, my club would (genuinely and kindly) educate them to play quicker.

Or, the club could force them to go out later in the day and they’d eventually leave the club

Honestly Bob, ive been a comps sec….there are better ways to manage it than force tee times on people.

If you had read my posts you'd know that I have never said that clubs should force tee times on people

 

[Junior]

If you had read my posts you'd know that I have never said that clubs should force tee times on people

Apologies, ive been dipping in and out of this thread and must have missed that one.

I thought your solution was to send fast players out first and slow players out later ?

 

[Golfnut1957]

Easy, especially if the first group out take 4.5-5 hours

At our club in almost all the comps the club hierarchy get the first tee times, the Chair, Captain, ex-captains, committee chairs and committee members, low caps, high caps. It's a reward for the work they do.

Nobody I know minds, especially as they whizz around in about 3.5 hours, naturally just quick or setting an example? What ever, but as sure as eggs are eggs, it gradually gets slower as the day goes on. Why? Probably not for a single thing but for a combination of everything that has been mentioned on this thread.

Can it be solved? If it was a single issue probably, but as it's a combination, then no.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I was talking about the time of year ie dark at 4.15pm which means nobody will tee off after 12.
With 10 min intervals, will everyone who wants to play get a tee time before 12 if you have lost 10 tee times?

During midwinter demand for tee times drops off significantly.
Especially on a course with a strong casual golf base.
During that time golf was generally members only and some were denied times.

I would imagine, during midwinter, pressure for tee times at private clubs was restricted.