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Slow play fine

pendodave said:
Such an asinine take.
Don't be an @rs£ is a great motto to follow in life. Wandering around a golf course oblivious to those that you're sharing it with is definitely not a hill to die on.
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You’ve not seen some of our hills.

In all fairness, the post may be a little out of context but pace of play and the obsession with it is crazy.

I was echoing a post that I read but it does make sense to a point. People seem massively obsessed with pace or play, I’m more into enjoying it. Providing I’m playing at a pace that isn’t effecting my groups enjoyment or is holding any other groups up, that pace should be fine … would you not agree?

I should add that I would never deem myself as a fast player but I’m definitely one that doesn’t like to hang around, so please don’t think I’m defending slow golf, merely highlighting that everyone has become completely obsessed with pace.
 
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Oddsocks said:
You’ve not seen some of our hills.

In all fairness, the post may be a little out of context but pace of play and the obsession with it is crazy.

I was echoing a post that I read but it does make sense to a point. People seem massively obsessed with pace or play, I’m more into enjoying it. Providing I’m playing at a pace that isn’t effecting my groups enjoyment or is holding any other groups up, that pace should be fine … would you not agree?

I should add that I would never deem myself as a fast player but I’m definitely one that doesn’t like to hang around, so please don’t think I’m defending slow golf, merely highlighting that everyone has become completely obsessed with pace.
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The biggest problem we see is when a slow game just refuses to let you through and holds the whole course up.

Rushing around and your normal speed should not be confused.

People can take 6 hrs if they want to ,just let faster players through.!
 
At one time we had a clock after 6 holes and another after 12. They were set to reflect a 4hr round for a four ball. When you got to each clock you were ahead of pace if the clock was ahead of your tee time; bang on pace if it showed your tee time, and behind pace if it showed later than your tee time. They are no more. Not really sure why we removed them. Only thought was that maybe they kept conking out and became too much of an expense…hence us now having to record start and end times on our card submitted,
 
Surely it’s too inaccurate to say a round should finish in X amount of time or it means slow play? There are too many variables to consider. Stopping to let other players through, being held up by groups in front, one of your group being slower than the rest, a windy day and more lost balls than usual, for example.

I hate slow play but using overall length of time as the measuring stick isn’t going to be very reliable.
 
Oddsocks said:
There was an interesting post on FB recently that blew up regarding slow play, it was the acknowledgement of pressure to play at others pace.

The bit for me was that in any other sport you allocate a set time (night fishing all night) or footy with the lads where you may leave the house at mid day and not get home until Xxpm after a day with the lads yet everyone is expected to play a round in 3hrs. A bloke defended himself saying he sees his son and brothers once a week so why she he be forced to only spend 3.5hrs with them. If he’s moving at a fair pace with an ETA of 4.5 hours that should be quick enough and anyone demanding to play faster should go out early and not a peak times when rounds are slower, I have to be honest … I agree!

If you need a quick round play early, if you can’t play early either play later in the day when it’s quieter on only play 9/12 holes etc.
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Why ARE people who play early quicker than those that like a long lie?
 
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inc0gnito said:
Surely it’s too inaccurate to say a round should finish in X amount of time or it means slow play? There are too many variables to consider. Stopping to let other players through, being held up by groups in front, one of your group being slower than the rest, a windy day and more lost balls than usual, for example.

I hate slow play but using overall length of time as the measuring stick isn’t going to be very reliable.
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It’s a reasonable indicator of slow play in the context and experience that day of the group…as any group will know if they are being held up; spending lots of time looking for balls; changing into and out of wet weather gear etc. None of these other such factors applying then only one conclusion 🤷‍♂️
 
inc0gnito said:
Surely it’s too inaccurate to say a round should finish in X amount of time or it means slow play? There are too many variables to consider. Stopping to let other players through, being held up by groups in front, one of your group being slower than the rest, a windy day and more lost balls than usual, for example.

I hate slow play but using overall length of time as the measuring stick isn’t going to be very reliable.
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Yeah at club level all the pace of play initiatives I can think of are purely strategic to communicate & encourage a good pace but not really suitable to be practically applied with respect to pens etc because few if any clubs have the resource & tools to accurately implement for day to day play
 
KenL said:
Why ARE people who play early quicker than those that like a long lie?
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Let’s put it another way. You have to leave the club no later than 2 as you have somewhere to be:

A) do you go out earlier (8ish) so you are 100% don’t by 1 and enjoy the game.

B) go out at 10 as race around simply to say you played.

The point the piston FB was making is that people simply don’t allow enough time to play this sport and … key bit.. “ enjoy it being in a great environment with friends/family)
 
Oddsocks said:
Let’s put it another way. You have to leave the club no later than 2 as you have somewhere to be:

A) do you go out earlier (8ish) so you are 100% don’t by 1 and enjoy the game.

B) go out at 10 as race around simply to say you played.

The point the piston FB was making is that people simply don’t allow enough time to play this sport and … key bit.. “ enjoy it being in a great environment with friends/family)
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How long do you think a round should take on an average length course?
On our 6600 yard course, 4 balls I play in are always under 4 hours if out before 10am. Often well less than that.
Nobody is rushing, just well organised and not wasting time.
 
Our fe
KenL said:
Why ARE people who play early quicker than those that like a long lie
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Our group that go out first during the weekends go round the course in around 3:40 -3:50 , the second big group behind us are regularly anywhere between 15-20 behind our last group , some times over 30 mins

The early group is full off people that want to be out of the club by 12 at the latest
 
Slab said:
Yeah at club level all the pace of play initiatives I can think of are purely strategic to communicate & encourage a good pace but not really suitable to be practically applied with respect to pens etc because few if any clubs have the resource & tools to accurately implement for day to day play
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Exactly. The only realistic way to do it would be to monitor people at the individual level. That would take resources and money. Or a device that every individual would wear that could monitor time, and more importantly time over each shot.
 
3 jabber said:
No they can't take 6 hours if they want to because every time you call a group through it causes bunching up behind. Just play at a reasonable pace, it's really not that hard.
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Agree. Absolutely take as long as you want if there is nobody behind you…but every golfer and group has a responsibility to all others on the course (not just those immediately behind you) to not unnecessarily hold them up or otherwise be a nuisance or distraction to them. Just a courtesy, and simple and basic golf etiquette.
 
KenL said:
How long do you think a round should take on an average length course?
On our 6600 yard course, 4 balls I play in are always under 4 hours if out before 10am. Often well less than that.
Nobody is rushing, just well organised and not wasting time.
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Difficulty here is there is no such thing as an average length course. Once you factor in walks between green and tee, hills, water, long rough, narrow fairways, driveable par 4s, blind holes - the list can go on. All these things can lead to slower rounds than some people would like so to put a blanket time for a group is virtually impossible.
 
Neilds said:
Difficulty here is there is no such thing as an average length course. Once you factor in walks between green and tee, hills, water, long rough, narrow fairways, driveable par 4s, blind holes - the list can go on. All these things can lead to slower rounds than some people would like so to put a blanket time for a group is virtually impossible.
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Many clubs, including mine, have a statement about the expected maximum time for a round. Less than 4 hours 15 minutes at my club.
 
KenL said:
How long do you think a round should take on an average length course?
On our 6600 yard course, 4 balls I play in are always under 4 hours if out before 10am. Often well less than that.
Nobody is rushing, just well organised and not wasting time.
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There are variables, but if we take my course at around 6800 and a sr of 137/138 so it’s a tough test.

Our morning roll up group goes out at between 7.15 - 7.45 so I’m going to base it on the middle ish group @ 7.30.

General 3 or 4 ball in a bounce game we would be in by 11.15 at the latest so 3.45 max. However this is based on the 7.00 and 7.10 being the usual quick 2 balls and a 4 ball aware of pace of play and generally in bounce games playing gimmies inside a putter grip. Now use that same group and slot in a medal with tricky pins and this could be 4hrs Same group, same slot, same course + 15 mins.

If I was to use the same group at 10-11am and I reckon you’d add 15 mins to the 3.45 time 4(4hrs) and the same margin to the 4.15 (4.5hrs)

So does us going off at 7.30 make us fast golfers or does going off at 11.00 make us slow?

Here’s the crunch, for me when I play at my club I expect to be there until 1, the misses expects me to be there until 1 so even if I do go off at 8.00 and have a slow round of 4.30 who cares “providing” we are not holding anyone up. I’m not obsessed with round times, I’m aware of our pace, but providing it doesn’t affect others it’s not my key focus.
 
3 jabber said:
No they can't take 6 hours if they want to because every time you call a group through it causes bunching up behind. Just play at a reasonable pace, it's really not that hard.
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Yes they can!
So somebody who can’t walk to fast and no buggies avaliable is excluded from playing ?
 
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