Slow Play - The Real Reason(s).....

[rob_golf1]

I've been seeing a lot on social media about cracking down on slow play and many ways of making culprits and other golfers aware of this.

Question is, what do you think is the real reason(s) behind slow play?

I'll give you all a few pointers to start off and discuss........

1) Lack of ability? Does a golfers lack of ability (playing more strokes) add time to your round...

2) Lack of etiquette? This for me is the big one; me and my regular playing partner always get stuck behind 4 balls and they just never let us through. We've found the same culprits to offend on two consecutive weekends at our local course.

3) TV influences? People will see Tiger, Rory, Sergio taking a few practice swings, working out yardages, and they replicate this pre shot routine on the course. (God help us if they start watching Kevin Na.....)

4) Arrogance? A lot of stereotypes are pre conceived when it comes to golf and maybe perhaps some people adopt an arrogant attitude when stepping onto the course. I played with a guy before who had latched onto me and a mate, he was taking a longish time, so we politely asked him to try and keep the pace. He replied; "I've paid my money, i'll take as long as I like"......

Feel free to discuss and bring up your own thoughts behind slow play.....

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Lots of youngsters I see mimick the pros and think its necessary to replicate these long winded routines they see on TV and then duff it. Actually not just youngsters if I'm honest

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Lack of etiquette

A lack of awareness of other golfers on the course

Elongated PSR's

But I'm sure there are some courses that have the tee off times too close together , also if the course is full doesn't help

 

[Imurg]

At our place slow play occurs when one group, a 4 ball, decides that the whole course is going to play at their pace, nobody gets let through regardless....
It's arrogant, it's ignorant but when you complain nothing happens......
After 3 hours of waiting it gets a bit tedious....

 

[duncan mackie]

consideration

consideration

consideration

 

[Foxholer]

....Buy I'm sure there are some courses that have the tee off times too close together , also if the course is full doesn't help

Those 2 condition are actually very closely linked!

 

[chrisg]

But I'm sure there are some courses that have the tee off times too close together , also if the course is full doesn't help

This ... apart from the odd group not letting us through "sorry lads it's a competition!!!" the majority of times i've had a slow day its been on a packed course...

What do you think is suitable gapping between Tee off times????

 

[RGDave]

Really bad golfers are often slow.

If a really good golfer seems to be taking his/her time, it might appear a little long-winded, but generally it's not... and they take less shots, so we can let them off.

So that leaves all "us lot" in the middle. We waited (let me think) on 12 tees today. The fourball in front offered to let us through, but we declined.

... because in front of them were 10 (?) more fourballs of mostly slow golfers.

3 hours 45. I expect we'd have been round in just over 3 hours easy, but what's a few extra minutes when the banter is in full swing.

 

[hovis]

I'll tell you the main problem...

Golfers not ready to take their turn. I often see 4 golfers walk down the fairway to one players ball, they all stand there whilst he takes his shot and repeat until all 4 balls have been played. Its like they're scared of being caught off side. There's nothing wrong with standing infront of another golfer next to your ball as long as your out the way.

In my group its not uncommon to have 2 balls in the air at the same time. ( wouldn't do that with strangers through)

 

[palindromicbob]

This ... apart from the odd group not letting us through "sorry lads it's a competition!!!" the majority of times i've had a slow day its been on a packed course...

What do you think is suitable gapping between Tee off times????

Anything less than 8 minutes leave little room as a buffer. 10 minutes should be a good gap but clubs need to be stricter enforcing them for it to work. I know at my club people are guilty of teeing off if there group is ready and the group in front has played their second to the green. They may mean starting 2 or 3 minutes early. Since the 3rd is a par three things start to bottle neck quickly if people do this.

 

[G1BB0]

Anything less than 8 minutes leave little room as a buffer. 10 minutes should be a good gap but clubs need to be stricter enforcing them for it to work. I know at my club people are guilty of teeing off if there group is ready and the group in front has played their second to the green. They may mean starting 2 or 3 minutes early. Since the 3rd is a par three things start to bottle neck quickly if people do this as I am usually on my 2nd provisional.

edited for you Bob

I do agree r.e Tee times, 8 minutes barely allows any margin imho. Its a balancing act for clubs though, rising costs mean they need societies, p&p etc to stay in profit unless they are a privately owned club but you generally pay for the priviledge then.

 

[GB72]

Sadly I am hearing more and more people coming out with the I only get to play at weekends, I pay my money so I am not going be rushed line more and more. Probably heard it every other week from someone

 

[brysoni23]

Sadly I am hearing more and more people coming out with the I only get to play at weekends, I pay my money so I am not going be rushed line more and more. Probably heard it every other week from someone

I love playing 9 holes Friday morning at 630 am before work at 930.
Perfect start to the day. Usually there before the club opens so I go pay once I'm done.

 

[Captainron]

I find that sometimes it's big hitters that slow things down at our place. Waiting for people to clear off at 300 yards in the fairway and from 250 in to the green. Damn big hitters.

 

[Airlie_Andy]

I find that sometimes it's big hitters that slow things down at our place. Waiting for people to clear off at 300 yards in the fairway and from 250 in to the green. Damn big hitters.

Surely if they are waiting they aren't the cause? Just saying.

 

[mchacker]

We're coming to the end of our 5 day open and it's never been worse, 5hr15 on Monday and 5hrs on Tuesday, in spite of the first group of the day getting round in a little over 3hrs. If two guys in one group hit one in the jungle then hit provisionals, the whole group looks for one ball then the whole group looks for the other ball, all without even looking at the group behind.

Also there are holes which can be played as call ups that nobody ever thinks of, the 9th for example is a reachable par 5 but the 10th tee is right beside the green so you have to wait for the tee to clear. While you're waiting why not call up the group behind then play into the green as they walk up?

 

[Smiffy]

The thing that pisses me off is that the main culprits are the ones that say "it wasn't me" when you ask them why their group fell two holes behind the group in front. OK it wasn't you...but you have the ability to tell the other three in your group to pick it up a bit. But of course, if you ask any one of the other three it wasn't them either.
:angry:

 

[chrisd]

Slow play isn't often an issue at my place, but, I guess a combination of things can cause it.

If you have 4 x 18 handicappers playing then they, even if playing to their handicap, are going to play 32 more shots than a group of 4 x 10 handicaps. If each shot takes 1 minute to execute then that's half hour longer without looking for lost balls etc which is, by the law of averages, likely to be more often too.

Often, new golfers I play with don't understand the need to place their bags correctly, that 4 practise swings are 3 too many, that they can select a club whilst others are playing. I played with one newbie in a comp and it started raining, I'd out driven him and he spent ages faffing around putting his wet suit on and covering his bag etc before he played his shot whereas he could have taken 30 seconds to hit his shot first then I could play, he could tog up and, we could then move on. Most do learn to speed up fairly soon though.

The 4 ball who say that they'd have called the 3 ball through but there no where to go, yes there is, it's in front of you and through the group in front as well if the 3 ball is quicker!

All this said though, I do go out with enough time to enjoy the round and if I really wanted to run on a Sunday morning I'd go jogging!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

1) Some of the quickest players I know are 20+ handicappers and some of the slowest are single figures.
2) definately a factor
3) The 3 you mentioned aren't slow, but there are other culprits
4) I would say is more selfishness than arrogance

 

[russo]

Mentioned before but a decent tee time gap. If the pros get 10mins for a three ball surely most clubs could adopt this? That said more tee times = more players = more money. But how many of you have walked off or a quit a round due to slow play? I know I have.

Proper course "grooming". Cut down on some of the high grass rough to stop people taking their allotted 5mins search time.

probably most contentious, but my personal opinion if you will, not sure if it would even work, but to have set allocated days/times for the customers.
For example single individuals to have priority on early morning/late afternoon slots, and any groups playing in these slots to be reminded to let singles through,
societies restricted to midweek only.