Slow play today

[rosecott]

There seems to be a lot of comment on slow play today on other threads. Is it a combination of warmer air, dry fairways, fast greens or something else? Medal Strokeplay comp at ours today - first group out finished on 4 hours 5 minutes, the second group 1 hour 10 minutes later. Conditions were tough but 5 1/4 hours in this heat!

 

[Imurg]

Certainly at my place, the grass is growing like it's going out of fashion and the greenkeepers are struggling to keep up with it.
Rough is getting longer and thicker, balls are getting lost or needing the 5 minutes to find them - it all helps to slow play. Hitting a provisional isn't the answer if you've hit the first cut where under normal circumstances you'd walk straight to it - a bit like Murph's in his Shortest Medal thread.
Fairways are firming up, so are the mounds around our greens. Last week I over shot by about 3-4 yards a couple of times and it took a couple of minutes to find the ball - about 20 yards on from where you'd normally expect it.
On one par 4, there's a group of trees about 240 out and on the right of the right hand side of the rough - nearly on the next fairway. Now I know it takes a poor shot to get there and I appreciate that, but when I put a drive in there last week the rough and Cow Parsley were about a foot and a half high! If I'd found the ball I couldn't have played it.

 

[williamalex1]

There seems to be a lot of comment on slow play today on other threads. Is it a combination of warmer air, dry fairways, fast greens or something else? Medal Strokeplay comp at ours today - first group out finished on 4 hours 5 minutes, the second group 1 hour 10 minutes later. Conditions were tough but 5 1/4 hours in this heat!

this calls for a paid course ranger patroling the course moving these guys along. 1hr 10mins behind the game in front , that can't be right. was there a gap in the tee off times ? if not these people must think they own the course and should be told they don't.also the first game out shouldn't be taking over 4hours

 

[GB72]

Nice to see that my club is at least doing something about pace of play. This has been sent to all members and is on a newsletter on every table in the club.

Slow Play & Course Congestion​

The Committeehave been monitoring pace of play and course usage. The conclusion is thatthere are certain times of the week when the course gets very busy and the paceof play becomes unacceptable. Potentially this will only get worse if/when therough grows. The Committee wished to release the following reminders:​

• A 4ball shouldbe able to complete 18 holes in 4 hours or under. Obviously 3balls and 2 ballsshould be quicker than this. Next time you go out, time yourself.​

• If you hityour ball into the rough and you think it may be difficult to find, always play a provisional.​

• Be aware ofyour position with regard to the group in front and keep up with that group. ​

• If you feelthat your group is losing ground, tell the other players in your group. ​

• If yourgroup is behind, try to catch up. ​

• If you losea clear hole and are delaying the group behind, or if there is no group infront of you and you are delaying the group behind, invite the group behind toplay through. ​

• Be ready toplay your shot. While exercising due consideration for other players in yourgroup, put your glove on, check your yardage, pick your club and line up yourputt while others are playing. ​

• At thegreen, speed up your exit by positioning your bags on the way to the next tee. ​

• Move off thegreen as soon as all players in your group have holed out and mark score cardsat or on the way to the next tee. ​

​

Please would all golfers consider these pointsand try to do your bit to speed up the pace of play. In doing so, you will makeit much more enjoyable for all.

​

 

[Imurg]

1hr 10mins behind the game in front , that can't be right. was there a gap in the tee off times ? if not these people must think they own the course and should be told they don't.also the first game out shouldn't be taking over 4hours

It all depends on the circumstances.
If a round normally takes 3 hours, what happens if, on each hole, a ball is lost and 5 minutes is spent looking for it?
That adds 90 minutes to the round without taking anything else into consideration.

Also the 2nd group in may have been the 3rd or 4th group out - they may have been held up and may actually have made good time....

You can't generalise - you need to know all the facts.

 

[mcbroon]

Ridiculous. I played with my old man last night (bounce game admittedly, but still) and we were done in 2h 40mins. There's no good reason to take more than 5 hours to get round 18 holes.

 

[williamalex1]

It all depends on the circumstances.
If a round normally takes 3 hours, what happens if, on each hole, a ball is lost and 5 minutes is spent looking for it?
That adds 90 minutes to the round without taking anything else into consideration.

Also the 2nd group in may have been the 3rd or 4th group out - they may have been held up and may actually have made good time....

You can't generalise - you need to know all the facts.

even if a game has been waived thro, it still shouldn't take an extra 1hr 10 mins. for the next game to arrive on the last green,if a ball is seen to be hard to find , the game behind should be waived thro ,as soon as poss. not after searching for 5 mins. and then doing it

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We have some areas of rough that are very heavy. They aren't actually that far off line on a lot of holes and in my opinion are way too deep. You simply can't find the ball in there and if you are lucky enough to locate it then most players simply can't move it. It doesn't need to be that deep to be penal and it really does slow the pace of play up. Even if you do the right thing and let others through while you look, there is the inevitable hanging around as the group go ahead. For the calibre of average club golfer it is too much and I think the club need to look at themselves for letting it get that bad whenever slow play is mentioned. Surely it is a two way street and they have to provide a course that is challneging without crucifying players and players need to do the right thing and let others through

 

[Imurg]

even if a game has been waved thro, it still shouldn't take an extra 1hr 10 mins. for the next game to arrive on the last green,

See another of my posts above - a missing ball on each hole (or 18 over the course of a round) adds an hour and a half to a round.

You also don't know how long they were held up for.

Assume that group 1 didn't have to look for a ball and go round in 4 hours.
Group 4 gets held up by groups 2 and 3 and have to search for a ball a dozen times during a round - that makes them going round in pushing 5 1/2 hours.....

Unless you know exactly the circumstances you can't pin the blame on anyone or group.

 

[CMAC]

Ridiculous. I played with my old man last night (bounce game admittedly, but still) and we were done in 2h 40mins. There's no good reason to take more than 5 hours to get round 18 holes.

Played a championship course set up for a European tour event- 4 ball, someone in the rough at least once per hole, really thick rough immediately off the fairway, 5 hrs 45 mins and we weren't dallying between shots. There can be reasons.!

 

[DaveM]

Fun and games today. Late tee time and by the time we got to about the 14th. Loads of Daisy's at sprung into flower on the fairway. It was hard work finding a white ball even if it was in the middle of the fairway. Never known it to happen before!

 

[williamalex1]

Fun and games today. Late tee time and by the time we got to about the 14th. Loads of Daisy's at sprung into flower on the fairway. It was hard work finding a white ball even if it was in the middle of the fairway. Never known it to happen before!

your greenkeeper needs to work fast and get spraying , this can slow play up. almost as much as heavy rough

 

[bobmac]

You can't generalise - you need to know all the facts.

I hear what you are saying but a gap that big must not be allowed to open up, especially in the heat.
Thats about a 4-5 hole gap at that pace.
A course marshall should be monitoring things if it's a regular problem.

 

[pbrown7582]

We have to enter start and FINISH time on our cards DQ for incorrect card if not so the committee can monitor where the slow play is occurring and to see if there are particular culprits.

 

[Imurg]

I hear what you are saying but a gap that big must not be allowed to open up, especially in the heat.
Thats about a 4-5 hole gap at that pace.
A course marshall should be monitoring things if it's a regular problem.

Don't get me wrong Bob, not condoning that size gap and Marshalling should be used but without knowing who's holding who up for how long + any other circumstances you don't know if a decent pace was kept by the group over an hour behind.
It's too easy to just look at the amount of time spent on the course and say that it's taken too long......

 

[bobmac]

We have to enter start and FINISH time on our cards DQ for incorrect card if not so the committee can monitor where the slow play is occurring and to see if there are particular culprits.

The problem there is it's too late, the round is finished

Don't get me wrong Bob, not condoning that size gap and Marshalling should be used but without knowing who's holding who up for how long + any other circumstances you don't know if a decent pace was kept by the group over an hour behind.
It's too easy to just look at the amount of time spent on the course and say that it's taken too long......

Make sure the Course marshall has a copy of the start sheet then. Plus, anyone can tell if a group is slow or not just by watching them play for 5 minutes.
If the club has its 'suspects' then the marshall can monitor their progress. If they lose a hole, they can be asked to catch up. If after a few holes, they dont catch up then they are TOLD to stand aside and call the following group through.
They'll soon get the message.
You might upset a few but the majority behind will be happy that something is being done.

 

[Imurg]

Make sure the Course marshall has a copy of the start sheet then. Plus, anyone can tell if a group is slow or not just by watching them play for 5 minutes.
If the club has its 'suspects' then the marshall can monitor their progress. If they lose a hole, they can be asked to catch up. If after a few holes, they dont catch up then they are TOLD to stand aside and call the following group through.
They'll soon get the message.
You might upset a few but the majority behind will be happy that something is being done.

Couldn't agree more....

 

[chris661]

your greenkeeper needs to work fast and get spraying , this can slow play up. almost as much as heavy rough

The problem is you can only spray them once they "flower" as it doesn't work before that.

 

[AmandaJR]

The daisies do make ball hunting more difficult but you can while away the hours waiting for those up front to get a move on by making daisy chains?? I used to love making those...still do in fact

 

[bladeplayer]

We have to enter start and FINISH time on our cards DQ for incorrect card if not so the committee can monitor where the slow play is occurring and to see if there are particular culprits.

So if you are behind a slow group or two every week who wouldnt let you through are you then seen as a culprit also ? despite waiting to play on most holes ..
As Imurg said earlier you cant genaralise , a couple of years back in an open the marshal approached us on the 10th fairway to inform us we had lost a hole and a bit on the group ahead & we were delaying the group on the tee , we had better speed up .. i informed him we had been held up since the 6th & the group behind had just allowed us through on the 10th tee , his answer was "oh i wasnt aware of that & to catch up the group ahead" i told him to get his facts straight before accusing people without monitoring the cause first & we will play at an acceptable pace but will not race to catch the group ahead ,