Slow play........ What's the solution?

[bobmac]

what will is people being ready to play when it's their turn, walking at a decent pace between shots, not having a ridiculous PSR and generally not faffing about.

A decent pace to you will be too fast others and perhaps some folk like faffing around.
No-one should try and dictate to others how fast they should walk or play.
As long as slow players call the faster players through, they can play as slow as they want IMO

 

[HawkeyeMS]

A decent pace to you will be too fast others and perhaps some folk like faffing around.
No-one should try and dictate to others how fast they should walk or play.
As long as slow players call the faster players through, they can play as slow as they want IMO

Calling through is fine on a quiet course Bob, but calling through doesn't work when it's busy.

 

[bobmac]

Calling through is fine on a quiet course Bob, but calling through doesn't work when it's busy.

Post no. 43

You either make sure the slower players let faster players through (encouraged/monitored by course marshalls (stuffed or otherwise))
Or
The faster players go out first

 

[colintheb]

calling through doesn't work but it just might release stress for the group behind.

 

[delc]

Hi,

Like many clubs, mine suffers from some shocking examples of slow play and a lack of etiquette around the problem.

Now I know the correct thing to do is let's quicker groups through.

However I don't always think this helps the situation that much.

Yes the quick groups get through but the whole process of letting groups through slows the whole field down even further as inevitably the slow group is waiting to play while letting people through.

I think the solution should be something like putting "known" slower players at the back or start (with a gap) of a comp.

Slow play will eventually kill the game!

However after seeing how long the pros were taking to hit puts at the open on Thursday they aren't exactly setting a good example!!

Thoughts?
Neil (Cheshire)

How about shooting some of the slower tour players to set a good example?

 

[drdel]

Fast and Slow are subjective terms so we are never going to get full agreement.

18 holes are likely to take between 4 and 5 hours on a weekend on a relatively busy course - On days when I'm short of time I play 9 holes: unless you're in a competition how many holes you play is entirely up to the golfers.

If you are into a sport you'll find the time, Rugby and football fans will happily stand around watching their teams for well over 3 hours and probably make it a whole day out.

Most of us play a sport for enjoyment and to expect us all to rush about just like every other day of the week rather misses the point of it being fun.

Take the fun out of golf and patronage will drop.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

...Take the fun out of golf and patronage will drop.

And therein lies one big conundrum - allow a round of golf to take too long and - yup - patronage will drop

 

[delc]

Calling through is fine on a quiet course Bob, but calling through doesn't work when it's busy.

I was in the last group out in a 4BBB club match yesterday morning. There was a two-ball following us who were obviously much faster than us, but we were keeping pace with the groups ahead. I would have liked to have called them though, but they would have only been held up by the next group, and we would have been late for the post match dinner. Only just made it as it was!

 

[Slime]

And therein lies one big conundrum - allow a round of golf to take too long and - yup - patronage will drop

Force players to play faster than they'd wish - yup - patronage would drop.

Slime.

 

[pokerjoke]

I was in the last group out in a 4BBB club match yesterday morning. There was a two-ball following us who were obviously much faster than us, but we were keeping pace with the groups ahead. I would have liked to have called them though, but they would have only been held up by the next group, and we would have been late for the post match dinner. Only just made it as it was!

Imo you should have let them through and then let the other group decide wether they would or not.

The course ahead could have been clearer unless of course you could have seen 5 or 6 holes ahead.

What if you had only been on the 3rd hole and had the whole round to go?

It just goes to show that some course have got it all wrong,having 4s and 3s and 2s on the course at the same time just doesn't work.

 

[CheltenhamHacker]

Imo you should have let them through and then let the other group decide wether they would or not.

The course ahead could have been clearer unless of course you could have seen 5 or 6 holes ahead.

What if you had only been on the 3rd hole and had the whole round to go?

It just goes to show that some course have got it all wrong,having 4s and 3s and 2s on the course at the same time just doesn't work.

I completely agree about setting times on the course where it's 2 balls, or 3/4 balls (could even have it so that they tee off either the 1st or the 10th, and switch this every couple of hours.

 

[patricks148]

I was in the last group out in a 4BBB club match yesterday morning. There was a two-ball following us who were obviously much faster than us, but we were keeping pace with the groups ahead. I would have liked to have called them though, but they would have only been held up by the next group, and we would have been late for the post match dinner. Only just made it as it was!

Imo you should have let them through and then let the other group decide wether they would or not.

The course ahead could have been clearer unless of course you could have seen 5 or 6 holes ahead.

What if you had only been on the 3rd hole and had the whole round to go?

It just goes to show that some course have got it all wrong,having 4s and 3s and 2s on the course at the same time just doesn't work.

yep agree, should have let them though, if they are held up by the group in front that is a matter for them and perhaps they could have got though them as well.

Education is a factor for slow play as well, some people are unaware of etiquette and don't know they are supposed to let faster players though.

 

[StrangelyBrown]

Amongst other things, get more people carrying their bags.

My Dad, and pretty much everyone that he plays with through the week would have to give up.

Introducing people to the concept of ready golf would help.

Educating people that they should let faster players through, even if the course is busy, is the correct thing to do.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Force players to play faster than they'd wish - yup - patronage would drop.

Slime.

Is that not just what @drdel said and about which I commented that therein lies the conundrum?

 

[bobmac]

I was in the last group out in a 4BBB club match yesterday morning. There was a two-ball following us who were obviously much faster than us, but we were keeping pace with the groups ahead. I would have liked to have called them though, but they would have only been held up by the next group

How can the 4 ball in front of you call through the 2 ball if you dont let them through?
Having said that, if it was a match then it would have been in the club diary and the 2 ball should have chosen another time to play.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Imo you should have let them through and then let the other group decide wether they would or not.

The course ahead could have been clearer unless of course you could have seen 5 or 6 holes ahead.

What if you had only been on the 3rd hole and had the whole round to go?

It just goes to show that some course have got it all wrong,having 4s and 3s and 2s on the course at the same time just doesn't work.

I agree - should have offered to let the two ball play through. Our roll-up on Sat had an inter-club ladies match behind us - 8 singles pairings. The first pair caught our last 4 ball on the 3rd tee. They were immediately called through - but declined as they themselves realised that 8 singles matches going through 6 fourballs would cause a mess. But point is - they were called through.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I completely agree about setting times on the course where it's 2 balls, or 3/4 balls (could even have it so that they tee off either the 1st or the 10th, and switch this every couple of hours.

We had this - but have temporarily dumped it whole we trial our tee-booking system. It seems good idea but can be a nonsense. For instance the tee is reserved for 2 balls from 9:30am-11:30am - and so a 4 ball roll-up has to wait until 11:30am to tee off - even when no 2 balls are going off. Allow flexibility around the 11:30am window closing so that 4balls can go off sooner and you might as well not bother with the window.

And having alternate start tee can also cause consternation if you are not very careful - as it has at my place - snother reason we are trying out the tee-booking.

But we may go back to it if the tee booking trial doesn't work or go down well

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

My Dad, and pretty much everyone that he plays with through the week would have to give up.

Introducing people to the concept of ready golf would help.

Educating people that they should let faster players through, even if the course is busy, is the correct thing to do.

Quite right - but if the question is why do rounds take longer these days than they used to, then I am 100% convinced that one cause (for all the reasons expressed elsewhere in this thread) is that today the majority of players use some form of trolley - when in the past that wasn't the case. As trolleys ain't going away it then comes down to education and enforcement.

 

[Slab]

Quite right - but if the question is why do rounds take longer these days than they used to, then I am 100% convinced that one cause (for all the reasons expressed elsewhere in this thread) is that today the majority of players use some form of trolley - when in the past that wasn't the case. As trolleys ain't going away it then comes down to education and enforcement.

If the majority use a trolly and if these do indeed increase the time required for a round then there's two options, somehow make up that additional time in other aspects of the game (difficult if there's not much wiggle room) or increase the amount of time it takes to play a round such that there is zero expectation of a round being complete in xxx minutes

Hey presto no more slow play due to trolly's

 

[hovis]

When i played golf in Cyprus the group in front were given a warning by the Marshall. By the 8th hole they were still slow so the marshal said " your 35 minutes behind so can you make your way directly to the 11th tee" they wasn't happy thay they missed out holes but it done the job