Slow play? You ain't seen nothing yet

[cliveb]

My wife and I were on a weekend break and playing as a 2 ball yesterday. At the 13th hole we caught up with a 3 ball. For the remainder of the round they simply ignored us and carried on looking for balls that had gone astray. They clearly saw us waiting on every shot but didn't make any attempt to change their behaviour. But no matter, we weren't in a hurry and decided to chill out.

The 16th was a par 3 so we had to wait for them to finish it before teeing off. When we got to the 17th tee, they were standing at one of their balls, about 50 yards in front of the tee. The player proceeded to take 4 practice swings, returned to his bag, swapped to a different club, took 4 more practice swings, changed his club again, took 4 more, then finally nobbed it about 20 yards to his left. You know that saying, "if you don't laugh, you'll cry"? Well, at this point my wife and I doing both - crying with laughter.

By the time we got to the 18th green, a 4 ball who had probably been at least 4 holes behind had caught us up! Just had to share this as never before has slow play caused me so much amusement.

 

[Capella]

It's good that you could take it with humour and dd not let it spoil your round.

 

[Dan2501]

That is ridiculous. People like that shouldn't be allowed on the course.

 

[patricks148]

look on the bright side at least you didn't catch them on the first!

 

[cliveb]

It's good that you could take it with humour and dd not let it spoil your round.

Actually it did spoil my round a bit. I was on 28 points after 12, then scored just 7 more in the final 6 holes after we caught them. But hey, that's my problem for letting it put me off my rhythm.

 

[dewsweeper]

If you were not in a competition could you not have leapfrogged them?
I could never stay behind such selfish group if out playing for fun.

 

[GreiginFife]

Just back from a weekend in La Manga and we played the North Course on Saturday and the West Course on Sunday.
Saturday was 5 hours and that was with Buggies, 4 balls as far as the eye could see but it wasn't too bad as the North is a big ole course.
The West is shorter but is much tighter and, in my very humble opinion, not one I would put beginners to the game on - solely for fear of destroying their soul and their interest in the game...
Anyway, we got stuck behind a two ball that were, how shall we say, not enjoying their day and were teeing off from wherever they fancied not hitting a single fairway or green off their special teeing ground.
5 hours 50 minutes to get round in 32 degree heat and no buggies. It was tough.

But what a course, doglegs everywhere, some greater than 90 degrees. Tight fairways and so so many trees (hence why I personally feel it not a good beginner course).

 

[Russ_D]

I think if you can keep your sense of humour then being held up isnt too bad. I normally use being held up as a chance to get a drink and a bite to eat. The one thing my and my bro in law often do is to provide on course style (in a hushed tone of course) commentary. Something along the lines of:
"well Russ, Numpty No 1 has got to his ball and has about 150 to the pin"
"thats right Jimmy, he's got 9 iron in his hand, so he's either Tiger in disguise or completely deluded"

Numpty 1 plays the shot.
" ooh thats a bad miss, he's now left with 140 to the pin, thats bound to be his PW"

We've not been caught yet but you have to keep the sniggering to a minimum

 

[TonyN]

Did you ask to go through?

I would have politely asked to play through, with any refusal I would have politely pointed out why they should be allowing me through.

Not many people say no when you ask nicely.

 

[cliveb]

Did you ask to go through?

I would have politely asked to play through, with any refusal I would have politely pointed out why they should be allowing me through.

Not many people say no when you ask nicely.

We could have asked and probably they would have been happy to let us play through. But we were on a relaxed weekend break and weren't really that bothered.

We weren't angry about not being let through (notwithstanding the fact that my game did kind of fall apart - but as I said earlier, that's my problem). I just posted about the hilarious antics on 17 because I found it pretty funny.

 

[Capella]

Did you ask to go through?

I would have politely asked to play through, with any refusal I would have politely pointed out why they should be allowing me through.

Not many people say no when you ask nicely.

The problem with that is that you never really come into a comfortable talking distance. You'd have to jog up to them and then back to whereever you are supposed to hit your next shot from. Many problems with slow play could be solved with more communication between the groups, but it is a bit difficult to communicate in a polite and soically acceptable manner, when you have to yell at the top of your lungs to make yourself heard.

 

[patricks148]

The problem with that is that you never really come into a comfortable talking distance. You'd have to jog up to them and then back to whereever you are supposed to hit your next shot from. Many problems with slow play could be solved with more communication between the groups, but it is a bit difficult to communicate in a polite and soically acceptable manner, when you have to yell at the top of your lungs to make yourself heard.

you see this quite often, people hang back and never get close enough to say something to the group coursing the hold up. sometimes you have to take the bull by the balls get close to them and let them know they are holding you up

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

We could have asked and probably they would have been happy to let us play through. But we were on a relaxed weekend break and weren't really that bothered.

I'm assuming from this that there were no groups behind you who would maybe have liked to play a bit quicker?

 

[ScienceBoy]

I've had a great idea! Everyone should carry a special rubber ball, enough to go 100 yards but not hurt anyone.

If the ball rolls up to you then you should consider letting the group behind through!

 

[patricks148]

I've had a great idea! Everyone should carry a special rubber ball, enough to go 100 yards but not hurt anyone.

If the ball rolls up to you then you should consider letting the group behind through!

all well and good but what would you do if you lost your rubber ball attempting to hit into the group in front???

 

[ScienceBoy]

all well and good but what would you do if you lost your rubber ball attempting to hit into the group in front???

Tie a string to it first? What can go wrong?

 

[cliveb]

I'm assuming from this that there were no groups behind you who would maybe have liked to play a bit quicker?

Correct. We were being followed by a 4 ball, and by the time we caught the 3 ball at the 13th, the 4 ball was probably about 4 holes back. By the time we finished on the 18th green, I saw that the 4 ball was coming down the 18th fairway (!)

 

[Slab]

all well and good but what would you do if you lost your rubber ball attempting to hit into the group in front???

I'm thinking 'provisional' rubber ball with 5 minute time limit to find 1st, (must announce it as provisional of course, provisional can continue as the rubber ball in play until it goes past the point you expect the 1st to be. Rubber ball in hazard - follow normal rules for type of hazard. Rubber ball OOB add stroke add distance to real ball score. Never play a yellow rubber ball

Other rules for letting groups through:
Never let a group through if one of the group is wearing a black glove
You ain't passing if your shoes are manky
Never let a group through if there's a junior in it
Never let a group through if they use the word 'bud' when addressing you
Never let anyone with a full size tour bag through (that goes for rangefinders and battery trollies too)
Never let a player through who's wearing white trousers (white shorts are OK)
Never let a player through who's golf shoes have that flappy bit of leather over the laces with the fringe cut into it


While the above may not all get adopted I think I've cracked the issue with the 'they wont let us pass' groups. The passing group must give one shiney new (decent) ball each to the group in front
That way the slow group (prob lost some balls anyway) get a nice reward and the speed merchants need to pay to use the toll-route!

 

[Smiffy]

I've had a great idea! Everyone should carry a special rubber ball, enough to go 100 yards but not hurt anyone.

My "normal" ball only goes that far.

 

[351DRIVER]

I'm thinking 'provisional' rubber ball with 5 minute time limit to find 1st, (must announce it as provisional of course, provisional can continue as the rubber ball in play until it goes past the point you expect the 1st to be. Rubber ball in hazard - follow normal rules for type of hazard. Rubber ball OOB add stroke add distance to real ball score. Never play a yellow rubber ball

Other rules for letting groups through:
Never let a group through if one of the group is wearing a black glove
You ain't passing if your shoes are manky
Never let a group through if there's a junior in it
Never let a group through if they use the word 'bud' when addressing you
Never let anyone with a full size tour bag through (that goes for rangefinders and battery trollies too)
Never let a player through who's wearing white trousers (white shorts are OK)
Never let a player through who's golf shoes have that flappy bit of leather over the laces with the fringe cut into it


While the above may not all get adopted I think I've cracked the issue with the 'they wont let us pass' groups. The passing group must give one shiney new (decent) ball each to the group in front
That way the slow group (prob lost some balls anyway) get a nice reward and the speed merchants need to pay to use the toll-route!

Most of your rules seem very reasonable to me...

The worst case of slow play i ever encountered as was at Penina getting on for 6 and a half hours it almost reached 110f that day, we were stuck behind a 5 BALL! and witnessed a 22 on a par 3 with NO lost balls!

Just typing about this incident 20 years ago gives me the shivers, horrendous experience