Slow play

[Deleted member 15344]

Don't be ridiculous. It's no more dangerous than simply being on a golf course in the first place. People will be watching their own ball that they've hit and perfectly capable of shouting fore.

No of course there's no need, there's also no need for people to use Aimpoint or rangefinders or whatever other stuff has been spouted in this thread, but I thought we were spitballing ideas to quicken rounds up that's all.

Ok he is a situation - we both have hit tee shots , I’m 40 yards down the fairway to the right from you , we both hit our second shots and you slice top yours to the right going towards me but I can’t see it because I’m concentrating on my ball - can you really not see the dangers involved with players hitting at the same time.

 

[Orikoru]

Ok he is a situation - we both have hit tee shots , I’m 40 yards down the fairway to the right from you , we both hit our second shots and you slice top yours to the right going towards me but I can’t see it because I’m concentrating on my ball - can you really not see the dangers involved with players hitting at the same time.

If you check back I intimated that players were on opposite sides of the fairway and not one in front of the other. Plus if you're the one 40 yards up on the right nobody is forcing you to hit it. Just saying that you should have the option to hit at the same time as the chap on the left if you want to. It's not a big deal is it? Use common sense.

 

[timd77]

5 hours.

Thats the thing. For me there is nothing wrong in what you say. As long as people dont then whine about slow play or that the round took 5 hours and should only take 3 and a half.

I agree, a half an hour here or there is nothing in the total time one puts to playing golf.

Fundamentally I am OK with all the time consuming add-ons (well, aimpoint. Thats a non golf abomination) of the last 40 years, and people not feeling rushed. But dont care for the hypocrisy of people who have their own preferred mix of peripheral actions, yet then still complain about pace of play.

Feel like I’m a paradoxical universe talking about hitting shots simultaneously. Just seems totally unnecessary. Our course is 6400 yards long, comp is 110-130 entrants pretty much every Saturday, every tee time full, busy course, I don’t think it’s ever taken much more than 4 hours, averages maybe 3h45m for a 3 ball, and I play around 8.30-9, the peak time.

Like I say, I’m out if golf became a race to get around, no talking, no time to consider your shot etc. Madness.

 

[Imurg]

We'll be advocating teeing off before your partners have finished the previous hole next....
Whilst in no way in favour of 5 hour rounds, what's with the sudden need to get round as fast as humanly possible..?

 

[Jimaroid]

Nobody is advocating simultaneously play from a tee.

I think you’re smart enough to know its implied in asking why do people stop and wait. It applies to putting too. If you extend this train of thought you may as well ask why do people even play in groups? Why not just let every player play the course as fast as they like?

The answer is pretty simple. It’s because golf is not a race against the clock. It would be chaos and stupid if it was.

If people care that much about getting around in 3 hours or less they should play more Greensomes. It’s a fast format, I mean it’s rubbish to play, but it is fast.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

If people want to get around as quick as possible then play speed golf - there are comps and courses that cater for it

Slow play isn’t about getting around the course as quick as possible ensuring a target is met

It’s about going around the course be aware of being up with the group in front and not holding up the group behind but if you can’t keep up then allow other groups to go through

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Keep the rough down, particularly in and around trees. The slowest rounds I come across are when people spend time looking for balls that really you should be able to find. That doesn't mean having no rough, just think about where it is and the impact of having it there.

 

[GB72]

My old course suffered from a general lack of marshaling, as in there was none. Just to have a couple of people in buggies keeping an eye on pace of play, speeding people up, mandating play throughs etc. Do that for a few months and people will realise what is expected (thought they should know but clearly do not) and it would hopefully trigger the necessary behaviour change in those that need it.

With casual play, the club could have played more of a part, not in speeding up rounds but in getting an even pace. Pairing up as many groups as possible to get 3 or 4 balls would have helped. We used to have a problem on Saturday mornings when the team golfers would try to speed through 9 holes or more before heading off to a match. You then had 2 balls trying to race though a course full of predominantly 3 or 4 balls and so slowing up everybody else as they played through.

Problem is, some clubs I see run on cliques and hierarchies. Some believe that they own the course, others believe that they are so important that they warrant preferential treatment and the clubs were happy to allow that.

I am in a minority of 1 but I think golf would be a far more relaxing sport if there was no playing through, you just kept your place on the course. Nobody charging up behind, no pressure to dash after a group in front, just a relaxing 18 holes played at whatever pace the course is playing. Then again, I never used to play if I had something to do afterwards.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

So we just let players on the course with the fitness of a teenager and exclude the rest we'll have the foundation for 2 1/2 hour rounds?... Hold on though, I guess you'd be in your 70's now and maybe unable to keep the same pace you did back then. Time to hang up the boots maybe

One of the reasons I gave up golf in my 70's was constantly being held up by teenage hackers and lycra clad middle aged posers taking 5 hours to complete a task that I would take 3 hours to do.

 

[JonnyGutteridge]

We'll be advocating teeing off before your partners have finished the previous hole next....
Whilst in no way in favour of 5 hour rounds, what's with the sudden need to get round as fast as humanly possible..?

Haven’t you played at Rye?

In foursomes, after walking off the 1st green, one playing partner goes to the 2nd tee (par 3) to tee off which is 75 yards back the way you came from, and the other goes to the 3rd tee to tee off, which is about 75 yards beyond the 1st green.

Then, after teeing off on the 3rd, you go to play the ball on the 2nd hole wherever your partner has hit it. In my case, I was able to lag the putt to gimme range. My partner was still 75 yards back from the green and I just shouted “you’re 250 down the middle of the 3rd mate” and then walked straight up to greenside of the 3rd to wait for his approach shot

We got round both times in 3 hours.

 

[Backsticks]

I think you’re smart enough to know its implied in asking why do people stop and wait. It applies to putting too. If you extend this train of thought you may as well ask why do people even play in groups? Why not just let every player play the course as fast as they like?

It isnt implied at all, nor explicitly mentioned.
People can hit a ball 20, 30,40,50 yards from each other without issue. They cannot play from the same teeing ground without hitting each other. They cannot putt at the same time without a high risk of balls colliding.

 

[Pants]

One of the reasons I gave up golf in my 70's was constantly being held up by teenage hackers and lycra clad middle aged posers taking 5 hours to complete a task that I would take 3 hours to do.

Give it a rest Doon. For a couple of years you became reasonably sensible with your posts but you are now drifting back to your earlier self.

 

[JonnyGutteridge]

I think the problem is, people are slow for so many different reasons. Walk slow, don’t get ready before playing partners hit, lots of practice swings, long pre shot routine, take lots of shots, aim point, circling the hole etc.

And you can end up in a combo of several players who are each slow in their own separate ways, and it compounds really.

We took almost 4 hrs 30 to get around Hayling last week. It was just a queue on every tee and fairway. Their members probably get around there in 3hrs 30 maximum - it’s not even a long course or long walk. Just so much ambling going on!

 

[clubchamp98]

Slowest player I ever played with was a young man off +4 he was a nightmare.
play regular golf with a 74 yr old off 26 one of the quickest.

It’s not age or ability it’s just people some are slow some are fast.
Most are just normal. Whatever that is.

There are lots of things that slow us down but usually it’s the game in front.
so all the time saving ideas would just have us waiting on the next tee for an extra 30/60 seconds.

 

[GB72]

I think the problem is, people are slow for so many different reasons. Walk slow, don’t get ready before playing partners hit, lots of practice swings, long pre shot routine, take lots of shots, aim point, circling the hole etc.

And you can end up in a combo of several players who are each slow in their own separate ways, and it compounds really.

We took almost 4 hrs 30 to get around Hayling last week. It was just a queue on every tee and fairway. Their members probably get around there in 3hrs 30 maximum - it’s not even a long course or long walk. Just so much ambling going on!

The guest player is a significant factors. Golfers who do not know their way around and also want to get the most out of their green fee so will not pick up on a hole like a member might. Part of the reason why societies and green fees can be slower.

OK, I have not been for a couple of years but, considering the comments made on this thread, you would be surprised to hear that the GM HFH day has been some of the slowest rounds of golf I have played. I always enjoyed them as it is great to take your time and chat when you are held up but I am not sure I have taken part in one that was much under 5 hours a round.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Ah…slow play…but same as it ever was. In his The Complete Golfer (1904-1925 Eds) Harry Vardon wrote on four-ball version of foursomes…

’The new foursome is also a selfish game, because it is generally played with too little regard for the convenience and feelings of other golfers on the links. It is very slow, and couples coming up behind, who do not always care to ask to be allowed to go through, are often irritated beyond measure as they wait while four balls are played through the green in front of them, and eight putts are taken on the putting green. The constant waiting puts them off their game and spoils their day’

And he continued in the same critical vein describing the marking, lifting etc that goes on when four are putting, especially in a match situation when debate about order of putting ensues and slows things down.

I think we can deduce what Vardon thought of four-ball golf, and that 100 yrs ago the same debates on slow speed were being had between players wherever they played and whenever they met.

However on pace of play he also wrote.

’Never hurry when playing a match or a medal round, or indeed any kind of golf. Haste will affect your nerves and spoil you play. The record for playing a round in the shortest possible space of time is not worth the holding. Take time enough, but don’t be unnecessarily slow’.

Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.

 

[Voyager EMH]

What I genuinely find is those that are pointing out others that are the slower players are most likely slow themselves

You have pointed yourself out as a likely slow player with that remark, since you have pointed out some slow players.

 

[Deleted member 31467]

2 players hitting at the same time really is not an option. Apart from any safety issues there is also the possibility of putting another player off his shot.

 

[Swango1980]

2 players hitting at the same time really is not an option. Apart from any safety issues there is also the possibility of putting another player off his shot.

And that is the most obvious point. The number of times a golfer grunts or swears after a poorly executed shot would be pretty off putting if you are just about to unleash with your own shot.

 

[rulefan]

2 players hitting at the same time really is not an option. Apart from any safety issues there is also the possibility of putting another player off his shot.

And isn't there a convention that players will watch each other's line to be able to help in case of a wayward shot?