Tips for how best to manage your game after delays...

[Chippy]

Does anyone have any good tips for how best to manage your game/swing when you get held up on the course..?

I can be playing well and then for whatever reason, get held up, even for a relatively short time and my next shot tends to be a very poor one...

 

[Slab]

Welcome

I guess its more a question for you. Do you know why your next shot is poor i.e to you, why is a shot played after a delay any different to any other shot that you play. What are you doing differently? It seems clear you're changing something or is it something in your head or the way you feel about that shot that makes it different to a 'normal' shot?

How do you feel when you're held up? (you may well be overthinking things)

 

[Chippy]

To be honest, I don't know why... I play off of 10.2 and strike the ball well (putt poorly but that's another issue)... I've tried taking practice swings (I don't normally) but after a delay, I tend to hit it fat...
In terms of feeling, I tend to feel frustrated...

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

I play on weekday mornings, and playing on weekdays means lots of seniors and women. Here we learn that patience is a virtue.
Learn to relax when delayed. Take a sip from your water bottle or grab a protein bar from your bag. Double check your GPS. Joke with your playing partners. Scan the landscape for hot grannies. (They don't look like my two grannies anymore, you know.) Most importantly, visualize your next shot as well as you can.

I hit some of my best shots in these situations.

 

[Slab]

Playing off 10 you don't need me to tell you that if you step up to hit the ball and feel frustrated... its not going top go well

 

[Oddsocks]

For me if I’m held up I never practice swing or attempt to fill the time as it causes exactly what the op is experiencing. I don’t start club selection, thought process or pre shot routine until it’s time to hit otherwise I over think is and get stuck in my own mind.

 

[Chippy]

For me if I’m held up I never practice swing or attempt to fill the time as it causes exactly what the op is experiencing. I don’t start club selection, thought process or pre shot routine until it’s time to hit otherwise I over think is and get stuck in my own mind.

Thanks - I'll try that!

 

[Chippy]

Playing off 10 you don't need me to tell you that if you step up to hit the ball and feel frustrated... its not going top go well

Fair point...

 

[Oddsocks]

Thanks - I'll try that!

no probs, it kept me sane during two 5 1/2 rounds on our club champs!

I find in delays you have a couple of swings “ oh that don’t feel right “ , then you start tinkering, questioning club, second guessing wind and pin position... the list is endless.

Engage in some good old fashion p*** taking to fill the time ?

 

[ScienceBoy]

I have found the worst thing to do is try and play faster, it never helps on a backed up course.

A measured, patient approach works well. Best to save the "ready golf" until your group can actually play safely.

 

[Orikoru]

Have a chat with one of your fellow players, or check your phone for a bit - whatever takes your mind off golf until you're able to play. Rather than having 20 practise swings trying to stay loose and it messes up your normal shot routine, or thinking too long about the shot and over-thinking it bringing doubt into your mind - I find it better to forget the golf altogether for a few minutes, then when you notice it's clear you can go into your normal routine.

There's only so much you can do though, I always play better when I can play at my own speed, even with the above. But if I think about my shot for too long I'm certainly more likely to duff it so I try not to.

 

[patricks148]

this is something i find very frustrating too.

If you look at the pro's they have very regimented PSR and they don't tend to go into them until its time to play.

personally i like to play quick, walk to the ball, one Practice swing if that and hit, but if its very slow and you are waiting, don't touch the club you are going to use until its time to go. relax, chat to playing partners and keep thoughts of the next shot out of your mind. i find playing a fave song in your head until then works for me.

i then just do as i normally would if i hadn't waited.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

If you ever find out the answer, let me know. Wrecks my game most times tbh, hence why I tend to play early or late in the day.

I have tried over the last year or so, walking from person to person in the fourball whilst they play their shots, just to slow everything down. Which has worked a couple of times and helps takes the mind off how slow the game is.

Best of luck!

 

[Chippy]

Thanks very much guys - this has been very helpful

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I'll have a chat; but that isn't always appropriate so I also take the opportunity to cleans grooves of my irons; have a sip or three or four of water; have a sweet - offer a sweet.

But often I'll just make use of the time to look around and take in the beauty of my surroundings - notice the birds, the trees, hills in the distance (not that they are very high or wild near my place ) , the sound of the wind - and be grateful for blessings bestowed that enable me to be playing - and playing where I am playing. All just to prevent me getting frustrated and for me it's my frustrations that will lead me to rushing things after a delay - and when I rush - I mess.

 

[Jacko_G]

Another slow play epidemic thread. It really is the scourge of golf. And yet we still get people who insist they'll take 4/4.5 hours because they can.

Slow play is the "silent killer of golf" and it effects everyone.

 

[Curls]

I'm in the game ruined camp. I prefer quick paced golf, though if it starts measured and stays at that pace I can cope fine. It's when I start fast and run into slow moving traffic and start getting is the problem, and I think the answer really is in a deliberate PSR.

My problem is that the minute the way is clear to take the shot, I rush it, trying to get out of the way of the other poor souls behind me, like it's my fault.

And there's the difference. If you're retired and have all day to walk around, you don't really care what the pace is. I'm too considerate and feel the annoyance of every other player regardless of whether its my fault or there's anything I can do about it. Other than rush my shot, see my game go to pieces, and lament another day on the course ruined by those who won't let faster groups through "cos there's nowhere to go mate", when clearly there is.

Slow play thread #1,358,290.

 

[MikeB]

Don't start cursing the group you perceive to be causing the hold up. As SILH said, relax & take in the scenery and recognise how lucky we are to be able to spend a few hours in such a place.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

Another slow play epidemic thread. It really is the scourge of golf. And yet we still get people who insist they'll take 4/4.5 hours because they can.

Slow play is the "silent killer of golf" and it effects everyone.

I just can't see where 4½ hours is that long for a round of golf.
I'm glad that I play with my peers and not the young lion crowd.
As for four hours flat, that's the stated goal for an American round. That's the target time.
I can't imagine anybody finding four hours to be slow.

The "silent killer of golf" in America, particularly coastal America, is that real estate is to valuable to keep tied up as golf courses. They're being sold to developers in droves.

 

[Jacko_G]

I just can't see where 4½ hours is that long for a round of golf.
I'm glad that I play with my peers and not the young lion crowd.
As for four hours flat, that's the stated goal for an American round. That's the target time.
I can't imagine anybody finding four hours to be slow.

The "silent killer of golf" in America, particularly coastal America, is that real estate is to valuable to keep tied up as golf courses. They're being sold to developers in droves.

If you can't get round a course in less than 4.5 in a cart ( I may be wrongly assuming) then you shouldn't be on the course.

I was 2 hours 20 minutes the other day as a single that included getting held up twice, and holing out. You hit it and you walk. Simple