Tips to help prevent slow play

[bobmac]

We have read countless posts about slow play so........

The following ideas may help speed up your round without resorting to running round the course
Please feel free to add your own.
Here's a few to get you started

Tee

• Make sure you're ready to go when it's your turn
• be ready to leave the tee when all have driven
• If in doubt, hit a provisional
• mark the scorecard AFTER you have driven if it's your honour

Fairway

• Dont wait till the other golfer has hit before you start selecting your club
• Get your yardage/wind/lie etc while the other is hitting (when it's safe to do so)
• If you are looking for a ball in trees, leave a bag out on the fairway where those behind you can see it, and...
• when it becomes obvious the ball is going to be difficult to find, call the following group through. DO NOT hunt for 5 minutes, then call them through.

Green

• when you get to the green, the person nearest the hole marks his/her ball and tends/removes the flag.
• the first person to hole out replaces the flag
• Don't wait till it's your turn to read your putt
• position your bag/trolley in the direction of the next tee.
• DO NOT shake hands/snog/exchange phone numbers/addresses on the 18th green

Your turn

 

[GB72]

May be a mad idea but I had thought that little signs in the ground near the green saying 'leave your bag here' would be a help. Certainly if you are new to the course it would mean that you know where best to park your bag between the green and the next hole and may act as a reminder to the more forgetful members.

 

[CMAC]

you should print that off and give it to everyone teeing off, get them to read it, sign they have read it then get on with it.
Apart from the last one, shaking hands after the last putt has dropped takes all of 5-10 seconds and is tradition!

 

[AxelBenito]

Maximum of 2 practice swings, not 10 like some idiot the other day.

 

[garyinderry]

i agree, shake hands on the green.

 

[chrisd]

Get your golf club to employ a marksman and ask him to shoot the last player with the honour on the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th and 15th tee as it's his bad golf that's slowing things up. Beware those who posted on the "first to be ready tees off" thread!

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Amongst us we have an unwritten rule that if anyone can play without risk of reaching those in front they may do so. Rather than one of us having to wait to be able to play and then all the others playing and leaving it short of the first player.

 

[Slab]

• Don't tee of on the 1st until the group in front has an 11 minute gap
• Don't allow your club to have a first cut of rough above 3.5"
• Insist on a scorecard that has the total elapsed time next to each hole
• Complain to Club when pin placements are at their toughest when course is at its busiest

 

[bobmac]

i agree, shake hands on the green.

I dont mind a quick hand shake as you walk off the green but some folk make a meal of it.
Hugs, kisses pats on the back, now wheres the flag, where's my bag.
After 5 hours behind that lot......GET OFF THE GREEN!!! :angry:

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Get your golf club to employ a marksman and ask him to shoot the last player with the honour on the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th and 15th tee as it's his bad golf that's slowing things up. Beware those who posted on the "first to be ready tees off" thread!

Damn, missed that one - looks like my golfing life could become much shorter.

 

[GB72]

Signs and plenty of them. Nothing worse than not knowing the way to the next tee or if the tee box is not clearly marked, that you are on the correct tee.

 

[MashieNiblick]

Good list bob. Agree with Darth, should be read out on the tee when you start a comp. You see cards with "Avoid Slow Play" on them but a lot of people don't have a clue how to.

One thing arising from the lost ball and playing out of turn threads is people who walk 50 yards across or up a fairway to help someone look for a ball but don't play their own ball first. Such a waste of time watching them walk back to their own ball after the other ball has been found.

In my experience the main area of delay is on and around the green. All the things Bob mentions; people not being ready to play or to attend or replace flag, counting strokes/debating scores after putting out etc, then ambling off, marking card right next to green, then faffing putting putter away, then walking slowly to the next tee, where it is probably their honour and their partners have been waiting 5 minutes.

 

[garyinderry]

I dont mind a quick hand shake as you walk off the green but some folk make a meal of it.
Hugs, kisses pats on the back, now wheres the flag, where's my bag.
After 5 hours behind that lot......GET OFF THE GREEN!!! :angry:

of course, it should be a quick "well played" and off you go. im usually holding the pin if ive already putted. no mucking about, theres people waiting behind you.

 

[johnboywalton]

Signs and plenty of them. Nothing worse than not knowing the way to the next tee or if the tee box is not clearly marked, that you are on the correct tee.

:thup: This is a good one, I nearly always play different courses and sometimes finding the next Tee is like a series of "Crystal Maze"

 

[jimjoachim]

I agree with the leaving the bag in the correct area so as to enable a speedy exit but what about when they process of doing so means that everyone on the green is waiting on them to mark their ball??

More often than not the closest to the hole is the last person to play on (as they are chipping on from just off the green). I would prefer they went and marked the ball before moving their trolley. Obviously taking into account the line of site of any one that is getting ready to put. Or is this poor etiquette??

 

[GB72]

:thup: This is a good one, I nearly always play different courses and sometimes finding the next Tee is like a series of "Crystal Maze"

Such a simple thing. Hard to believe that on the courses I have played only once (when I first played my current club) was I asked if anyone in the group knew the way around the course and was told where to go in areas that they felt were not obvious.

 

[MashieNiblick]

I agree with the leaving the bag in the correct area so as to enable a speedy exit but what about when they process of doing so means that everyone on the green is waiting on them to mark their ball??

More often than not the closest to the hole is the last person to play on (as they are chipping on from just off the green). I would prefer they went and marked the ball before moving their trolley. Obviously taking into account the line of site of any one that is getting ready to put. Or is this poor etiquette??

No need to wait, just ask him if it's ok to mark his ball. We do it all the time in that situation.

Rule 20-1 Lifting and Marking

"A ball to be lifted under the Rules may be lifted by the player, his partner or another person authorised by the player."

You can put it back too

Rule 20-3 Placing and Replcing

"A ball to be replaced under the Rules must be replaced by any one of the following: (i) the person who lifted or moved the ball, (ii) the player, or (iii) the player's partner."

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Signs and plenty of them.

My club has put some signs out next to hazards advising people of what type of hazard it is and what they should do/what their rights are.
This should hopefully speed up play a bit as rather than having to have a chat/disagreement about the situation you just do as advised.

 

[pbrown7582]

Some great basic points which used to be ingrained into everyone starting out and should still be, although these days even some experienced players tend not to follow these basic guidelines!
They should be printed on every card and in the rules.

 

[Monty_Brown]

I have no proof, but it's my belief that people not being ready to play when it's their turn is the biggest contributor to slow play. So, if you can get to your ball while others are lining up their shots, then do so. Then do your club selection while others are doing theirs. As soon as ball of the guy playing before you lands, then you start your preshot routine and fire.