What does your club do about slow play?

[bobmac]

My point is everyone is different.
Some like to play slowly
Some like to play quickly.

If the slow players go out first, they force the quick players to play at their slow speed which isn't right.

I also think it's wrong to tell slower players to play faster if they dont want to.

My way you have everyone playing at a speed they enjoy.

If the slow players have to play early, they should be told to call faster players through and that's the real problem.
Alot of them dont.

That's when a course marshall would have to ask them to call a group through if it is obvious the group behind are being held up.

 

[Oddsocks]

surefire hit the nail on the head.

Somepeople work in offices and are cooped up like chickens 5/6 days a week, if their out in the fresh air they want to poodle around and enjoy it.

Bob could be onto something with teh sad rating, id personally like to see our weekly swindle chopped in half. its getting their slowly but we are now finding the slower players are getting more pushed towards the later tee slots, and the quicker players pushed up front. We was in group 5 of 7 sunday morning, and we had 2 clear holes on 6 and 7 by the time we had finished, yet had been held alot through the round. I dont like to rush my game, but i also cant stand 5 hour rounds.

At the start of there i was running a society, we split the 4 highest handicappers/slowest players up so each group was effective 3 average level players and 1 slow player, this also worked well, but you could see some players who took it serious had a winge about a slower player being in their group

 

[SwingSlow]

Just changed the format for the scorecard, which now includes timings against each hole, so that you know where you should be by when. This is in addition to the usual signs in the club-house and by the starter's hut with the expected total time for the round.

Course ranger will also have a word where there are particular offenders.

 

[Oddsocks]

That's when a course marshall would have to ask them to call a group through if it is obvious the group behind are being held up.

Bob sometimes the marshalls are next to useless too.

I played a 2 ball round at purley oaks in the summer. we tee'd of at 9am and was basically following a 4 ball playing their medal round, the group before them went off at 8.10 so effectively that had 50 mins of clear course in front of them.

The first is a short par 3 and from the second tee (average par 4) we was being held on every shot. when we got to our where our drives had finished on the second the course marshall arrives in he's buggy and says " their the last group of the monthly medal, but its clear in front so ive told them to let you through ASAP "

We proceeded to wait on every dam shot for the hole 18 holes with no one letting us through. on the 10th (i think) it was a par 3 slightly downhill around 330 yards. the marshall is on the green in hes buggy talking to them so i decided to drive the ball. as luck would have it i cought the drive spot on and with hard summer bounces and a slightly downhill run my ball rolls to the back of the green while one of them is putting out. i get a funny look so i put my hand up to acknowledge the look but it was my polite way of nudging them as we had been held for 10 holes solid. they were a 4 ball walking and we were a 2 ball in a buggy.

By the 15th we had been cought up by two ladies in their mid to late 50's and asked why we were playing so slow, we were still waiting for the guys in front to putt out. it turns out that we had gone off at 9am, and these two older ladies had tee off at 9.55. they had chased down a 55min gap and was now waiting on us.

when we got in one of the guys in the group in front remarked "long round that aye las" and laughed.... one proceeded to blow he's fuse which was not appriciated. My point is marshalls seem spineless also, and 5 1/2 hours to play a 2 ball round in a buggy is just bloody rediculous.

 

[Macster]

Seems to 'self-police' @ our club, and a Medal 3Ball averages out at approx 3.5hrs, give or take.
Sure, we have some 'slow' groups, but nothing that gets on top of everyone.

Personally, I think too many people play 'too fast' anyway, and then wonder why they havent scored well !

 

[JustOne]

My point is everyone is different.
Some like to play slowly
Some like to play quickly.

If the slow players go out first, they force the quick players to play at their slow speed which isn't right.

Don't the quick players have the option to get out of bed a bit earlier then?

 

[bobmac]

My point is everyone is different.
Some like to play slowly
Some like to play quickly.

If the slow players go out first, they force the quick players to play at their slow speed which isn't right.

Don't the quick players have the option to get out of bed a bit earlier then?

Absolutely, but in Homers case, the dawdlers hog the first tee from first light

 

[jammydodger]

My point is everyone is different.
Some like to play slowly
Some like to play quickly.

If the slow players go out first, they force the quick players to play at their slow speed which isn't right.

Don't the quick players have the option to get out of bed a bit earlier then?

No point at our place cos the you cant get an early tee time due to the usual old mafia block booking

Theres no booking allowed until 2 weeks before so my mate gets up and decides he'll book an early slot for 2 weeks time. He phones the pro shop nice and early (7.30 ish) but theres no answer so he keeps phoning until its answered at 0810. sorry says the bird in there but i've had car trouble and only just got in. No probs says my mate and could he book an early slot for 2 weeks time , thinking crikey I must be the first to book. The earliest she could do was 0914 !!! How did everyone get to book when you've only just arrived says he ? Thats just the way it is was the answer , like it or lump it theyve been doing it for years and no-one can stop them. FFS

 

[Imurg]

There's also the difinition of slow play to consider. Every player is different but are some slow or are others fast?
THere's no easy way to combat the problem except by education. The Ettiqeutte rules are at the front of the rule book, it sets out what to do. If everyone read the damn thing then they'd know.

But sometimes you just have to accept that its going to be a slow day and get on with it. If the course is very busy there's not much that can be done as long as groups are let through if they have to look for a ball or lose a hole on the group ahead.

Just goes to show there's little respect for anyone anymore....

 

[Crazyface]

I like the SAD idea. Although we have a computer to log the scores on and I think that the first few group should be monitored. If their times are excessive a quiet word should be had to the effect of get round faster or you can forget about early starts in comps. One place at ours that always causes a jam in comps is the second tee (170 yard par 3) as the fairway crosses the third fairway. Players on the 2nd tee wave the players on the 3rd through (it's up a big hill) when they should play to the green. I've been there with three groups of 4 waiting on the 2nd on comp day.

 

[JustOne]

I only really have one opinion on slow play - every course should have a marshal and the marshal should do his job properly.

When he drives up to you and says "Can you please let the group behind through" then you do it. At all other times it's down to the players and the way their game is going to dictate the speed they play at.

It's a shame that courses just aren't run properly, block bookings by the early birds, no marshals, no emails sent to members, notice boards that people just don't read.... heck there was a guy a couple of months back playing in combat trousers! And yet oddly (in the South East) the membership fees just keep going up and up. I'd love to take over the club I'm a member of, it'd be the best run course in the South East if I did.

 

[USER1999]

At Burnham Beeches, if you tee off before 8, you have to be round in less than 3 1/2 hours. If you aren't, then you are no longer allowed to book at this time. This is rigorously enforced. After 8, you can dawdle all you like. This enables those who need to get home at the weekend to still play, on the assumption that slower players have all day anyway.

 

[Oddsocks]

i like that idea, but during winter months id make it 9am

 

[Macster]

I hear all these things about other clubs, Marshalls, Block-booking, Medals drawn etc, and thank God I'm a member @ Brough GC.

 

[funkyfred]

My club does buggy all, but they are advertising at the moment for marshalls.

Got caught behind a society at our place the other week, who time was bumped up from 10.00 to 8.30 can you believe it, a long story, anyway we went off at just after 10.00 and it took us 4 1/2 hours and we were a two ball. It wasn't the guys in front who were taking five and six shots to get to the green, it was the group about 4 groups in front of them who had lost apparently over two holes on the people in front and didn't bother calling any one through.

A week later i play a friendly fourball, we get round in 4 1/4 hours (after letting a 3 ball through on the 3rd who then held us up) After a quick drink I decided to go and have a few more holes on my own, I shoot round 15 holes in 2.20 mins.

 

[Steve79]

We do have a marshal who drives around in a buggy but he is more interested in feeding the fish on the 10th than actually marshalling the course.

 

[colint]

With the exception of a sign on one of the changing room doors, absolutely nothing. In fact in wouldn't suprise me if they were actively encouraging it the way things have been this year.

 

[GB72]

We have no marshalls so there is no on course enforcement at all. Suppose that there is a cost issue there plus it tends to be the long term members who cause the delays so they are not going to push for change. I am glad that we have no tee booking but this does cause a bit of a jam between 8 and 9 at weekends and if you have a slow group at the front then you are stuck. As I mentioned before, there is very little in the way of letting groups through on my course but plenty of comments like 'it looks like you are in for a slow round today'. Why say that, let my group through and when I get near the front I will talk to the group holding everyone up.

Thinking about marshalls and the cost of them gave me an idea though. On another thread there were comments about the cost of membership so what about a slightly reduced cost in exchange for marshalling for one day a month. Could cut the cost for some and speed up play at the same time.

 

[Snelly]

Slow play again...amazing how often this comes up as a discussion and the same ideas are put forward. I wonder if anything changes though?

As I have said before, slow play is caused by people not being ready to hit the ball when it is their turn. If you are self-aware enough to get your pre-shot routine, card marking, constant fussing etc out of the way by the time it is your turn to hit the ball then the problem would go away to a greater extent.

This will not of course get rid of the ill-educated, uninformed or bad mannered individuals who flatly refuse to let the players behind through. All you can do with these people is try and re-educate them on the etiquette of the game and hope they see sense. If not, I find that belting a drive over the heads of the four ball in front is always a sure fire way to bring things to a head and you will invariably be invited to play through.

Fundamentally though, I believe slow play is caused by selfish people who think that they can dictate the pace of the field's play based on their round and their approach to the game. Terrible behaviour.

I couldn't care less if someone has been cooped up in an office all week. This in no way gives them a mandate for slowing up the field on a weekend at their club.

And finally, to state that it is somehow cool to criticise slow play is just ridiculous. A golfer should be thinking of others and having good on course manners and those without these skills will always be criticised by me.

If that makes me cool then great. Hope it applies to table manners too - my kids will think I am the coolest dad on the planet!

 

[Robobum]

As a great father Snelly, surely you've told your kids that 2 wrongs don't make a right??

What is more ill mannered/ uneducated etc?? Being slow or hitting balls at others??