Yeah I mainly joined this club because it’s affordable being semi-private and the mornings are blocked off for members so the rounds were always relatively quick. A lot of new members have come in and they’ve squeezed tee times from 10 to 7 minutes and I see guys taking forever to putt. I think the course could play faster in general though too. There are zero shortcuts for walkers and it’s not as walking friendly as some courses. A walker just can’t keep up with a cart on this course unless he’s scratch and also a great runner. We have too much OB I think too so there can be a LOT of re-teeing and provisionals hit. You can tell our course has gotten crowded with new members because you hear golf balls hitting trees constantly now lol.
Here is the scenario from this past Saturday. I had an 1150 teetime for our second time around for 9 holes. We usually play 3, but one guy dropped as it was kinda cold. So out in a deuce and we teed off @ 1145. 4some in front of us was coming off #2 green. By the time we get to #3 green we are waiting already. We fooled around a bit on #3 green while the 4some was approaching the #4 par 3 green. We teed off on #4 and the group is still on #5 tee. So, I guess this the new thing, beers are flowing & music is blaring from their cart…and they are having a good time teeing off into places where you would not find a ball. By now there was 3 holes of daylight in front of them. I asked them flat out if they could pick up the pace of play and you would have thought I said “there is no God”! Started cursing at me, we’re a 4 some, you’re only a 2some, so I asked well could you let us play thru, which was followed by more cursing. we played on to #5 where in we both dropped wedges right in front of them to inside 20ft, Then on #6 I dropped a SW to 3ft with a little 4ft draw back. That they sat and watched. They waved us thru on #7 and still was dropping Fbombs on me because I wouldn’t converse…They said play thru and I just said TY and moved on. We finished the round @ 2:15pm. We finished the 9th hole and they were just getting to the teebox at #8. When they came off 9, I was on the practice green for 30 minutes before I booked for home. That’s when you lose interest, plus it’s like you want to cry when these players take divots with no repairs or pitch marks with no repair…it is upsetting to me. Maybe like everyone says to me on here, I’m too much of a Traditionalist.
First thing my FIL says whenever he leaves the course is how fast they played. If all you want to do is play fast what is the point. To me there is an enjoyment factor in just being on the course. I can play 18 in under 2 hours no problem. My Saturday group plays between 3:30-4 hours every week and it is perfect.
At 4 hours the angry texts from my spouse begin
3:30-4 is the sweet spot I think, could balance of pace without rushing. It’s when you get into the 5+ hour slogs that I have issues
I think it depends on the situation… A 4 hour round on a Saturday is fine… but I think the 3:30 round should be the “expectation” with 4 hours round being an acceptable amount of dispersion…
It’s the 4:30 rounds that kill me, because it means you are slowing down the entire course behind you for 30+ minutes…
More often than not anything over 4 hours is due to what’s happening in front of you.
330 in a cart is about right. But if you put a walker on the course this adds 1 hourish to it. If you just figure the average time to hit and walk 430 is about right. 15 mins per hole and 10 mins of that is just walking.
Our group is a basically 4 guys well north of 60. They ride, I walk, but because I kinda hit it past them, (and we don’t play ready golf), we play using standard rulebook. I usually find my ball, check the lie, check the wind, check the GPS for distance, pull a club, do my basic 12sec routine and pull the trigger, and chase it again. We all do. But 10-12 minutes a hole is what it actually averages for us. AND we BS all the way down the FW and on the greens. But it’s mostly hit it, chase it, find it, hit it again…no rush either…BUT we go to our balls, we dont critique each others swing until after a hole is complete, we don’t congregate around 1 persons ball, AND worse…if ure 270 out on a par 5, and you only drove it 255…odds are hit it, you ain’t making the green in 2. I remember “The King’s” commercials…“while we’re young!” LOL! 3:20-3:40 is what it should take. WORSE thing our course ever did was put in Pace of Play clocks in the Carts on the Computers in the carts…it’s a neat amenity, but the POP is set at 4:15…It should be like it was in the old days, Dont let the group in front get more than 1 hole ahead, then you are out of position and need to pick up the pace!
I played an all day Golfathon last year, teed off around 7 a.m. and finished at 7 pm, and played 126 holes, so averaged 18 holes every 1 hr 42 minutes for the 7 rounds I played that day… Some took longer because I had to wait on groups, and I took a few snack, bathroom, and Twitter breaks, but I played every shot with intent. The first few rounds were slower as it was cartpath only, but changed to 90 degree rule by the 3rd round once it dried up a bit. Played every set of tees at least once, and best round was a -3 from the tips in the final round.
There were some guys that were playing faster, but they were basically playing hockey once they got near the greens, and I think they wore out quicker and didn’t play as long.
If I’m walking by myself I will get done in 2.5 hours or less, and our normal foursome is around 3:30-3:45 (a bit more time on the greens with a few bucks on the line).
Walkers in general seem to play faster than riders. Carts CAN be much faster, but generally aren’t.
I agree 100% walkers PLAY faster in general. Cart golfers socializing too much but the cart allows them to move from point to point faster.
When I play…in between shots, I’m trying not to think about what I can screw up next. Walkers in general form a str8 line to their ball. We generally watch where our playing partners ball go. Good Shots usually get a “nice shot” quote. Poor ones get a chuckle and a needle. When we make a BIrdie, Eagle or Par…no whoops and hollers, just good hole…you’re up followed by usually a very friendly derogatory term. Or look, don’t make birdies if you can’t get up for your honors…LOL…all in fun. But, in general, it’s not about speed rounds, it’s about proper pace of play. People watch too much TV and emulate players…I just love the folks that emulate camillo villegas…
This can be avoided. I’ve been the walker in the group of three riding. You just need to pay attention, be ready to move when everyone has hit, and find creative ways to get to your ball. If I’m closest to the green, I’ll frequently walk outside the rough in the trees to get even with my ball. When everyone after me has hit, I’m generally no more than 30 seconds to my ball.
Same thing on the green. If you’re not the last guy in the hole, it’s a good idea to violate normal etiquette and start walking towards the next tee. If I’m on a course with a long walk between a green and the following tee, I’ve hooked a ride to the tee with the guy riding solo.
I’ve played rounds in 3:15 doing this. Walking alone, I comfortably play 18 in 2:25. Many years ago at Pinehurst, I played about 12 holes on No. 5 in a cart in about 40 minutes–but I was flying because it was a short day in February and I wanted to get in some more golf before dark. I specifically chose to go out on No. 5 because I knew there weren’t many golfers on the course and many of them had teed off hours earlier.
The Scots regularly play in groups of four walking, and a three-hour round is the norm over there. I can’t imagine anyone saying that they enjoy a round of golf where they have to wait on a lot of tees and fairways for the group in front to clear. I’ve found that you can start running into that phenomenon when the rounds stretch out to 4:30 or longer.
My course has some severe elevation changes, and a few holes where the greens aren’t close to the next tees… if you play it smart walking, you can easily keep up with 2 guys in a cart… especially if those guys aren’t trying to move as fast as possible.
Honestly, I think the walking pace is about right for a course… you aren’t rushing every shot, have some time to think between each shot and get to see the course. If you are paying attention and move when you can, it’s easy to get around in 3 hours walking.
Hey, hey, hey… we old guys won’t be around that much longer 
I play with two older guys and they make me hustle… they don’t sit idly by and have no problem moving while others are hitting…
If one guy didn’t stop to light a cigarette every hole is never have a prayer.
Interesting! We’re considering a system that will send messages to carts as soon as they fall a predetermined amount behind. It’ll let them know how much behind (or ahead) of pace they are. This will be in conjunction with a map that shows the golf shop exactly where each group is. I’m curious what happens with the PoP clocks at your course that leads you to this observation.
The PoP clocks are set at 4:15. Rangers on the course used to tell groups no more than 1 hole of daylight between groups. For instance my group, me as a walker and 3 riders we are a no nonsense group Hit, Chase, Find, Hit again. We play golf, it does not need to be at a turtle’s pace. We have seen as much as a 3 hole gap between us and the group behind us. Last week we got stuck behind a group on our 3rd 9 that had 4 holes open in front of them, but the PoP clocks said on time. Our 3rd nine today had a fairly open course in front of us. Teed off 12:10pm, In the clubhouse having lunch @ 1:45…Scores for the were 36, 39, 42 between the 3 of us. So I say it’s the worse thing, because PoP can be arbitrary…4:15 is a very slow round for many.
I’d say in that situation it’s more about allowing speedy groups like yours to play through as opposed to playing faster. 4:15 might be a bit too long, but if a group is meeting the standard then there’s nothing to complain about IMO. Might be playing a competitive match or be their only chance to get out and play during the week, so milking the time can be understandable.