Could you forward this to a handful of courses around me?
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Lou Stagner just posted this on Twitter.
Something ALL courses should look at.
I tagged the 4 public courses I actually play here in town. 
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I do see slower play than at other times in my memory of golf. I think that is a cause of a few different things… 1. With Covid…more people playing than ever (just to get outside and be socially distant…and/or working more from home), many are new to the game…slower to play…less familiar with etiquette. 2. Golf is more popular than ever due to Tiger (still) and the new generation of pros…leading to more folks who are new to the game.
I actually try to avoid weekend golf…it’s just too slow most of the time. I really enjoy getting a quick 9 in 2-3 times a week during the week when I can play faster (and alone).
Not sure there is a cure…muni’s get paid by the number of folks they can get out there - so they don’t care as much about overcrowding tee times…who can blame them. Clubs are incentivized differently - so they have different results - with much less slow play (I assume).
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It happened before I became a member of my club that they classed 3 gullies next to the rough as out of bounds even though they are nowhere near the external fence. This was done to speed up play.
Public golf in SoCal can be painfully slow. Case-in-point, a public, executive, 18 hole course by me has 8 minute tee times and allows fivesomes. The round there can take 4:15 which sounds good in theory but on a course like that it is PAINFULLY slow.
I have been kicking the tires of private courses over the last few years because I am done with 4:30-6 hour rounds. I would either (a) gladly pay more for a 2:30-3:30 round at this point; or (b) if I can’t afford private golf, I would gladly pay more in greens fees if they spaced out the groups between 12-15 minutes. I realize we can value different things about golf but the ability to get into a rhythm and get around a course in a “reasonable” amount of time is high on my list at the moment.
My speed on the 9 hole course is consistent at 2 hrs. Slow, but I realize I’m a beginner so I invite people coming up behind me to play through. What DOES slow the play from Sept. on is the huge amount of leaves on the course! If you have to spend 3 minutes twice a hole to locate your ball, it gets ridiculous.
This probably belongs in an ‘Inconsiderate golfer thread’, but I don’t think we have one.
RANT: To the 2 some (1 in black, 1 in red) that played ahead of me today. I caught up to yous on #5 this morning. Thanks for …
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Playing from the back tees (6850 yds.)
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Not letting me play thru. I know they’re were 2 - 4 somes ahead of you, but by the time you got to 18 tee, 1 group already received their food in clubhouse & the other was heading to cars with their clubs.
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It was a lovely 3:40 round for me as a single. (insert sarcasm here) You couldn’t know if them 4somes woulda let me play thru, but I bet they would’ve
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It wasn’t fun watching you guys shoot 120 & 122 from back tees (yeah I heard them add up scores), as they blocked parking area to 18th green complex after I hit in.
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I did see almost every shot you hit and the ensuing 3:00 search & rescue for your balls.
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It was a thrill to get ready to hit and see ya’s make 100 yd circles (after you had driven out of sight) a few dozen times. Only to drop a ball where ya felt like.
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Can’t be sure if I fixed any of your pitch marks on greens and I fixed plenty (I don’t think there were too many greens you two hit)
I could go on & might add more later but, what the heck, I did post a more normal score today. See write about you round thread later. It was a great weather day, course was beautiful too. And I’ll probably find some of your lost balls next time I play there.
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Oh man we need a rant thread. I love that idea
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I like the idea of stretching out tee times. At the Old Course at St. Andrews, the starter does not let you tee off on 1 until the group ahead is on the green. Although the idea of stretching tee times seems counterintuitive, the USGA data cited in this thread shows otherwise.
I also like either the starter or the pro in the shop mentioning the expected pace of play as well as a few tips to keep moving–playing ready golf, if carts are restricted to the paths, taking several clubs with you for your next shot that landed 100 yards away from the path, etc.
Although I like going faster than 4:15, I think that pace of play is a good compromise overall, especially given differing skill levels. If the course can show that the pace of play should be faster, then use that, but realize enforcement efforts must be stepped up–if nothing else, POP clocks or signs at intervals on the course telling you how much time your round should have taken by that point. Some golfers, especially beginners, have no idea of a proper POP, and while I may be aggravated at them for playing slowly, the course must bear some responsibility if it doesn’t advise players of an expected pace of play.
Here’s an odd idea I’ve been kicking around in my head lately that was really crystalized by coming up on a twosome yesterday on the eighth tee that at one point in the round was at least three holes ahead of me for a nine-hole round: as cheap as technology has gotten, install cameras spaced around the course that the pro shop can access. In many instances, a camera could view both the green for one hole and the tee boxes for the next. A decent startup expense but the course could then reduce the number of marshalls, dispatching one to talk to a group that was falling too far behind.
What might such cameras pick up? Well, in yesterday’s round, that one of the twosome in front of me spent at least two minutes lying on the green apparently attempting to get the line of his putt. And that this fool after three putting from 25 feet then went to the next tee and had to come back to the green to retrieve a club he’d left behind.
That’s the kind of nonsense that golf courses and other golfers should not tolerate.
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I played in 4:15 at a municipal course in a twosome on Friday, with a 2pm tee time… We waited on every tee box, as did the group ahead of us… The two groups ahead of them were both fairly slow but the front group stayed ahead of the back group, and the back group kept up with the front group… basically, it was a slow moving blockade where there wasn’t room to play through and both groups likely did not see anything wrong with their pace of play.
It was frustrating for me, but I don’t really blame the people on the course. We’ve normalized the 4 hour round, and thus a 4:15 round isn’t bad! Until we make a concerted effort to have people play faster, nothing is going to change… and I recently played a cart path only round with one other person (two carts) and we barely made it around in 3.5 hours, so there are definitely factors that can slow down a round…
Most golf courses are linear and only have 18 holes, so it’s hard to route people differently… My parents course in Idaho has 27, and they rotate the “18 of the day” and have 9 available for people who just want to play 9 holes… play is usually a decent pace, so it’s pretty nice overall… but my home course doesn’t have the land to add another 9 holes (nor does it have the membership to fund it).
It’s a weird issue, overall… you want to grow the game, so you want to be welcoming to everyone. Including slow players. Some times it just stinks when you get caught behind a slow group and lose all momentum in your round.
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Our group plays at a heavily played muni and can usually be done in 4:00. The town has contracted out to a 3rd party and they do a good job rangering the course to keep things moving along.
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2 Sundays in a row I have had a 4.5hr round. Last week it was my playing partners taking numerous practice swings on every shot, turn to tee off then put glove on etc. Today the group in front didn’t keep up with the group in front of them plus my group plays ready golf. No pace of play marshals at my private club anymore. Played last Monday and our 4 got around in 3hr 40 so it doesn’t have to take anymore than 4 hrs.
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A local CC has a pace of play policy. They expect a round to be completed in 4 hr. If you hit the 4:10 mark, you get a warning letter. Upon 3rd violation, playing privileges suspended for 30 days.
I have no idea how pace is monitored.
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I was certain we’d have near 5 hour rounds this weekend again as we had shotgun starts with holes doubled up, but Saturday was ~ 4 hours and Sunday (only 2 holes doubled up) was ~ 3.5. Pretty much all members though and you could concede putts in this one.
On Sunday the pro paired us the with member that was ridiculously slow a few weeks ago as the B group teeing of 1. As soon as I saw him I was ready to leave, but he was like a different person this time. Still meticulous, but always ready to play his shot and there was hardly any play by play. We more than kept up with the group ahead and I we got along great this round. Happy Father’s Day to me!!
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Oh that’s beautiful. I love it.
A course I play in Spain uses gps on the buggies to monitor time of play and in peak times will come and tell you to move on a hole.
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Today my league aired out every slow round clocked in the first 9 weeks to show how one slow group impacts everyone behind them. Also showed some definite trends with people who were multiple offenders. When your name shows up often, seems like you’re the problem. One guy was tagged 5/9 weeks…yikes
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Haha, nothing like a good public shaming to get people to change their behavior.
At Heritage Hunt, Gainesville VA, my three rounds last week were exactly 3 1/2 hours. Granted, they were mornings. But, on weekends, a golf cart is required.
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Our head pro chastising members (me included) seems to have greatly improved the pace in tournaments recently. The last one was ~ 3.5 hours for us. Our Tues after work league is horrible though. We have had the later tee times recently and we’re always teeing off +15 minutes late and then waiting on every hole…Tuesdays nights have been awful weather-wise just to add insult. We should have been finished before the storm last night, but the last 2 groups out got soaked and couldn’t get all 9 in.
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