Slow play on the greens

The Mental Side of Things
#31

Seems like the source of the problem is that you’re kind of “in between”: you play casual rounds at your club, but you also play in elite amateur events and aspire to even greater amateur accomplishments. Your diligence on the greens is understood in elite competitions (as it is in professional tours), but not in casual rounds. But you don’t play golf for a living, and you don’t solely play casually.

I say use your casual rounds to work on your preshot putting routine, and try to get your first alignment right, and realign once at most in the name of being a good member of the foursome and getting invited back. In elite tournament rounds, realign as many times as you need without incurring a slow play penalty, as is your right.

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#32

Combining AimPoint and a SeeMore putter has made me a dramatically better putter because now I have a system. I make my reads quickly with AP, and am confident I’m aligned properly with the riflescope system that SeeMore has. It’s removed a lot of stress and doubt in my routine. Make my read, align myself, and mostly try to put some good speed on it - if it goes in great, it not, putting is hard :man_shrugging:

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#33

love this! Great combo here.

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#34

Have you tried putting with three lines or even two lines. I have been drawing three lines one red in the middle and two blue on the outside (like the callaway). There’s some science there but I have found it’s much easier to get the ball lined up correctly the first time.

#35

My first read is sometimes wrong. My second read is always wrong.

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#36

This is true. Sometimes when I spend too long trying to figure out the break of a putt I can even get confused about which way the whole green slopes.

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#37

100%. It is easy to overthink the break - what direction is the grass growing? what effect will the wind have? which way is the earth rotating in relation to my start line?

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#38

i play a lot with my youngest son and he lines up all putts with the triple track (he is 12)…my nickname for him is
“the human rain delay” on putting…it really isn’t that bad, but i do not mind other people lining up putts, especially if you make them…it beats rushing and then missing and then have to read again…i am sure in the end you save time by taking a little extra to line up your marks

#39

Slow play is a touchy topic with most golfers. I played the state mid-am last week and each round was almost exactly 6 hours (with carts). It wouldn’t have made any difference walking. The pace was ridiculous in my opinion. 4 hours is moving right along, 4 and a half is within reason also. The PGA guys play 4:30 -5 hours and they are considered slow.

I echo the sentiments of some of the other responses saying that it is ok to take your time in competition. You are going to be waiting on the tee most likely anyway. If you are out playing with a buddy, keep up with the group in front of you and nobody can really say anything. If you’re lining up your putt and the next group is leaving the next hole then you and the whole group might want to have a little pow wow saying, “hey guys we need to catch up to the group ahead of us”.

I have no problem telling people in my foursome regardless of the situation that we need to catch up. I have been in tournaments and casual play and for the most part people are receptive to it. If you are not searching for balls constantly and still falling behind then you are taking too long.

For me if you are adjusting your ball 4 times, fine. Just keep up with the rest of the people playing. If you feel singled out like you aren’t the guy holding the group up then say something.

Final note to the “Super fast players”. Don’t expect everyone to get around the course in 3 hours. People pay $80 to come enjoy themselves for a round of golf. We aren’t all members at this particular course. Some people want to play to get a good score and line up their shots. Too many people pride themselves on getting 9 holes finished in 55 minutes and not giving a crap what their score is. If you can shoot +3 in 55 minutes great for you! Most people can’t and don’t want to try or feel that rushed. I will gladly let you play through, or if you’re in my group then tee off before me and I will be behind you the rest of the round.

3 Likes
#40

But the second putt goes in 100% of the time, right?

#41

I’m getting used to sub 3 hour rounds, but out on regular public courses I’ll never get too upset if the pace is under 4.5-5 hours for a weekend 18. Golf is slow sometimes, just I just enjoy being outside. That said, six hours would definitely keep me from playing my best.

#42

6 hour round is absolutely ridiculous

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#43

I was waiting for a Marshall, an NHGA official, rules official, SOMEONE! to come out and tell whoever holding it up to move their butts. But nothing either day.

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#44

I really feel for ya on that one. A golf round should not take more time than 4.5 hours. Surprised they didn’t marshall more aggressively at a competitive event.

One of the main reasons I joined a club is because I was going insane with 5 to 6 hour muny rounds. I truly believe any golfer that can break 100 should be able to walk in 4.5 hours. It’s not about skill level, it really is just playing ready golf and not going crazy with green reading and lining up putts.

I’ve written this before, but when the muny banned carts in April / May it was the best pace of play I’ve ever had at the course.

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#45

@papageorgio What is your definition of a cart. Here a cart is a 4 wheeled 2 person electric thing and a buggy is a 2 wheeled thing you put your clubs on and pull or push. Back home in Kiwiland they were called trundlers.

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#46

Well, 42 year old, slightly less competitive golfer here. But I do play well enough that I actually played a local am event last month and am planning to play a few more tournaments next year. I don’t think 4:20 is that slow, just to be clear.

I started using the alignment line on my ball this year after years of not doing it for the same reason you detailed; I’d obsess about the line and feel like I was taking forever to putt. This year I switched to arm-lock style putting to battle some issues I was having with my stroke. After a couple rounds of putting this way I talked to my golf pro and told him I liked it, but I was having trouble lining up. He told me to use the line on my ball. We talked about how I obsessed about the line when I did that previously, and he told me that it doesn’t have to be perfect, but just close enough. That freed me up and I’ve putted a lot better. In 5 tournament rounds this year, I didn’t miss a single putt under 3 feet (i.e. the ones you should make).

I think on short putts, unless the greens are extreme, you have even more forgiveness with the line because you’re close to the hole, so even if you’re a little bit off you’ll still catch the hole and the ball will drop it, assuming you aren’t just hammering the putts.

Lastly I recommend giving arm-lock a shot if you’re struggling. For me it takes all the worry out of setting up. I know that once I have it locked in, I just rock the shoulders and it’s gonna start on the line I’ve chosen most of the time. I can still make a terrible stroke (i.e. it’s not fool proof) but I’ve been way more consistent.

#47

Hey @SeeMorePutters - have you guys thought about making an arm-lock putter? I have a SeeMore but I no longer use it because I went to arm-lock style putting to fix stroke issues. Though I’m not sure how the red dot would work with arm-lock and that much forward press.

#48

Feel free to send us a note at [email protected]. We do not make an arm-lock style putter. Happy to help with any questions you are having with the RST. Give us a call at 615-435-8015. Will talk as long as you want. Thanks for reaching out.

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#49

Morning mate

I’m very much in the play quick bracket but I also line my putts as you do, even for short ones.

What I try to do when others are putting it read my putts, find a line and point ahead I can use as a target. As soon as it’s my turn, I’m done, line to the point and then forget it (trust) address the putt, test for pace and hit.

I find this is still quicker than normal routines. Too many times you see players do nothing while waiting then proceed to walk around the hole etc

I get the annoyance but remember you’re not doing it deliberately so don’t take the thought on to the course

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#50

If you ever did make one, I’d buy it! I also went to armlock, but miss the alignment from my old seeMore.

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