This week, The Sand Trap is throwing hard light on slow play on America’s golf courses. We’re fed up, tired, and sick of spending five hours traversing four miles of course, especially when there are so many incentives to play more quickly: more time with family, more time at the 19th hole, more time to play another 18 holes, and the increased likelihood that our spouse will let us play to begin with!
In this week’s The Numbers Game, we’re going to look at how much time one can save doing simple, efficient things on the golf course, ranging from walking more quickly to being ready to play when it’s your turn.
Read on, because I think the amount of time you can save may be impressive.
Five Hour Rounds
I’ve played 18 holes of golf at my club, a 71.2/136-rated par 72, carrying my bag in 110 minutes. That’s an hour and 50 minutes. Clearly adding a second, third, and fourth player would not subsequently add 110 minutes apiece – there’s a lot of overlapping time spent walking the fairways.
Today, in the U.S. of A., we’re faced with five hours on the course. Once you factor in your driving time, chipping and putting, and general loosening up, you can easily spend six or seven hours away from your family just playing 18 holes.
Just Walk Faster
7000 yards is equivalent to 21,000 feet, or 3.977 miles. Due to green-to-tee walks, let’s say the average golf course is five miles, an added 20%. That should also cover walking around on the greens.
The average human being walks about 3.5 miles per hour, which means that, at a leisurely pace, the entirety of a golf course can be walked in under 90 minutes. The average human takes about 110 steps per minute. Simply increasing that rate to 130 steps per minute shaves nearly 15 minutes from the 90 it takes just to walk. Since every member of a foursome can shave this time equally, that’s 15 minutes we can save off the top simply by walking faster.
People in carts can drive much faster than they can walk, but due to the location of cart paths, cart riders still walk a good bit and can easily shave 5-10 minutes from their times by walking faster.
Time Saved: 15 Minutes
Halfway House != Half an Hour
It’s not uncommon for the wait at the turn to last thirty minutes. It’s routine for three groups to get backed up on the tenth tee.
Speed it up. Call the halfway house from the ninth tee or from your cart when possible, pack your own lunch, or simply forego the four-course meal at the turn.
Time Saved: at least 10 minutes.
Play Faster
Imagine your typical foursome. Each golfer shoots 90 and has a good pre-shot routine. Let’s imagine 18 shots per golfer are the type that take little to no time – a tap-in. Each golfer takes 72 strokes on which they must concentrate. Four golfers, each with 72 strokes, for a grand total of 288 strokes.
Let’s imagine each golfer is prepared to play when it’s his turn and has, in fact, already begun his pre-shot routine. He lines up his putt while others are putting, he has the correct clubs near the green and doesn’t need to return to the cart, and so on. On some shots, he’ll save only a few seconds, if any. On others, he’ll save 30 seconds or more. Let’s assume each golfer is able to save only 10 seconds per stroke – again, excluding the 18 tap-ins we’ve given each golfer. How much time, over the course of 18 holes, would these golfers save? Would you believe 48 minutes? I do: 288 shots * 10 seconds/shot / 60 seconds/minute = 48 minutes.
And here’s the thing: ten seconds is not a long time. My hunch is that every golfer could reasonably save 15 to 20 seconds per shot simply by being ready. If you spend five seconds trying to find a tee in your pocket, five seconds wrestling to get your headcover back on, and five seconds watching the beer cart girl a few fairways over on your tee shot, you’ve wasted 15 seconds. Some people manage to waste 15 seconds on every tee box just recounting their own scores!
Imagine if each golfer could save 30 seconds per stroke, again conceding 18 tap-ins per round. A foursome would save 144 minutes – nearly two and a half hours! Indeed, a foursome of very prepared golfers can play a full 18 holes in well under 2½ hours. I’ve been a part of such foursomes.
Time Saved: 45 minutes.
Already Saved an Hour
We’ve already saved an hour: 15 minutes simply walking faster between shots and 45 minutes by being prepared to hit your shot and saving only 10 seconds. Where else can we save time?
That varies by golfer. The 20-handicapper who waits for the green to clear 300 yards away isn’t doing anyone a favor, least of all the people waiting behind on the tee for him to move out of the landing area. The same 20-handicapper probably doesn’t really need to know if he has 156 yards in or 152 – it’s a 6-iron all the same, and even that likely won’t find the green.
The better golfer can sometimes get too caught up in an elaborate pre-shot routine that involves checking the wind, rehearsing a swing move, and general Ben Crane-iness. Such golfers would do well to take the advice of most sports psychologists and realize that their first instinct is usually the best one.
All golfers can benefit from a little common sense. Park your cart at the back of the green so you can exit quickly. If you putt out first, get the flag and round up the wedges scattered around the edges of the green. Let the short hitter tee off first. Walk ahead to your ball in the fairway or rough if you’re not on someone’s line to the hole. Help your friend look – for a few minutes only – for his lost ball. Play provisionals when appropriate. And play from the correct set of tees, for crying out loud.
The next time you’re on the course, ask yourself where you can save time. Or use the slow foursome in front of you as a learning example.
Five to Four
Simply walking faster and shaving a few seconds per stroke can convert the five-hour round into a four-hour round. Personally, I believe four golfers should be able to play a golf course of average difficulty from the appropriate tees in three hours or less, but we’re trying to take some baby steps here. Bringing five-hour rounds down to four is biting off enough for now.
I’ll leave you with this final bit of math. If you play golf every other weekend for 30 years and are able to save one hour per round, you’ll have an extra 780 hours (or 32.5 days, or more than one full month) to spend with your family, to do yard work, to veg out in front of the TV, or to otherwise spend as you wish.
Wow, how do we get this article into the major golf magazines for the masses to read?
From what I’ve witnessed, one of the major causes of long rounds is the playing level of the “average” golfer. Your comment “Personally, I believe four golfers should be able to play a golf course of average difficulty from the appropriate tees…..” is perfect – how many average golfers out there play from the “appropriate tee”?
Another point – I almost always go out as a single, and I’ve been paired up with every type of golfer out there. I play, on average, about 75 rounds per year and I can say that less than 25% of the people do not play more than 5 times in a year. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “this is my first round of golf…..EVER”. How do we expect these people to know anything about golf etiqutte, pace of play, or the rules?
I don’t know if we’ll ever see a sub-four hour round, at least not on the weekend.
One last note: I like playing at a quick pace, as long as it’s not too quick. I enjoy my time on the golf course – it’s my “alone” time, and when it’s really nice outside, there’s no better surrounding to be in. I’d prefer not to be rushed through a round, especially when I’m paying at least $75.00 to play. I’m ok with a 3:45-4 hour round.
Just my $.02.
Great article, Erik. I had no idea the amount of time one can save by just doing a couple of really minor adjustments to the their own golf game.
I find it painful to watch some pros, while watching Tom Watson is refreshing to see him set up and just go!
And until courses put players on the “appropriate” tees – this is only a pipe dream.
I think players should play from appropriate tees, but I just hear it now:
Marshall: “What’s your handicap?”
Hack #1: “uuuummmm…what?”
Marshall: “How long have you been playing golf?”
Hack #1: “Oh – about a year”
Marshall: “How many rounds of golf do you play a year?”
Hack #1: “Maybe 3 or 4”
Marshall: “Ok – you play from the blue tees (or whatever)”
So on the next tee, hack #1 plays from the tees with everyone else. It will take some true honesty and pride to make someone play from the appropriate tee on every hole for every round.
–TW
I think we’re lacking a reference time that backs what the reasonable round of golf should take: here’s my crack at it.
7000yard course = 388 yards per hole
388 yards at 3.5 mph = 3.7 minutes of walking for each hole
66 minutes total in just walking time. Thats does not include any shot making, waiting around for other players to hit or anything. We don’t need to multiply by four cause we’re walking at the same time.
Now lets look at the swings we take:
30 seconds a stroke for each swing we all take for our setup routine. Which honestly I think is a little scant to say each shot just takes 30 seconds to completely conceive from club selection to actually beginning to walk to where the ball landed. But I’ll use it.
72 strokes per golfer = 288 strokes comes to
144 minutes
so for just swinging and walking we get 210minutes which is 3.5 hours.
Now honestly… i think between provisionals and golfers who are pretty much worse than you think. bump up to 10 more strokes per golfer that adds 20 minutes right there. pushing the 4 hour mark.
In then end I don’t think shortening the round is as easy as you’ve depicted, But I do agree that 5 hours is way too long.
I’ve had it happen and it sucks to play for 5 hours. My group of friends are definately no way near any good, but we try to keep it to about 4 and half, which I honestly really don’t know how we could really speed it up. I play pretty much as fast as I can.
I can’t agree with you more. I too play mostly as a single and I try to play as early as possible because it takes less time and golfers at this early in the morning are a little more considerate. My mother is a 34 handicap but it only takes her between 3.5 and 4 to play and she is 70! I usually walk and for the life of me I don’t know what takes so dam long! Anyways, great subject maybe someone(you know who you are)will see this and give it some thought
While it should first be each golfer’s responsibility to keep pace, courses need to have marshals that actually monitor play and stay on slow golfers. Most marshals just drive around and around not doing anything.
I played once at Pumpkin Ridge with a group of contractors, some who had very little golfing experience. In addition to there being several poor players, the rough was deep enough that it was time consuming finding wayward shots. The marshal flagged us for slow play and I explained to him we were moving as best we could but were having problems finding tee shots. This guy actually went and acted as a forecaddie for the group for a few holes. As we came down the fairway, he would point out where the balls were. After a few holes we were back on pace and off he went. The only time I have seen a marshal do any thing of use.
One other thing. I recall reading Nicklaus saying that he took his time at the ball, but then walked briskly between shots to make up the time he spent planning his shot.
Your math, though I appreciate the effort, is countered by the simple knowledge and experience of having played in a walking foursome (or even the occasional fivesome early in the spring or late in the fall) and completing a round in well under four hours. With carts (especially allowed to roam freely) it’s a no-brainer.
First off, reasonably fast golfers don’t take 30 seconds per shot. Nowhere near it. My preshot routine is about 11-12 seconds long and I’m ready to hit as soon as the ball of the guy before me comes to rest (or sooner).
Let’s bump all the players in your imaginary foursome to 90 shots but drop them to 20 seconds per shot (still too long in my opinion). Let’s also slow their walking speed down to 3 MPH (to account for some green-to-tee walks not measured in course yardage).
7000 / 1760 / 3 * 60 = 80minutes just to walk.90 * 4 * 20 / 60 = 120minutes to play shots. 200 minutes is 3.33 hours, and of those 90 shots, as I said above, many of them are going to be tap-ins, concessions, pickups, etc. that don’t take anywhere near 20 seconds. Even these calculations leave 40 minutes or so of “free time” to look for lost balls, really carefully line up an important putt, stop at the halfway house, etc. and still get in under four hours.Great article
I have been playing the game for over 40 years and most of them were walking. In Vegas they won’t let you walk so we have severe cart idiots that slow the game.
My opinion is that more people these days try to emulate their TV idols. I see guys look over a putt like they are playing for $500,000 only to miss it by 5 feet
So play the dam game for good or for bad but your $400.00 driver doesn’t make you a tour pro and learn to hit the damm ball and move on
Too optimistic. Terrain, weather, club selection, ball cleaning or other random factors are not at all considered. People walk slower uphill, tee-boxes can be 100+ yards away from greens and people shoot 110+, etc.
A bunch of sub-ten caps could do very well under four hours, but it’s almost impossible this day and age for the weekend hacker. The real solutions, play at uncrowded times or go private.
You know, calculations can only go so far. I’ve seen a walking foursome with a combined score above 400 play a reasonably difficult course in well under four hours.
If shaving 10 seconds can have such a dramatic effect as the one I illustrated above 90, I’m sure the math will still work out for people shooting 110 and taking 17 seconds per shot, on average. Again, there are always tap-ins, pick-ups, etc., even at that level. Hopefully they aren’t playing from 7000 yards, either.
I will agree that if you cannot play quickly you should do what you can to play at off-peak times, but that is still no solution for simply playing faster.
I play at a private club. On early Sunday mornings, I can play a round of 18 holes in about 2 hours and 15 minutes. I generally play fast. Paying attention to what’s going on around one ( i.e., as suggested above: be quick to pick up the flag and wedges around the green, etc ) will inevitably speed up play a lot. For one with a wife and small children, faster play means more golf more often and a happier family because when Dad plays golf, he’s gone for a shorter time. I agree with a writer above that this is an excellent topic for major golf publications. Great article and well thought out, Eric.
3 hours or less? I don’t think so. I agree with Michael Landry’s comment. 3 hr 45 mins is the sweet zone in which you can enjoy your time on the course without rushing about.
I couldn’t agree more! It’s not that hard to play 18 in under 3 hours so 4 should be no problem. My buddy and I head out at 6:00 in the morning and get 18 in before we head to work at 8:00…. and that’s walking. All it takes is a fast pace walking and we’re both ready to hit our shot when we get there.
Also, switching from a Pinseeker laser range finder to a Skycaddie GPS has helped me speed up. Now I have the yaradage as soons as I set my bag down. Not as accurate, but MUCH faster!
Personally, I find slow play not only the bane of golf, but also one of lifes great mysteries. In 20 years of playing competition golf (weekend local competitions, not serious amateur tourney’s), slow play is undoubtedly the number one gripe of every player I’ve played with.
What I don’t understand is if EVERYONE complains about it, WHO is actually perpetrating the slow play. I think the answer is that although everyone hates being held up, most people don’t actually know that they are going slow.
A common example is groups of choppers off high handicaps who simply don’t think about how slow they are playing whilst on the course. I’ve seen foursomes of choppers, all in carts, who all drive to everybody’s ball and watch each shot (with the accompanying 20 practice swings and painstaking pre shot routine). This is a tremendous waste of time. In their defence, at most clubs low handicapers seem to play with each other and not want to mix with choppers, where they are most needed to show them how to speed up play. Another major reason for slow play has been touched upon by Erik. Choppers who don’t know how far they can hit it, or old codgers living in the past when they could actually hit a ball, waiting for greens to clear from 250 plus out when their drives are only about 200. This annoys the hell out of me. A third major reason is slow players whose inflated egos won’t allow them to call groups through. In 20 years of playing golf I have been called to play through less than five times, but regularly watch the groups in front lose 1, 2 and sometimes more holes.
I think the solution is complicated and multi faceted. Clubs should encourage good players to mix with choppers to show them how to play faster. Starters should hand out out a brochure with the score cards (1 brochure per group) containing tips on how to avoid slow play. Other measures that I’ve seen on some courses that work are: Marshals patrolling the course issuing warnings and making players skip holes, or forcing the group to suffer the indignation of calling the group behind to play through (any group that suffers this humiliation more than a couple of times will soon speed up play). I’ve also seen signs around the course on tee boxes stating how long it should have taken you to reach that point on the course.
I think slow play is the only negative in the game of golf, but with some tough love the problem can be solved and we can get to playing weekend rounds in under 4 hours.
I agree with you. How do you get them to follow your recommendations? Seems simple. Why not? It beats me.
One thing not mentioned thus far is competition. Nothing slows things up like a tournament. Blood on the line is the kiss of death for a fast round.
I’d like to see a study on the effect of skins/side games on pace of play. I play in a traveling league that includes a weekly skins competition (and closest to the pins) in addition to regular stroke play. I’ve often heard a player, after shooting himself out of the stroke play competition on a bad hole, declare that he’s “playing for skins, now.” They then proceed to shoot for everything–drivers on narrow driving holes, long irons to tight pin positions guarded by water, you name it–in pursuit of the elusive skin. This often leads to balls going everywhere, ball searches, provisionals, drops, etc.
And setting aside the guy who’s shot himself out of the stroke play competition, I wonder what effect going for birdie on many holes has over the course of a round, even for guys who are playing reasonably well. Same goes for closest to the pin competitions.