Your League Night - How Slow is Play?

Kind of a rant here and comparative scoring from league play versus playing on weekends.

Our first tee time on league night is 5pm and a league goes off before us. We have 24 guys so our last tee time is around 5:40. Two weeks ago I played from the last time slot. We finished at 8:45 on the nose. I shot close to FIFTY!!!! A THREE PLUS HOUR nine!

Don't know about you guys, but a 40 minute wait on #12 (a 175 yard par-3 over a ravine with a green shrouded by large hardwood trees that NOBODY can hit!) pretty much does me in. Couple that with a wait on every tee and fairway and my swing rhythm and tempo is gone. It's like I have to REstretch out before each swing.

Compare that with playing on weekends with my wife, who is a relative beginner, (3rd year of player) and we get around 18 (with cart) in 4 hours or under EVERY TIME! Playing with her, I shoot mid to high 80s and she shoots around 120.

This afternoon, my wife, son (15 y.o.) and I walked 9 holes and finished in 2:05! I shoot 39, (birdied a par-3!) my wife a 54 and my son had the "other." Still, on a Sunday afternoon at a public course walking, we can finish in more than a reasonable period of time.

Why is league night an exercise in futility? It's always been that way, no matter which course is involved. Slow play. High scores. Not fun golf, but always enjoyable company.

Guess that's the ticket ... enjoy the company and don't worry about the score. Tuesday night will be another struggle to shoot 45, (probably worse!) due to the snail's pace at which the course moves during League Night.

Anybody else experience this? And I should note: The course has a ranger, but what can he do when there is nowhere for anybody to go and nothing to do but 'wait your turn?'

dave

I have only been playing for a little over a year, but I have found that leagues and outings give people a case of the stupids. From what I can tell, there are two different types of players...and they are both equally slow. The first type is the guy who is out to just have fun and get drunk with his league buddies. The other type is the people looking to win the league, taking 20 minutes on every green.

I like to go out for 9 holes in the evenings after work, but nearly every course around here has leagues every day. I have started showing up at the course around 6:45 - 7:00...hoping to be the last person on the course. I generally catch up with the tail end of the league after 3 or 4 holes, and since I have nobody behind me I start playing several balls or spending a bunch of time practicing chipping and putting on each green.

Dave,

I think we all can understand your pain. I play in a senior league on Tuesday mornings. It varies but normally the round takes longer than I would like. It's weekend play that I find to be the problem.

Best thing to do is write a letter to the league expressing your frustration at the league's slow play with a couple of solutions to get it under control. These are two that I like:

1) It begins with the starter. Have the starter remind the groups as they tee off that slow play is getting to be a problem. Remind the groups about time limits for lost balls, not waiting around for each member of the group to hit, and quickly leaving the green after play. (Looking for lost balls is the worst faux pas golfers make. It is getting to be a problem when the decision is a sleeve of balls or a gallon of gas... that's why there are more "hunters" in the woods. )

2) Make sure that your group follows #1 above.

If we all don't help to lessen the frustration of slow play, the game will not grow. I remember reading that the biggest reason why people leave golf is because of slow play - they do not have the time to spend on the course.

I hope that things get better for you. League play is a great way to get to know like minded friends.

Cheers!

Our league is slow as well, but we have one rule that helps: If you're laying 7, pick up and mark an X-8 on the scorecard. (Up until this year 9 had been the max allowable, but it was still super slow so they cut it down to 8 this year.)

The leagues at the course where I work as starter are required to maintain the pace of play just like any other golfer is. In fact they are even more accountable because the league organizer hears about it from the course staff if there's a problem. I don't play in any leagues, but I do play in the Men's Club, and we have our own pace of play policy which we adhere to or we get penalized.

If leagues are a problem, then the course is at fault for not doing it's job of managing them properly, and the league organizer's fault for not setting up a system of accountability. There's no excuse for slow play.

I quit the league I was in because the rounds took too long. We couldnt even finish in daylight!! We almost needed flashlights

We have some extremely slow players on my Wednesday Night League. A lot of it is due to their lack of skill (we play the ball down, etc...), but all of the extra yacking doesn't help. I have nothing against having a nice time and chatting on the course during your round, but don't stand over your shot and BS for 5-10 mins while you should be swinging.... Then you can chit chat all the way to your next shot.

Great group of guys in the league though. Turns into some real ball bustin' in the clubhouse!

2:45 round minimum due to the league in front of us that played 5 and 6 somes and the course doesnt enforse them to play 4. Even if they did at the start there is no ranger so whatever. We are looking to change courses next year.

2 hrs 20 min is a slow round during our league. We have guys of all skill levels ranging from 0.0 to 25. Pace of play is preached at my course and common courtesy is practiced by everybody in my league.

Our league (couples) is relatively slow, but the women's league in front of us is snail's pace. They play bumble bee golf where they all buzz to one ball then they all buzz to the next one. They also wait for the group ahead of them to reach the green on a 300 yard par 4 before teeing off.

We have two golfers in our league that are very slow. Unfortunately they are teammates. We do our best to keep them moving. Last year we instituted a 10 shot max rule. That has gone a long way to speeding up the weaker players.