Course does not allow walking

My weekend group tries to go to a different course at least once a month. Yesterday we drove 50 miles to course that we've all played many times and in fact we played last month. When we arrived and went in to pay we were told they don't allow walking on the weekend.....WHAT, No Walking!!! We walked last month when we played and no one said anything about walking. The guy working the counter finally said we could walk but made it clear that from this day forward that walking was not allowed on weekends. We paid and went to the practice green and the starter was there, ask him about the walking rule, he said he didn't know anything about it. We also asked the Marshall about and he said he had not heard of the rule, and thought it was stupid.

We were only a threesome but we were behind a threesome riding and we pushed them all day. The thing that really got too me was that they let a twosome off behind us. If your going to have a weekend rule it should be NO twosomes. They had to wait on every shot and we couldn't let the through because there was no place to go. I guess we won't be going back .

Rant over........

I can understand a "no walkers" policy in some of the development courses where there is a great distance between the green of the previous hole with the tee of the next.  One course I play sometimes is just over 7 miles in a big circle from when you leave until you get back with up to 1/4 mile between some of the holes.  If some one was walking, you'd have to wait 20 minutes for them to get to the next tee box.

If it is a "parkland" type course though, walking should be allowed.

If you don't like the policy, don't play the course.  Seems simple to me.  The only time I refuse to play is if they not only require carts, but have a "cart path only" rule.  I won't play a course like that because you end up walking as far and talking longer than if you just walked all the way.

After 10 years of foot trouble, knee and foot surgery, I can no longer walk even 9 holes, yet I don't feel so stove up  that I have to request handicapped status for special permission to drive closer to greens, etc.  I can still get around plenty well enough to walk from cart to green, and even to walk across the fairway to my ball while my cart partner plays his shot, then have him pick me up when we move on.  But I would have to ask for handicapped consideration if I showed up at a course with the cart path requirement - that or turn around and go home.

I have played courses where carts were required, and some of those actually made some sense.  There are some fairly extreme mountain courses in Colorado where walking might be possible, but most players would be severely lagging by the time they got to the back nine.  That would slow everyone down, and that isn't fair to the course or to the other players.

In any event it's up to the course management what policies they choose to follow, and if you don't like it, you don't have to play there.  They obviously feel that it's the best way to maximize their income or they wouldn't do it.

As for putting out smaller groups of 2 or 3 players - what makes the most sense to you... putting out a twosome in the 10:00 tee time, or putting out zero in that time?  And pissing off the twosome by making them stand around and wait until there is another twosome to pair them up with.  That whole scenario just sounds incredibly stupid to me.  That is the sort of suggestion that comes from someone who has never worked at a golf course.

Majority of the courses in our area require carts during prime time during Friday and weekends.

Three courses strongly encourage carts all the time because of the layouts. One course has stretches on the front nine where the cart path is the only way through a nature area, and later a 300-yard uphill trek. If you walked, you'd probably have to swap out your spikes at the turn.

Another residential-development course has three quarter-mile treks from green to teebox as it winds through the housing.

A third course has a weird routing in a couple of places. On the back, you have one hole that runs north to south, and when you're done you drive 300 yards south - you have to know where you're going - and tee off going north to south again.

These are all courses where the walkers would get run into the ground by the people on carts who can travel faster between holes.

It's a shame that many courses do not allow walking.....it's an entirely different experience on foot...

I'm all for it, if it improves slow play.

For courses like some have described, yes, I agree that riding is the way to go and I would not even attempt to walk those courses and they should have a riding only rule. The course I bought up is a muni course owned by the city and is a very easy walk. As far as forcing you to ride to improve slow play, I strongly disagree. My group may be the exception to the rule, but we can keep up with just about any riding group. I don't know how many times we get slowed down because the carts ahead go to a ball (with both golfers) and wait their turn, hit, then drive to the other guys ball and repeat. Walking we're all at our balls ready to hit as soon as it's clear, playing ready golf. Saturday we started at 7:20 finished in 3 hours and 15 min. I think the course in question is doing it just for the money.

Its very common in NJ to have a no walking policy on weekends. Its good business imo. It ensures everypne has a good experience (to a degree), it maximizes course profits etc.

Now in areas where the course isn't ever backing up, walking should be allowed. At my CC you can walk any time.

To me it depends on the golf course. If its a private course they can have any policy they want. At this one i played two weeks ago, they require a cart or a caddy. They have 10 minute tee times gaps, so i think both help with pace.

Some courses have to long of walks between holes for walking to be feesable, some might be way to hilly. So it depends, i rather walk when available though.

It's not true golf if you ride. Golf was meant to be waked. Walking allows you to experience the course, see your shot and your lie as you approach the ball, and gives your overall game proper tempo. I hate teeing off and 10 seconds later I'm sitting next to my ball waiting, waiting. I ususally play poorly when I ride. I wonder if riding is as prevelant in Europe. It seems to me that riding goes hand in hand with America's fast food mentality.

Show me where in the rules it says that "golf was meant to be walked".  This is simply a self-serving opinion, not a fact.  Golf was originally walked because that is how people got around in those days.  You'd have looked pretty silly riding a horse or a horse drawn carriage around the course - not to mention the damage from hoofprints and skinny carriage wheels, and the inevitable loose impediments left behind.  Times change.

Nothing in the world says that you must walk to be a true golfer.  Play by the rules, respect the course and the players around you, enjoy the game whether you ride or walk.

Der, of course there's no RULE about walking. Der, of course that's my opinion, although I have no idea why you call it self-serving (how am I profiting be voicing my opinion?). I'm trying to say that I think walking suites the spirit of the game while riding does not, for the reasons cited. That's all.

i have nothing to add, just that i agree w/ 4putt

If times do change, then why don't we see carts on PGA tour events? And why did the tour fight Casey Martin so hard?

Golf may not have been meant to be walked, but it sure as hell wasn't meant to be carted either.

Apparantly, in the Players Championshiop in 1713, a player's ball ended up in a hoof print.

There was debate about the legality of taking a drop form a hoofprint when a player dropped his ball onto a bitumen path in full view of millions of TV viewers, thinking he'd done the right thing.

The forums were crazy all year about it and horse drawn "golfing conveyances" as they were known were banned from golf courses from the beginning of the 1722 season.

The lack of natural fertilsation on golf courses from that time was an unfortunate byproduct if the decision, and the courses in Scotland, from that moment quickly turned from emerald green to a murky brown.