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The Boss

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  • Birthday June 3

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    Fredericksburg, VA

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  1. The Boss

    The Boss

  2. I am at-loss regarding your first comment. Not sure what you are trying to say tnere. Regarding your last thought...yes. I am aware there are more stringent requirements to play golf in places like Germany and in Scotland. Probably other place also. Not sure if this would go over well here in the states. Not sure if American golfers would accept this imposition. But your comment about education is a very good point. Not too many places teach the newer/younger golfer about course etiquette so I stand corrected. We can add this good suggestion to the list.
  3. Getting stuck on a golf course for more than 5 hours on many occasionsdue to course policies is a statement of fact. I do not know how more clearly this can be stated. It is notan opinion. I am simply addressing the OP's request for ideas that could possibly improve pace of play issues at his/her golf course. I offered him/her suggestions as requested and clearly stated why believe these suggestions would help. Experiences do count for something you would think. At least I put my suggestions out there for public scrutiny. I did not see you take the time to address the OP. Pace of play is a serious issue at golf courses nationwide. Get off your high horse friend. This is more than my personal opinion. It is a statement of fact and has been stated in numerous golf media sources. I can provide reference if needed.
  4. For those of you whom may have an interest in Physics The fundamental priciple of Physics which is demonstrated in the video is a clear example of Newton's (Sir Issac) third law of motion which states: "When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body." In the video example, one body is represented by the golfer, and the other body is the spinning top which offers no resistance to the golfer movement resulting in the movement of the golfer in the opposite direction. Well...anyway...OK class dismissed. Best Wishes, The Boss
  5. Well congratulations. I got to give you credit for that. I know it is difficult for many to read past 140 characters now-a-days. When I grew up, when electricity was discovered, we were frequently required to read 500 page books (double sided single spaced type) in 1 to 2 days for school. That was in grade school. I'll spare you with the details what we were required to read in graduate school. It might hurt your head. Better stop now...I'm exceeding 140 chars again. Cheers, The Boss
  6. Big C, . Well most golf courses recommend somewhere around a 4 and 1/2 hours pace or there-abouts. I think we can agree on that desired outcome statement. Well I question whether this is just lip service or is what is truly what management of the golf course desire. i am very sincere about this. I approach this topic from the perspective of a golf consumer and not from the perspective of a golf course owner or mangager or Head Pro. When I amd my buddies go out for a casual round of golf at a public or semi-private or daily fee course my friends and I are looking very selfessly in that we wand/expect a pleasant golfing experience. What I expect from the glf course is to provide me with the opportunity to finish a round of golf in a reasonable amout of time. Now I have lower standards then my friends but I will tolerate a 5 hour round of golf. Now during prime time periods of gold like any weekend during the spring for instance, a golf course "should" monitor pace of play as most of the better courses are filled to the gills with golfers. My experience playing golf here up and down the East Coast for many years has shown me that for the better part of the last 20 years "most" golf course are not policing the pace of play on their course. Is is a rare experience that I see marshalls and other course personnel to the extent they were available say in the 80's and early 90's. Now it may be different where you are but this is my perception whenever I play at a public golf course. I talking golf in Florida, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island. Whenever a 18 hole golf course is playing at capacity I am of the firmest belief, based on thousand plus rounds of life-time experience that sending golfers out all day long at prime time in less then 10 minute spacing intervals will not allow one to complete a round a golf in under 5 hours unless on-the-course pace of play is strictly enforced by the course marshall. As I stated, my experiences are that golf courses in general are not enforcing pace of play on courses with any level of enforcement. Enforcement has been declining and one can talk about this topic at length also for the reasons why this is but that is a discussion for another day. Now if what I am claming is true, which I sincerely do believe, then the only way a golf course can regulate pace of play is to better control the numbers of golfers it sends out to the course. The course also controls its course policy to regulate walking the course and it also can regulate whether 2-somes are paired up or not with other golfers due especially during periods of heavy use. These are the primary tools a golf course has to regulate pace of play at aheir golf course. Keep in mind, a flow of golfers through the golf course can only move as fast as the slowest golfer on the golf course whenever the golf course is filled. So that means even if I play every hole in say less than 10 minues, then a golfer that is 9 holes in front of me that is playing at a pace 20 minutes a hole will slow every golfer that is behind him/her down to a 20 minute pace. I have been paired with some golfers who actually believe that since they pay the golf course their daily fee that they are entitled to take a much tme as they wish to enjoy their round of golf (which I strongly disagree).. Anyway, I am digressing. To get on point again, unless the golf course has realistic enforcement in whatever manner they chose, then a less than 10 minute staging interval does not work if the golf course is truly sincere about golfers finishing their rounds in typically 4 and 1/2 hours. This is unrealistic for a golf course to believe it is and I, as a golfing consumer, am dissatisfied if a golf course does not enforce in some manner through their policies what it establishes for its operation which will insure I finish my round of golf in 5 hours or less. I expect nothing less from the golf course and I place 100% of the blame squarely on the golf course if golfers are finishing their rounds of golf in 5 and 1/2 hours or more. Now I know that anybody on this forum who works for or owns a golf course will take the side "We need to get as many golfers on our course playing our course as possible...so what if the golfers get upset". Well, from a consumer standpoint I reject this arguement. I will take my business elsewhere and I have done so from time to time. Anyway, I ranted far to long in this post. I strongly believe in everything I have stated or claimed and I am convinced I am correct in my beliefs. The Boss
  7. Apparently you are not reading with comprehension. I indicated in my post that courses frequently send out 4 somes at less than "10 minute intervals". This has nothing to do with playing 14 minutes per hole. There is no correlation whatsoever between the 2. Sending golfers out at timed intervals at less than 10 minutes will always lead to rounds of golf around 5 and 1/2 hours on average. The fourteen minutes per hole is what the golf course would like each group of golfers to complete each hole they play. However, if the golf course floods the golf course excessively with golfers (once again by sending them out less than 10 minute intervals) then golfers cannot achieve this objective resulting in the 5 and 1/2 hour round. You need to think in terms of what is possible and not in terms of what is hoped for. Your logic is flawed. In regards to tournaments, I can say in all honesty I have played in 100s of tournaments and I have never participated in a golf tournament that took less than 5 hours and 15 minutes. Even for tournaments that are double-teed, unless you are in one of the two lead groups then you better bring a good book to read. Back here in the East I can only guess we have a lot more golfers on our courses back here. How many paid individual rounds of golf does your district course play annually? The Boss
  8. Wow. You are just so wrong on jist about everything you have addressed. So keep my previous post manegable I cited one example. However, I have been playing amatuer gold for over 40 years and have played at the college level, state amatuer level and just about every type of tournament possible. I've played golf with seniors, juniors, and professional golfers. I have organized many golf tournaments at my home clubs as well as at work and for friends and family. I could have filled a book with all the examples of pace of play issues I have expereinced on numerous golf courses but once again in the name of brevity I cited one. You are dead wrong about pace of play period. Any golfer who playsgolf using acartwill always plays fasterthan he or she will play if they had chosen with the only exception of if the course is playing cart path only rules. I have on numerous occasions, as well as others I play golf with, have proven this to ourselves. It is the result of decisions, like the ones you have mentioned in your reply to me, why golf courses are struggling financially. There are many reasons for this, the economy, people don't have the time, it costs to much but one of the big reason happens to be how long it takes to play a round of golf. If the golf course you work at treated their customers with the dignity they deserve and not like a herd of cattle then maybe your course would keep people coming back more often due to the pleasurable golf experiences that the golf course and its policies have provided their customers. If you're going to just "pack 'em in their Rick...we can use the money" then your golfers are not going to come back then. If it is truly a cut-throat competitive business as you indicated then why do you treat your life-blood with such contempt by packing them in like sardines on your course? Do you not think that your golfing customer fully understand what you course is doing and why it took 6 hours to complete a round of golf? I'll let you in on a little clue...your customers are pretty damn smart and packing then in at less then 10 minutes intervals is conceding the very fact that golf courses could give a damn that golfers finish their rounds in 4 and 1/2 hours or less. Now you and your Pro might think that the golfers will not mind but here again your assumption about this is dead wrong. Plain fact is, packing in golfers in less than 10 minute intervals, sending all your two-somes out by themselves and letting your high handicap golfers walk the golf course during prime time is a receipe for financial disaster. Your only fooling yourself if you believe otherwise. Your golfers are smart consumers and will remember how your course treats them. 5 and 1/2 hour golf is totally unacceptable. If a golf course cannot not provide a golf experience that is pleasurable in a reasonable length of time to play then that golf course should not be in business and will probably fail. The Boss
  9. Hey Gator, Hard to disagree with you on any of this. Life is too short to not enjoy every round of golf no matter what you shoot. Best Wishes, The Boss
  10. Gotta disagree with you Rick. I am positive that high hamdicappers that walk will bring the golf course to a crawl on a very busy golf course. I would bet my mortage on saying that if you timed a scratch golf walking and then timed the same golfer in a cart. The cart time will always be faster. The same applies for a hacker. Some of this has to do with the distance between greens and the following tee box. It is true a hacker will take a good deal more time to play either in a cart or walking because the number of lost balls, bad shots, etc...they will take. But regardless, they still will "always" take less time driving a cart. You can bet the bank on this. Try it sometime. Regarding twosomes, if the course you worked for was really as busy as some of the courses I am playing then there would not be much of a problem finding singles and other twosomes to pair up. I am sure there will be some occasions where there will be no one to pair up but this is the exception rather than the rule. Finally, stacking golfers less than 10 minutes apart to me is nothing more than pure greed or ignorance on the part of the golf course. Golfers will not come back if this occurs with regularity. I have yet to find a golfer who enjoys playing 5 and 1/2 hour plus rounds of golf. Best Wishes, The Boss
  11. Nothing beats hitting a 2-iron blade on the screws and hit the center of the green 240 yards away. The Boss
  12. Hey Dave, . You really need to determine where in your game are you losing strokes the most. Taking detailed records will help identify the weakest parts of your game and theses are the areas you should focus most of your time and energy with the help of a PGA teaching pro. Good stats to keep every round are: fairways hit, greens in regulation, distance of approach shot, up and downs, # of putts, penalty strokes, bunker up and downs. These are good for starters. Also write down the clubs you used for each shot and do this only if you are not holding up playing partners. When you get home input this data into a journal you keep. After 10 rounds of golf closely review all this data and see where most of your strokes are being lost. I suspect that you, like a lot of golfers, are losing many in the short game area more so than other problem areas. Once you can positively identify these areas you need to find out what the root causes are. This is where a trained PGA pro can help you greatly. Asking for your friend's help or your dad usually doesn't work. Appyling this method I have found will speed up greatly the develpoment of your game. During my own personal journey as I made this progression, I learned that as I improved my game I actually enjoyed the game even more and the better I got The more I liked it. A very large part of enjoying this game is in the journey to improve more so then actually getting to a final destination with the game. I also have learned that no matter how good you get though, that you will never reach a point in your game where you feel you cannot improve it. I guess what I am saying is enjoy the journey. Golf is a game that can be played and enjoyed over the course of your life. Best Wishes, The Boss
  13. Cartboy, Glad you asked. I believe there are many steps that a golf course can take to help speed up pace of play of their golf course. Most of my suggestion relate to golf course policy issues and may not be applicable to your course in each an every case. I have played golf for many years and I've have played just about every type of golf course there is from big city munis to very exclusive courses and everything in between. So what I am saying comes from a breat deal of first hand experiences on the links. Many courses, not all, due to economic pressures I presume will during the busy season, and on the busiest days of week, stack up the reservations as low as 6 minute intervals. I wonder sometimes whenever I wind up at one of these courses whether or not the Pro making these types of business decisions actually know anything about the game of golf or, just maybe, they are just a bunch of dirty rotten greedy bastards. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what will happen. I imagine the head pro must be thinking - Wow...we are going to make a fortune today! When in fact they should be thinking about how many golfers will never return to their course again which will have a far greater long term effect at impacting their course's bottom line. This happened to me last year when my wife and I scheduled a tee time a the Heritage golf club in Myrtle Beach. I arrived at the tee box at my scheduled tee time only to find that there were still 32 golfers waiting at the tee box in front of me still waiting to tee it up. Long story short, after 5 and 1/2 hours we finally made it to the 12th hole. I could not bear this any longer and left the course. The problem was that the course had stacked their 4-somes at 6 minute intervals. They did not have a starter at the first tee, nor did they have a marshall on the course. In fact, they even had maintenance crews on the course cutting grass oblivious to the golfers they were holding up waiting to hit their shots. At the end of the round, I spoke to one of the people who worked in the pro-shop about this. Basically, their attitude was if you don't like it don't play here. Recommendation #1 - Schedule "10 MINUTE MINIMUM INTERVAL" reservations, or longer...no shorter though. This will offer much relief to the golfers and "will" in the long run help improve your financial bottom line. Recommendation #2 - Instruct your maintenance crews that they will be fired if they are found to be deliberately holding up golfers. This is a pet peeve of mine. Cutting grass in the middle of the fairway or green while your golfers are waiting to hit is totally unacceptable. Schedule your "through the green" maintenace to other than these busy periods. I once played golf at Torrey Pines South course which I was told schedules over 100,000 rounds of golf a year. I showed up at 4:30 in the morning...to get in line to get an early tee time. As you would imagine the course was in total darkness at this time of day. Golfers do this frequently so they can improve there chance at getting out early. Well...to my amazement, I saw one maintenance crew after another go out in total darkness with these enourmous tractors and grass cutters in tow. The tractors were all out-fitted with hi-powered, hi-intensity lighting so they can cut the grass at night. I guess if you are hosting this many rounds of golf a year doing this makes a lot of sense. Something to think about if you are a big operation like this. Recommendation #3 - Instruct your starters they insist that they pair up golfers so they send out only 4 somes, particularly during these very busy periods. NO TWOSOMES! Recommendation #4 - seriously re-think your policies regarding walking the course. I once played behind a couple, who were walking the course on a busy Saturday morning during the spring time. The course was very crowded. This couple turns out were members at this daily-fee course that permits walking. This couple played as-if they had 36 handicaps. Almost every shot they hit was errant and every green was 3 or 4 putted. Once again no marshalls were present. This couple would not let my group pass through no matter what. They even had an attitude that they were members and that they were entitled to play as they see fit. I would like to suggest if your course permits golfers to walk, restrict them to non-peak times. You could have a policy that only certified single digit handicaps are permitted to walk during these busy times and enforce this policy. Oh yea...I wound up leaving the golf course after 8 holes some 3 hours after I teed it up on #1. Recommendation #5 - Suggest your course policy be that if a group stops at the turn (after 9 holes) for any reason, that groups playing behind are permitted to move up to hole 10 in front of them...no questions asked. Doing otherwise will slow up play. Recommendation #6 - Suggest you strictly enforce a "No ball hawking" policy. These are just a few recommendation I know will work. Implementng them will help speed up play on your course and most definately will help your coures's reputation as well as your financial bottom line. Best Wishes, The Boss
  14. Hey Patch, The 2 faults I find in your approach are 1) how do you really know if your swing, or shot technique, or alignment, or club selection is at fault and is the root cause of you losing strokes?, and 2) if you do not chart your rounds of golf taking detailed records of your game stats then how do you really know what are your problem areas? You need to identify (in order to improve) where you are losing strokes. How are you doing this without records? Best Wishes
  15. Dave, I think it would be difficult for anyone to provide you with an intelligent response to your request without observing your round or viewing your swing and seeing the things that you did on the course which resulted in your "bad round". I would suggest to you that you should get in a habit of recording statistical data of every hole of ebery round of golf that you play in making a note of how many fairways you hit, how many greens you hit in regulation, how many putts, how many up &downs, how many penalty strokes, etc.... Keep accurate records and review them to help you identify what are the specific aspects of your game that are giving you the most problem. Seeing that you are a 20 handicap, I would suggest you take your observations to your local PGA teaching pro to chart a course for improving your game. They can see things in your game, swing, shot technique, course mangement that you will never be able to identify by yourself. This approach is the only sure-fire way I know of that will take your game to the next level. Give this a try. I am confident you will see results if you follow this approach. Best Wishes, The Boss
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