Last week, we examined five ways to speed up play. This week, we’re continuing the series with the second of two parts on picking up the pace.
As we said last week, a round of golf should not take five hours to complete, despite what you may tell your significant others. This week’s top five list: five more ways to speed up play.
Number Five: Tend the Flagstick
We’ve seen it a million times. Everyone chips onto the green. The guy who hit the green in regulation is 50 feet away, and the guy who just chipped to a foot goes to drop off his wedge and grab his putter. The guy 50 feet away waits and waits and waits – it’s the chipper’s job to pull the flagstick (and either putt out or mark his ball) because he’s closest to the pin.
We wait while we watch him wait, and wait. Eventually he says something to his friend, who’s probably busy cleaning his wedge or popping open another beer. The friend comes up, marks his ball, and pulls the flagstick. We won’t get those 60 seconds of our lives back.
Have some common courtesy, and pull the flagstick when it’s ready. If you’re the last to chip onto the green or the closest to the pin, assume that it’s your job. If it’s not your job but you’re closest to the pin, pull it anyway. Just make sure nobody really wanted it tended. If you’re the first to putt out, grab the pin and be ready to put it in when the last person putts out. Then get off the green, wouldja?
Number Four: Get There Quickly
I don’t mind a long pre-shot routine. I mind a long pre-shot routine after it follows a leisurely stroll to the ball, complete with two side-trips to the other players’ balls on the other side of the fairway.
If you have a long pre-shot routine (or even if you have a short one), get to your ball quickly. You’ll have more time to check the lie, wind, and yardage. You can take a few extra practice swings. And, when it’s your turn to hit, you’re ready – or you’d better be since you’ve been there for a few minutes.
Number Three: Hang Up
Get off the cell phone. Unless it’s an emergency (in which case slow play shouldn’t be an issue because you should be heading back to the clubhouse), just hang up. Golf courses should institute a local rule whereby it is both legal and in which players are encouraged to hit into any group in which someone is talking on a cell phone.
Just hang up. NOW.
Number Two: Keep Your Eyes on the Balls
In this part of the country, fall is known as “where the f@%# is my golf ball?” Leaves have a way of hiding a golf ball like no other entity on earth. Unfortunately, you don’t need a lot of leaves to lose a golf ball – just a pair of distracted eyes.
When you – or your partners – hits a ball, follow it. Watch it fly, land, bounce, splash, and/or roll to its finishing position. Mark the location with a landmark – a tree, a patch of differently colored grass, or the guy you hit in the next fairway. Knowing the location of the ball to within a few feet is the key to finding your ball quickly, and knowing the location of your partner’s (or even your opponent’s) ball is key to becoming a good golfing buddy. I know that at $5 a pop I’d be ticked if my friends didn’t even bother to help me watch my golf ball.
Number One: Continuous Putting
This one’s simple: don’t mark your two-foot putt. Just tap it in. Heck, in the day and age of soft cleats, “spike marks” are practically a non-issue (unless you regularly play with former sumo champions), so don’t even worry so much about stepping on someone’s line. you can do it quickly and without leaving a mark.
Just putt out. If you have difficulty doing so, imagine how you’d feel standing behind a group and watching every member of that foursome mark each of their three putts per hole.
Just Missed the Cut
Get Your Yardage on the Way – Instead of walking to your ball and then looking for a yardage marker, look for them on your way to the ball. If you see one at 175 and you walk eight paces forward to your ball, that’s 168. Now play away.
Help Your Fellow Man – If you’re closest to the pin and your pal’s in the sand and barely gets it out onto the putting green, pull the pin and then offer to rake the trap for him. Don’t just wait around for him to rake and then putt. Be kind, and the golf gods will be kind to you.
A friendly reminder every now and then is always a good thing – thanks for posting on this topic.
I guess the only other suggestions I’d make are:
1. Don’t spend more than a few minutes looking for a ball. Sure it hurts to lose a ball, but it’s only a few dollars and not the end of the world. Besides, if you haven’t found it after a few minutes when the rest of your group is helping you, you aren’t likely to find the ball. Just move on and focus on the next shot.
2. For the high-handicappers/beginners, the course is not a driving range. If you’re having trouble getting to the green (i.e., double par or over), then just pick-up the ball and catch-up to the rest of your group and just putt. I know that I’ve done this a few times when I started. I realized that I’m not going to be able to fix swing flaws on the course, so there’s no need in getting frustrated because the ball isn’t going “where I want it to go”. I figure I would much rather be courteous and try and maintain speed of play until I get better and can justify taking an extra moment to prepare for a shot going for birdie/eagle, etc.
Hans.