The "Mythical" 6-Hour Round?

[Yukari]

Sometimes when the group in front takes forever, it seems like six hour rounds.  I hate any round that approaches a 5 hour round.  It's just insanely slow!

I especially don't like people who are slow taking early morning tee time.  It screws up everyone behind the entire day.

[ChetlovesMer]

  On 4/10/2019 at 3:10 PM, NM Golf said:

So it is now my belief that the-6 hour round is golf’s Sasquatch, golf’s UFO so to speak. Lot’s of people have supposedly seen one, but no one can actually prove it’s existence to me. Your thoughts? 

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I have seen a 6 hour round. I even have proof. I have a really fuzzy photograph of a 6 hour round. It's really grainy but if you look closely you can kind of see the 6 hour round in a clump of trees... or was it on that grassy knoll... maybe it was near area 51, not sure. But I've definitely seen it. 

[Groucho Valentine]

  On 4/10/2019 at 4:42 PM, chspeed said:

Same. I've noticed a few things on Black:

-In general, it moves better than you'd think. 5-hours is typical.
-Douchebags trying to play from the closed tips always take longer
-The caddies there always slow groups down

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Yuuup. They tee off on the middle tee on 1 then jump to the tips on 2. Nobody ever does anything about it.  

But you're right. Ive had rounds that went less than 5 there. Ive played the black as a single in 3 hours with nobody slowing me down. The marathon rounds have come when ive played there at peak times. I kinda expected to be out there at least 5. 

[sjduffers]

I have had a six hours round twice, both times in a tournament. On a tough course, with people looking for balls on nearly every hole, in scorching heat. I so wanted them to be over with... I couldn't care less about the outcome.  When I mentioned afterwards that this was a new record for us, well over six hours, I got some blank stares. But it was indisputable.

Shortly afterwards, I quit that group: we had NEVER played in under 5 hours in all my time there, regardless of all my efforts to educate people on how to do things... and the president of the (associate) club himself refusing to put any pressure on the group to improve the pace of play. "We are here to just have fun!" was the typical bullshit excuse. Yes, but we are not... and neither are all the groups behind us, duh! 

[phillyk]

Our chapter championship was at Sahalee a few years ago. 32 four-somes in a shotgun all taking their time to play well but enjoy themselves. 6.5hrs both days. Our director after the first round was like, guys we are better than this. But nope, did it again. Haha honestly it didn’t feel like it.

Other than those two rounds, I had another 6hr round at a Chicago city course on a holiday. Not sure why we wanted to do that to ourselves. That one was brutal. 

[RayG]

Never played the city courses in New York, then. On a peak weekend day, 5:45/6:15 is never out of the ordinary. If you just show up without a time as a single it could be a 2 hour wait til an opening, then 6 hours slogging behind and among players who will emulate the slowest PGA/LPGA player in their approach to each and every shot. This entails endless practice swings with those little poses checking position at takeaway, stopping to check the position at the top, etc... then several more practice swings, then finally an attempt at a swing after standing over the ball for days. Then, after chunking it 15 yards, begin the process all over again. Oh, and this is after going back to the cart to change clubs. It is purgatory. 

Now if you include the 30 minutes or so to get there and back. that is a 9 hour day on what aren't exactly great golf courses for the most part.

I can drive out to a Long Island course in 45/60 minutes, essentially go right out as a single, play in 4/4:20, and drive back home in less time and actually enjoy the golf... and still have 2 or 3 hours to spare.

[sjduffers]

  On 4/10/2019 at 5:41 PM, RayG said:

I can drive out to a Long Island course in 45/60 minutes, essentially go right out as a single, play in 4/4:20, and drive back home in less time and actually enjoy the golf... and still have 2 or 3 hours to spare.

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Ouch!  That is some kind of brutal, week in and week out. I thought I was going to quit golf after that couple of horrendous experiences, but how can anyone withstand that every week? 

[bkuehn1952]

I can't say with any certainty that I have been on a course for 6 hours.  Frankly, the difference between a 5 hour and 42 minute round and a 6 hour round are virtually indistinguishable to me; they are both torture. I am old and only have so much time left.  I refuse to use up a portion of my remaining time on Earth sitting on a course for 5 1/2 or 6 hours. 

I agree the true 6+ hour round is rare and many of us tend to exaggerate the elapsed time when things are really slow.

[rkim291968]

When you wait on every hole regardless of the actual pace (it could be 4 hour or 6 hour), the time actually slows down.   10 mins mysteriously stretches into 15 mins.   It cannot be explained scientifically but we have all experienced this.  One time, I asked a marshal to check the pace and it was 4.5 hour round.  I thought it was a 5 hour pace.  ☹️😑    Having said that, a 6 hour round is very rare unless you play on a congested golf course on Saturday with large tournament group in front.  6 hour round golf is more exhausting than running a half marathon, at least, mentally.

[G-off]

Had a new marshal at a local muni near me approach our group on the second hole tee box asking what the problem is?  I pointed to the two carts coming out of the woods about 75 yards in front of us and he just shook his head went over to them told them to let us play through, and pick up the pace.  Never saw that guy again...........

[mdl]

  On 4/10/2019 at 3:58 PM, bones75 said:

My old home course was Rancho Park in LA, it used to be a PGA stop with the LA Open thru the 70's. Local's refer to it as "the most played course in the U.S." all the time.  This appears to be true at one point, but not sure in recent years (see link below).  It's the only full length public course on the western half of LA. I've played plenty of 6 hour rounds there on a weekend, with 5.5 hours also being very common for a mid-day weekend. On those days, it's common to find a 3-4 group wait (no joke) on #3 teebox, as well as #11 (par 3's).

The article said in 1974 127,000 rounds were played there, which I don't know how to gauge. Not sure if its gone up or down in the last 30 years.

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I was gonna reference Rancho Park.  Used to be my home course too.  I was in the men's club for a while.  I basically never played starting after 8am on weekends, and even then quicker than 5 hours was rare, and 6 hours wasn't out of the question.  Quicker than 5:30 starting closer to midday on the weekend basically never happened.

I love #10 at Rancho, and it's a hard hole.  But even if you played it well and parred (or birdied!) and were excited, you'd be instantly deflated on a weekend round coming up to 3 groups getting snacks and drinks at the snack hut waiting for the par 3 to clear.  And even then, people would only rarely let you hit on like they were supposed to.

[Cantankerish]

I played a seven hour round.  It was with family at Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee. The place is near deserted in the summer, and they let us play a six-some.  There was a lot of alcohol involved.  I sobered up twice during that time.  Not entirely a great experience.

[GolfLug]

We could have if had we not passed the slow group on 8th on Black Friday. We had teed off at 8:10 and passed them just past 11. Things sped up a bit after but we finished at 1:35 ish.

After the round we had lunch at the clubhouse and the group behind us came in huffing and puffing when we were finishing. I believe we had just dodged Sasquatch but the group's behind (actually the local league) wasn't so lucky.

[RichWW2]

I don't think I've ever come close to a six hour round.  Plenty of five hour rounds at some local muni's.  The issue I see is most courses not maintaining any kind of pace of play standard.  If rangers actually got on peoples @$$e$, then there wouldn't be nearly as many pace of play problems. Instead, it's only collect the money and send them out.

[Yukari]

When I play in the L.A. area, the muni courses always seem to have five-somes.  Typical round is 5-1/2 hours.  It is dreadfully slooooooow!!

[rkim291968]

  On 4/10/2019 at 7:00 PM, RichWW2 said:

 If rangers actually got on peoples @$$e$, then there wouldn't be nearly as many pace of play problems. Instead, it's only collect the money and send them out.

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IMO, that's the big elephant in the room.   My course sends someone out when they notice a group falling behind 4.5 hour pace.   That usually does the trick.   The only time this does not work with when there is a large tournament.   This is one reason (there are others but that's for another thread) why I stopped playing in tournaments.  It takes up the whole day - get to the course by 7:20, the last group ends around 2:00, we hang around for drinks and score tally afterward, get home in the late afternoon, and I am too tired to do anything else.   The whole day is gone, just like that.  Playing in tournaments fun and all but 5 - 6 hour round + extra activities .... life is too short for this.

[David in FL]

  On 4/10/2019 at 6:43 PM, Cantankerish said:

I played a seven hour round.  It was with family at Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee. The place is near deserted in the summer, and they let us play a six-some.  There was a lot of alcohol involved.  I sobered up twice during that time.  Not entirely a great experience.

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7 hours?!  😱

I don’t care if you were a 15-some!  

[Chasing_Bogeys]

  On 4/10/2019 at 7:32 PM, Yukari said:

When I play in the L.A. area, the muni courses always seem to have five-somes.  Typical round is 5-1/2 hours.  It is dreadfully slooooooow!!

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This is basically all I know of golf. I have rarely played outside SoCal. 😞 
The problem is created by:

1 - 5-somes and starting times not far enough apart
2 - No control of what tees to play - starter should check handicap and assign tees
3 - Minimal Marshall coverage. I have played 10+ rounds this year and have seen one Marshall. He stopped and chatted with my 4-some who was on the ass of the group in front of us (we hit 2 balls that rolled up on them from the tee - not intentionally, thought they were 40 yards further down). He wasn't looking for slow groups or trying to help speed anything up. Just out there for a drive.
4 - poorly maintained fairways, greens that are too fast, and pins placed in stupid positions.

If you're looking for Sasquatch, (s)he lives among the LA Municipal courses and comes out for photos on Saturday and Sunday late morning/early afternoon.