Two Hour 18 - Faster Play Through Multiple Marginal Gains

[iacas]

Yes, You Can Beat Slow Play - Golf Digest

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Shaving seconds and minutes could cut half an hour off your round.

This is precisely right - it's the accumulation of a bunch of ten-second delays here and there which make golf take so long to play.

My daughter and I played a practice round (I was playing for score, she was hitting multiple tee shots, chips/pitches, and putting around, etc.) in < 3:30 on a wet, wet course which was cart-path only. 30 of those minutes were spent behind a foursome on holes 10-12 before they let us through.

[jmanbooyaa]

Makes a lot of sense. Takes me 2.25 walking to play 18. As a foursome on a busy sunday morning 2 to 2.25 to play 9. Ugh. I suppose my 2.25 walk time to play 18 could have been less if I took into account the little things mentioned in the article. 

 

[jmanbooyaa]

To add to this the biggest time sucks are practice swings. Ever watch your playing partner take 5 or more practice swings. My god time stands still.

The other which was alluded to is ready golf. Furthest away doesn’t always need to go first. If i walk and you ride. By all accounts you should be to your ball faster. Go ahead and hit if I am further away no big deal. Just pay attention. And for the love of god you do not need to wait for a group to be on the green when you tee off from 320 plus out. If you think you can reach let the shorter hitter hit. 

Same goes for the mindless wait in the fairway. You hit your drive and still have over 225 to go. You ain’t reaching the green(of course does not apply to all, but does apply)

[Shindig]

I really like the practice swing suggestion.  A year or so ago, I realized I could speed up and I did so by not taking practice swings on the course for simple shots.  7-iron from a flat lie in the fairway doesn't require it.  I not only sped up (considerably:  one of my friends who encouraged me to speed up a year ago now tells me I should take another moment on some shots), but I was less tired at the end of the round.  

One of my recent opponents in a club match is known as a slow player.  It was agonizing when I had out-driven him, and wanted to hit (and would have, if it were stroke play), but he wasn't ready to hit and I didn't want to give up that advantage in match play.  Fortunately for me, the group behind us was very slow (yes, I know that's not the right measure of speed, but it at least saved me from feeling stupid standing in the fairway while waiting for him to be ready when I clearly was.  At least they were two full swings behind us at the time).

I also like their "hit first then search" suggestion.  If it's clear for me to hit, I'm always going to do that before I help in a search.  

I have gotten better about planning ahead;  in a few cases on my home course, I can leave my bag in such a way that I save 50-100 yards (in one case, 200) worth of pushing it by planning ahead.  It used to only be able to be done when I hit particular GIRs;  now it can be done off of near-GIRs as I have a separate detachable standing bag that carries 2-3 wedges and my putter.  Park cart, grab mini bag, wander over.  

[David in FL]

You don’t have to run to be fast.  You just have to not be slow...!!

[shanksalot]

Several weeks ago during a really wet and cold day my wife and I played with hardly anyone else on the course. We finished in 2 hr 30 min and we were not rushing. We were in a cart though so that helped our time. We also played in just over 3 hours last month during cart path only because of sloppy conditions. It can be done but all it takes is one group of slow players to make over 4 1/2 hours. 

[boogielicious]

Be ready to play is the top one I think. While someone is hitting, you should have your club in your hand ready to go. I see this so often where people aren't ready at all. They may blame the group in front or something else, but they are just not ready when it's there turn.

My wife and I played 9 Saturday in 1:45-50. We had a threesome walking with a foursome in front in carts. The guy with us was ready to play as were we. We were never waiting, so the group in front was moving along even though it looked like they were spraying the ball all over the place.

Some friends of mine aren't like this. I don't know how to fix them. We've discussed slow play, but they aren't changing.

[saevel25]

Out of the article, I would say these are the top ones I see not done.

1. Hit First, Then Search.
2. Be Ready to Play.

I'll add the one I see as a big issue with people who have carts.

1. Not dropping off your partner at his ball and going off to your ball.
2. The 2nd cart hanging around the 1st cart instead of going off to play ready golf. (I guess this goes with #2 above).

[Bucki1968]

Yes...play "ready golf". It's not that hard. You can play bad golf quickly. Played with three other guys on Saturday and we got around in 3:15. We played through one group. We hit when ready and don't care who had the "honor" on the tee. We are still competitive and have some $ bet but we really aren't rushing. It can be done! Nothing bugs me more than watching a foursome in front of me all wait while one guy hits his shot. Three guys sitting in the cart watching one guys play and then driving the cart 20 feet for the next guy to hit.

[cutchemist42]

I'm a walker but like @saevel25 said, I do notice those same problems of cart guys when playing.

I've actually come around to 1 practise swing this year from Rotellas book and my results are the same from when I took 3-4 last year I still take 2 for chips.

I personally am good as well about placing my bag in a good spot, but that's another timewaster I see a decent amount out there.

Would love to see what my time would be on an empty course for curiosity.

Edited May 6, 2019 by cutchemist42

[sjduffers]

All that stuff is common sense, but as we know, common sense is not that common. I have learned to do all these little things that save time over the years, at first because I was the slow guy (even though I couldn't see that then!), and then as a way to compensate for the other slow guys in my group: there is pretty much always one, to some extent. I also hope that others can see what I am doing to speed things up and perhaps emulate them and become faster players themselves.

Nowadays, I can play 18 holes (on a somewhat compact and flat-ish course), in under 2 hours, walking. I have done it last winter in 2 hours on the nose after taking shelter for about 10 minutes for a shower to pass. The course was empty: there were only 3 people on the whole course, including me. I never came close to the other guys either. I didn't run or even walk very fast. It's not that hard. All the little things count and 5 to 10 seconds here or there turn into minutes and half hours or more pretty quickly...

[bkuehn1952]

I totally agree with the writer of the cited article.  The 5 points he raises are valid although I would say the "practice swing" is not in and of itself a large time waster compared to some of the more elaborate pre-shot (and post shot) routines I have witnessed.  If the pre-shot routine includes 5 practice swings (or even 2 or 3) along with a series of other moves (tossing grass in the air, using the distance measuring device, aligning the ball on the tee, adjusting the clothes, standing behind the ball gazing into the distance, etc ...) then that becomes a huge time sucker.

As to Mr. Owen's example of he and his friend walking 18 in 2 hours, let's look at that a bit.  He has an index of 8.3 and I suspect his friend has similar abilities.  All other things being even, two high single digit players should be a bit faster than the average golf grouping (fewer balls to search for, a few less swings).  He was likely playing his home course, Washington Golf Club.  WGC is a private nine hole course (with double tees to make it 18).  It is an old course that dates to before 1900 so I suspect the walk between green and next tee is short.  The "18 hole" yardage is about 5,535 yards with a rating of 68.6 and slope of 127.  He and his playing partner are also intimately familiar with the course.  All these factors likely aid in their twosome's ability to speed around the layout.

Working at eliminating the numerous time wasters and speeding up golf is a noble cause.  Anecdotal tales by a member of a small private club playing unusually fast rounds as a twosome are not especially helpful.