What Constitutes Slow Play?

[StuM]

1 hour ago, reidsou said:

I hope you gave him feedback and a chance to clean up his act before ghosting him. 

He was given feedback multiple times last season.  He would simply fall back on "If I do not feel I'm ready then I will wait".   I can't prove cause & effect but this year our league has not been warned a single time of slow play by the course and our last group has always finished with a gap between us and the league behind us and we only rarely have to wait on the group ahead. 

We did have one week where I saw a backup forming ahead of us and I texted the guys in the lead group and they all stepped it up and cleared the blockage quickly.

1 minute ago, dennyjones said:

I've not played Arcadia Buffs but have older friends that filled their bucket list there.    They were playing with nobody in front of them or behind them and the ranger made them skip a whole.   They aren't very good golfers but when I play with them it's always under 4 hours.   They play ready golf.

I've not played Arcadia Bluffs but was told they tell people ahead of time to expect a slower round and to enjoy it and feel free to take pictures.  Maybe I was misinformed.  Still, if course is open behind you there is no reason to skip a hole.  It is possible the Marshall was aware of something the golfers did not see.  Sometimes a group will see a slow group ahead and simply slow down themselves by taking practice putts & chips instead of advancing to the next tee just to stand and wait.  The Marshall may have seen a backup coming and acted proactively. (OK, I've never seen a Marshall act proactively but it is possible).

[imsys0042]

1 hour ago, Big C said:

 

- I have no idea why a ranger would call attention to your pace of play on a course that is mostly empty. I suppose he might want you to know for future reference, in case the course was more crowded next time. But if that were the case, I would expect him to say something like "you guys are fine for now, but I wanted you to know that the expected pace here is 4 hours for 18. Enjoy your round fellas."

One time back at Great Gorge, NJ, a ranger told me and the other person I was with that if we could step it up a little bit to catch the group in front of us, that would be appreciated.   There was no one behind us.   He said that he wanted to say something to them, but needed someone waiting on them to do so.

 

[StuM]

51 minutes ago, imsys0042 said:

One time back at Great Gorge, NJ, a ranger told me and the other person I was with that if we could step it up a little bit to catch the group in front of us, that would be appreciated.   There was no one behind us.   He said that he wanted to say something to them, but needed someone waiting on them to do so.

 

Ummmmm, so he did not want to say something the group ahead of you because he needed someone to be waiting on them, but told you to pick it up even though there was nobody behind you?  Sounds a little contradictory.  Maybe he was trying to be gentle in telling you to pick it up?

[imsys0042]

1 hour ago, StuM said:

Ummmmm, so he did not want to say something the group ahead of you because he needed someone to be waiting on them, but told you to pick it up even though there was nobody behind you?  Sounds a little contradictory.  Maybe he was trying to be gentle in telling you to pick it up?

He spoke to us very nicely. Looked like Wilfred Brimley.   We thought he had an axe to grind with them.   

[Double Mocha Man]

13 minutes ago, imsys0042 said:

He spoke to us very nicely. Looked like Wilfred Brimley.   We thought he had an axe to grind with them.   

Yesterday a marshal was lurking in the woods on the greenskeeper's roads, staying out of view, observing the pace of play.  Waved at me, seemingly a nice guy.  Threesome in front of our foursome was dreadfully slow.  There was an entire open hole in front of them... a par 5 in this case!  He never spoke to them.

[Zippo]

22 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Yesterday a marshal was lurking in the woods on the greenskeeper's roads, staying out of view, observing the pace of play.  Waved at me, seemingly a nice guy.  Threesome in front of our foursome was dreadfully slow.  There was an entire open hole in front of them... a par 5 in this case!  He never spoke to them.

He was probably too busy gasping from the smoke and heat!

[colin007]

I thought this was hilarious

TikTok - Make Your Day

 

[Buster1054]

Keeping up with the group ahead certainly helps slow play. 

I've been s golfer since the mid-70's, and slow play has always been an irritant. I doubt there is a definitive solution to the problem. In my experience, a slow group or individual golfer either does not realize they are slow or just don't care.

During a recent round there was a slow foursome ahead of our twosome. We waited on every tee as they hit their tee shots and then played at a leisurely pace.

This was bad enough. But when we were able to begin playing, a twosome behind us began hitting balls into our group and even over our heads. When they caught up with us as we waited at the tee on the next hole they were ever apologetic and obviously very frustrated. We got it. Everyone was frustrated.

I do not know a solution to this, and I once quit playing for several years because of it.

[Buster1054]

On 1/20/2024 at 2:53 PM, Buster1054 said:

Keeping up with the group ahead certainly helps slow play. 

I've been s golfer since the mid-70's, and slow play has always been an irritant. I doubt there is a definitive solution to the problem. In my experience, a slow group or individual golfer either does not realize they are slow or just don't care.

During a recent round there was a slow foursome ahead of our twosome. We waited on every tee as they hit their tee shots and then played at a leisurely pace.

This was bad enough. But when we were able to begin playing, a twosome behind us began hitting balls into our group and even over our heads. When they caught up with us as we waited at the tee on the next hole they were ever apologetic and obviously very frustrated. We got it. Everyone was frustrated.

I do not know a solution to this, and I once quit playing for several years because of it.

There is one thing that could help with slow play, but it would surely cause an uproar: limit groups to two players. Almost invariably, it is a foursomes that holds up play on the entire course. There is a tendency of the members of a foursome to spend a lot of time interacting with each other rather than focusing on golf. Again, I've been golfing for the past fifty years, and it is a thing I am absolutely certain of.

[dennyjones]

[jsgolfer]

Rumor at my course, is that they are going to set a 4 hour time for an 18 hole round, down from 4:15.  Not sure it is really going to help, as no one ever seems to enforce the 4:15 time. 

However, we are getting a new pro, maybe he or she will be a little more on top of it.  One of your biggest problems is that we have a few early groups that are very fast and some others not so much.  So if you're on pace for a 4:15 round but are 1 to 2 holes behind the group in front of you, is that slow play?  Always a dilemma at our course.  

[DaveP043]

1 hour ago, jsgolfer said:

we are getting a new pro

Where is Josh going?

My experience is as yours is, the pace of play issue becomes exaggerated by differences in pace of play.  Much like driving down the highway, MY speed is right, anyone going faster is a maniac, anyone going slower is a selfish turtle.  

[klineka]

1 hour ago, jsgolfer said:

So if you're on pace for a 4:15 round but are 1 to 2 holes behind the group in front of you, is that slow play?  Always a dilemma at our course.  

I always hated the logic of "pace of play is behind the group in front of you"

Pace of play should be timed against the course, not my group having to speed up in order to keep up with a super quick group in front of me when we already aren't holding anyone up behind us.

 

[bkuehn1952]

1 hour ago, jsgolfer said:

Rumor at my course, is that they are going to set a 4 hour time for an 18 hole round, down from 4:15.  Not sure it is really going to help, as no one ever seems to enforce the 4:15 time. 

Yes, ths is an issue at my "home" course, too. The course is "pace rated" at 4:30. There is a somewhat lenthy walk between a few holes and it is a hilly course. Presumably, the pace rating is for a foursome of walkers who are bogey golfers.

Some groups refuse to allow faster groups play through because they are "on pace." The course is prevented from any action other than to suggest to the slower group that is "on pace" that they might allow a group to play through when there are several holes open. Of course, golf etiquette generally suggests one shoud always allow a faster group to play through whether one is "on pace" or not. Unfortunately, some fellow golfers are a bit hard headed and selective on how they view pace of play.

[jsgolfer]

7 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Where is Josh going?

My experience is as yours is, the pace of play issue becomes exaggerated by differences in pace of play.  Much like driving down the highway, MY speed is right, anyone going faster is a maniac, anyone going slower is a selfish turtle.  

Josh is going to Lehigh Country Club in Allentown PA

4 minutes ago, klineka said:

I always hated the logic of "pace of play is behind the group in front of you"

Pace of play should be timed against the course, not my group having to speed up in order to keep up with a super quick group in front of me when we already aren't holding anyone up behind us.

 

What ends up happening at our course, is that my group is really fast, so we are waiting on the group that is on the 4:15 pace, and then the course gets backed up.   

[klineka]

21 minutes ago, jsgolfer said:

What ends up happening at our course, is that my group is really fast, so we are waiting on the group that is on the 4:15 pace, and then the course gets backed up.   

Do they not let you play through? 

IMO that should be the norm. Especially if the course is open in front of the 4:15 group and you guys come up onto them.

[jsgolfer]

2 minutes ago, klineka said:

Do they not let you play through? 

IMO that should be the norm. Especially if the course is open in front of the 4:15 group and you guys come up onto them.

For the most part no, some members feel if they are on pace, they don't need to let anyone through, even if holes are open in-front of them. Sometimes groups do, but since we usually have 4-5 groups playing, if one plays through, it just kind of screws it up for the rest, so we typically slog through it and then complain about it on the patio while having a cocktail.     

[Ty_Webb]

5 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

Much like driving down the highway, MY speed is right, anyone going faster is a maniac, anyone going slower is a selfish turtle.  

Yep - in the same way as something like 83% of people think they're above average drivers, I suspect that the number of golfers who consider themselves to be slow players is single digits as a percentage.