A New Pace of Play Low

[Typhoon92]

Asked a friend of mine how his Monday round was at Trull Brook GC.  He said it was awful… took 6 hours and 45 minutes.  He said they went inside to complain afterwards and the course didn’t care.  They told him “it’s bust, nothing we can do about it.”.

Can u  imagine??  It’s a short well kept 18 hole course that does shave their greens down so it’s really not fun to play there.  The greens were built back before mowers could cut them that short .He said it was $100 to play as well.

[billchao]

That is absolutely insane. I’ve never played a 6 hour round before. Once I played a round that took 3:00 for the front nine and I walked off. I was kind of salty about that at the time because the guy in the shop said if I wait 10 minutes to check in, I’d get twilight rates, but what he failed to mention were the three other groups lined up ahead of me doing the exact same thing. Totally not worth the $20 I saved.

1 hour ago, Typhoon92 said:

that does shave their greens down so it’s really not fun to play there.  The greens were built back before mowers could cut them that short

I played a course once that was kind of the opposite. Despite being built in the 90’s, the contours on the greens were ridiculous and they had to keep the greens fairly long to compensate. It was an awful experience.

[boogielicious]

That’s sad. I’ve played there many times. Never had that slow a round.

[Typhoon92]

On 5/23/2025 at 9:11 PM, boogielicious said:

That’s sad. I’ve played there many times. Never had that slow a round.

I used to enjoy playing there back in the 1990’s before the kids took over the course from the father.  They almost doubled the rates and the attitude of the “new regime” led me to spend my money elsewhere.  They were not the only golf course in America like they thought they were.

 

[Huffy]

On 5/23/2025 at 5:52 PM, Typhoon92 said:

took 6 hours and 45 minutes

As a junior I played many rounds that floated in the 6-hour range. They would send the 16-18 group off the front and back at 7:45-ish; and still be sending the 7-8 demographic off both sides at 10:00 and still be running behind, once had to wait almost 45 minutes at the turn.

[GolfLug]

On 5/23/2025 at 5:52 PM, Typhoon92 said:

 took 6 hours and 45 minutes.  He said they went inside to complain afterwards and the course didn’t care.  They told him “it’s bust, nothing we can do about it.”.

Shrink the game.

[Typhoon92]

On 5/23/2025 at 9:11 PM, boogielicious said:

That’s sad. I’ve played there many times. Never had that slow a round.

Ironically this was on my phone today..

[Archie Bunker]

Most of the golf experience is the fun of hitting the ball, which only takes a couple of seconds per shot. When you have to stand around and wait for hours during the round, it kills the experience. Makes you wish you stayed on the practice range that day.

[Huffy]

On 5/25/2025 at 11:50 PM, Typhoon92 said:

Ironically this was on my phone today..

 

Interestingly enough, that was actually at Cranberry Highlands (where day 2 of the TST outing is) because there was a “suspicious person” that ran out onto the course last summer.

[Carl3]

I made an observation: If you get paired up with some guys who say they play "ready golf" be prepared for a long tedious round. My sense is that this means they don't keep track of who has the tee, but really nothing else that would speed up play.

Played with two guys yesterday that indicated they were "ready golfers", but they had no clue. More than once they teed off and one was in the right rough and the other in the left rough with one maybe 20 yards further up. Instead of each marching off towards their own ball and assessing their situation, selecting a club and taking practice swings, they displayed "etiquette" where the longer hitter would wait for the other guy to hit before passing him. Kind of like not wanting to go offsides in soccer. Each had a long routine with multiple full practice swings before any and all shots (besides putts).

[ChetlovesMer]

On 5/23/2025 at 5:52 PM, Typhoon92 said:

Asked a friend of mine how his Monday round was at Trull Brook GC.  He said it was awful… took 6 hours and 45 minutes.  He said they went inside to complain afterwards and the course didn’t care.  They told him “it’s bust, nothing we can do about it.”.

Can u  imagine??  It’s a short well kept 18 hole course that does shave their greens down so it’s really not fun to play there.  The greens were built back before mowers could cut them that short .He said it was $100 to play as well.

I can remember a course that I used to play that was like that. The course and some of it's members would brag about how difficult the layout was and go on and on about it. It was always my opinion that the layout, although long, wasn't particularly difficult, it was the greens. They would cut the greens down like a pool table. Which again, is fine if you put the flag in a place where its fair. ... BUT they didn't. 

There was one hole in particular, where they'd often cut the hole on the front edge of the green. The front third of the green was slanted downward and then the green was elevated such that if you wanted a chance to putt, you had to hit it above the hole at least 1/3 or more onto the green. Then take your putt and if you missed the hole it would roll off the green and down the hill so that you had to pitch it back on about 50-60 feet and once again hit it at least 5 feet above the hole or the ball wouldn't stop. Then try your putt again hoping that you hit the hole on the way by or start the whole process over again. 

When we were playing we were wondering if we were being unreasonable, We tried to place a ball within 4-5 feet of the hole and you couldn't do it. It would roll all the way off and down the hill leaving a 50-60 foot pitch back up again. It was stupid. 

Nearly all the holes were cut so that you could not place your ball within a couple feet of the hole, but at least those didn't roll off the false front so that you had to pitch it back on. 

The course is/was beautiful. It was really well kept. But I hated playing there for two reasons.

1 - The greens were ridiculous. I enjoy a challenge, but these were just stupid. You always had to wait to hit approach shots. People putted forever. It was like playing a round of mini-golf in the middle of playing a round of regular golf. Par-3's would back up 2 or 3 groups deep. It was always a 5-1/2 hours to play. Most of that time was spent watching people roll the ball back and forth past the hole. Not fun.

2 - The other thing I hated about that course was the place had a really snobbish air about it. Everyone's tone was dripping with self-importance. I once suggested that they at least put the hole locations on flat spots, so that people would get a tap-in every now and then. And the clubhouse guy basically said "Maybe you are good enough to play here?" 

[Typhoon92]

Sounds EXACTLY like Trull Brook.  When the father ran it, everyone there was nice.  The kids took over and it’s snobbish, they think they sh*t ice cream.  They don’t care about their patrons whatsoever.  And the shaved greens…. OMG. They were not built for green speeds like that.  Like you mentioned Chet, they put the pins where if the grass were longer like when I played there as a kid, it was fine.  But not now….  That’s why it’s 6:45 to play, you putt off the greens etc…. Don’t see how that is funnier why people think it’s a “cool feature”

[ChetlovesMer]

11 minutes ago, Typhoon92 said:

Sounds EXACTLY like Trull Brook.  When the father ran it, everyone there was nice.  The kids took over and it’s snobbish, they think they sh*t ice cream.  They don’t care about their patrons whatsoever.  And the shaved greens…. OMG. They were not built for green speeds like that.  Like you mentioned Chet, they put the pins where if the grass were longer like when I played there as a kid, it was fine.  But not now….  That’s why it’s 6:45 to play, you putt off the greens etc…. Don’t see how that is funnier why people think it’s a “cool feature”

Some people confuse fast greens or challenging greens with putting the holes in places where it is very literally impossible to stop the ball near the hole. I like fast greens and I think most people who play a lot of golf will say they prefer fast greens. But that's with the caveat that it is at least possible to stop the ball near the hole. 

The place I'm referring to above is called "The Harvester" it is in Rhodes, Iowa. I haven't played there in at least 20 years. The last time I played there we had a foursome with a 9:30AMish tee-time. We show up an hour early and everyone is standing around. So get this. There had been an early season frost that morning. (This is like mid September or something.) Anyway, they told everyone that nobody can go on the grass until at least an hour after the last time they see any frost on the ground. "Okay, can we go warm up?" "No, you can't go on the putting green or the driving range grass." ... "Seriously?" The place is like a 35 or 40 minute drive from my house. I didn't see any frost before I left my house. I didn't see any when I got there. We finally teed off about 2 hours late with a bunch of other folks all jammed up in front of us, some of them were waiting like an hour longer than us. Nobody warmed up, Oh my goodness, did it play slow. Like a 6 hour plus round. When I finally got home my wife was like "Where have you been?" "Playing golf." "You left like 9 hours ago?" 

I never went back.

[ChetlovesMer]

18 hours ago, Carl3 said:

I made an observation: If you get paired up with some guys who say they play "ready golf" be prepared for a long tedious round. My sense is that this means they don't keep track of who has the tee, but really nothing else that would speed up play.

I wish this wasn't true, BUUUTTTTT....  It is. 

[Typhoon92]

Being in New England we know Feoat delays.  The thing with that is everything you might see looks ok but the greens etc… that are in the shade will still have frost.  Don’t know if the putting green and driving range are shaded but that might be a reason.

or maybe they just suck 😁

[BabaYaga]

13 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Some people confuse fast greens or challenging greens with putting the holes in places where it is very literally impossible to stop the ball near the hole. I like fast greens and I think most people who play a lot of golf will say they prefer fast greens. But that's with the caveat that it is at least possible to stop the ball near the hole. 

The place I'm referring to above is called "The Harvester" it is in Rhodes, Iowa. I haven't played there in at least 20 years. The last time I played there we had a foursome with a 9:30AMish tee-time. We show up an hour early and everyone is standing around. So get this. There had been an early season frost that morning. (This is like mid September or something.) Anyway, they told everyone that nobody can go on the grass until at least an hour after the last time they see any frost on the ground. "Okay, can we go warm up?" "No, you can't go on the putting green or the driving range grass." ... "Seriously?" The place is like a 35 or 40 minute drive from my house. I didn't see any frost before I left my house. I didn't see any when I got there. We finally teed off about 2 hours late with a bunch of other folks all jammed up in front of us, some of them were waiting like an hour longer than us. Nobody warmed up, Oh my goodness, did it play slow. Like a 6 hour plus round. When I finally got home my wife was like "Where have you been?" "Playing golf." "You left like 9 hours ago?" 

I never went back.

Private course now. Amazing track after they redid the course.

[boogielicious]

7 hours ago, Typhoon92 said:

Being in New England we know Feoat delays.  The thing with that is everything you might see looks ok but the greens etc… that are in the shade will still have frost.  Don’t know if the putting green and driving range are shaded but that might be a reason.

or maybe they just suck 😁

Definitely the latter! 

The last few years I would book an early tee time at Scottish Highlands, which is 30 minutes away driving. If there was a frost delay they would call me and let me know so I wouldn’t drive up and have to sit in the parking lot. The owner there does care.