October 1's Trap Five: Speeding Up Play

[iacas]

What tips or tricks do you guys have for speeding up play? I want to write tomorrow's Trap Five article on "top five ways to play fast" or something like that...

Also list your top five BAD things to do when speeding up play is your goal. Yes, some will just be inverses of the above - no need to list those.


Speeding Up Play
If you take a cart, take three clubs to your ball - or more. If you are just chipping on, take several wedges, your putter, a towel, and tell your partner you're set to finish out the hole so he can park the cart.

Park the cart at the back of the green, if at all possible, or in the direction of the next tee.

Read your putts while other people are reading and playing theirs.

Get to your ball quickly and be ready to hit when it's your turn.

Bad Things that Slow Play
Forgetting clubs on the greens

People not understanding the rules about who should tend the flagstick (or take it out - first on the green OR closest to the pin, whichever is quickest is how we do it)

Lost balls because you don't watch where your ball goes (multiplied by not waiving people through while searching)

Not picking up when you're out of a hole (if it applies)

[Rickins]

Speeding up play:

'Ready golf' - Provided you're not a distraction or a safety hazard, move to your ball and be ready to hit rather than "spectating" over everyone else's shot. (My version of Erik's fourth example.)

Hole out your putts when it's practical to do so, i.e. don't lag up to 10" from the cup and then mark it and wait for someone else to putt.

Play a provisional ball when you know, very well, that your ball is most likely lost. (There probably isn't more than one in ten golfers who knows the correct procedure for an unplayable lie even if the ball is found.)

When the hole is finished, move! (I'm not making this up. My wife and I actually watched a guy give his wife/girlfriend lessons next to the 18th green, after holing out, while we stood in the fairway, in clear view, waiting to hit our approach shots. Unbelievable!)

Pay attention to what's going on behind you. Don't assume that the fast twosome following your group "isn't going anywhere" because you have two slower foursomes ahead of you. Courtesy still applies here.

Rick

[Everardo]

This could quickly turn into a venting session

Speeding Up Play
Follow the group ahead of you - regardless of who is or isnt behind you

Look for the yardage on your way to the ball. Meaning don't just drive straight to your ball and then look around for yardages. Given that, get a range finder or GPS tool.

Help you friend out by raking the bunker for him while he cleans his clubs and prepares to putt.

Call the grill ahead of time if you're going to stop at the turn for snacks, food or drinks.

Establish what a gimmie is with your group - For example with my guys if the ball is within the grip of the putter (about 24")

If you're learning or not having a good day then play a scramble with your group. Take the best drive, etc

Bad Things that Slow Play
Digging in your bag for tees, balls, etc. Have extras in your pockets

Don't line up your 3rd, 4th, etc putt - just pick it up. Like what was mentioned above, either tap in you 10" putt or pick it up.

Taking 2-3 practice strokes for every shot! Think about it if you shoot par you've taken over 200 practice strokes...

[Rickins]

Look for the yardage on your way to the ball. Meaning don't just drive straight to your ball and then look around for yardages. Given that, get a range finder or GPS tool.

This one made me smile. Our local muni is a pretty sweet course but is horrible about marking yardages. Sprinkler head stuff at best...if you can find one.

I'd never do it when closely followed but I know, very well, that I've looked like a drunken ant walking around looking for the elusive "sprinkler head" with the yardage tag.

Taking 2-3 practice strokes for every shot! Think about it if you shoot par you've taken over 200 practice strokes...

Yep! And, invariably, the practice strokes are a lot better than the one that counts.

Rick

[Peter_in_Atl]

You guys have covered most things that drive me nuts. Except one. Hang up the ^%$@#*%#&$@#&$#@$ phone!!!!!

[Rickins]

Hang up the ^%$@#*%#&$@#&$#@$ phone!!!!!

This is one that I thought, ahead of time, was going to drive me nuts, too. I just envisioned an entire golf course covered with people with cell phones stuck in their ears.

Didn't really happen until I started playing with a new group of guys recently. By the time we made the turn in one round I was ready to tee up one guy's phone and give it a ride. He wasn't the only "offender" but he was certainly the worst. Rick

[iacas]

Part One of Two is now available here .

[mediaguru]

Part One of Two is now available

Keeping your ball in the FAIRWAY where you can FIND it would save a ton of search time...

[Mr High Anxiety]

Already been mentioned but myself and my partners always play ready golf. We also have no problems taking gracious drops. Say one of us hits the ball into the woods and one of us hits a great shot in the fairway, the person that knocked the ball out will just drop a ball by the one that had the shot in the fairway. That way no one behind us ever has to wait.

[mediaguru]

Sorry Mr High Anxiety but that wouldn't fly with me. My group strictly plays by the rules. You can still play by the rules and play fast enough.

[Rickins]

Sorry Mr High Anxiety but that wouldn't fly with me. My group strictly plays by the rules. You can still play by the rules and play fast enough.

Takes only a few extra moments to hit a "provisional". That said, the "stroke and distance" penalty for a lost ball is still at the top of my list of most disliked rules and, probably, why it's one of the most violated rules among weekend golfers in the game.

Personally, I think taking a drop in the middle of the fairway for a lost ball is a little over the top but I wouldn't make an issue about it in a "friendly" round. (We occasionally concede putts in stroke play, too. ) Rick

[Mr High Anxiety]

Sorry Mr High Anxiety but that wouldn't fly with me. My group strictly plays by the rules. You can still play by the rules and play fast enough.

Well being a 2 handicap versus a 30 handicap I can see why you would not take advantage of the gracious drops. Take this past weekend for instance. My first shot major slice into the woods, no way I'm finding it. There are about 10 pairings behind us. I don't want to hold these people up while I tee up another shot, and probably hit it into the woods so I drive off and drop a ball in the fairway. Me and my playing partner just play for fun. We never break 100 yet we have a blast everytime.

[Rickins]

Well being a 2 handicap versus a 30 handicap I can see why you would not take advantage of the gracious drops...

You're not going to win, Chief. Frankly, you (we) shouldn't.

Sounding very old-fashioned here but the "integrity" of the game shouldn't be left to those who belong to the private, or semi-private, clubs. They're actually a very small minority of the "golfing public". The Rules of Golf should be respected by everyone. (The fact that a high-handicapper, playing by the Rules, will likely be bludgeoned to death on a busy local muni, notwithstanding... ) (Loved this one: An American playing at St. Andrews told his Scottish caddie that he was taking a "mulligan" after a particularly bad shot. He asked the caddie if the Scots had a similar word for a "mulligan". The caddie answered, "Yessir, we do." When the American asked what is was, the caddie replied, "Cheating.") Rick

[Mr High Anxiety]

The caddie answered, "Yessir, we do." When the American asked what is was, the caddie replied, "Cheating.")

Ha ha, you know after I read the response to my first post I started thinking how many people here take mulligans. I was going to start a thread on it but decided not too. I of course take 1 mulligan every nine which I know is against the rules. Just a hypothetical, if every weekend hacker from this point on decided to follow the rule book to the T how much slower would we be talking? I think next weekend I'm going to study up on the rules and play a round to see how much of a difference it would make.

[NCGolfer]

There is one addendum or revision to Erik and Rickin's versions of "ready golf" I would like to CLEARLY state.

If you are in a cart, please do NOT drive to your partners ball and watch him hit, only to drive over to your ball had have him watch you hit. Drop him off with a couple clubs and go over to your ball so that as soon as he is done hitting, you can take your turn. By the time you are done, he will be at or near the cart and ready to go.

This is probably my #1 aggregation in watching hackers play. I want to scream at them for not using the carts to the most efficient use. When used incorrect, carts can actually slow people down.

[Rickins]

This is probably my #1 aggregation in watching hackers play. I want to scream at them for not using the carts to the most efficient use. When used incorrect, carts can actually slow people down.

I second your addendum, Dave. (Wish I had mentioned this one myself.) I'll bet we've all watched a foursome ahead of us criss-crossing the fairways like some kind of slapstick golf comedy...only it's not too funny after watching it once.

Just a hypothetical, if every weekend hacker from this point on decided to follow the rule book to the T how much slower would we be talking? I think next weekend I'm going to study up on the rules and play a round to see how much of a difference it would make.

I agree here with mediaguru, High. The smart weekend hacker studies the Rules and uses them to his best advantage rather than seeing them as one penalty thrown on top of another. Study up on provisional shots, unplayable lies, water hazards and bunkers and where/how to take relief from movable and immovable obstructions. That'll put you in, at least, the top 30 percentile of the folks currently playing the game. From there, you can get just as "anal" as you like. (You can't give your partner a "gimme" in stroke play, you can't tap in that 6-incher with the flagstick in place (2-stroke penalty)...you get the idea.

) Rick

[Mr High Anxiety]

It's been slow so I have been reading all I can over at USGA.org. I have played golf for 10 years and never have I read the Rule Book. Stupid, I know, but I'm going to change that. I have come across a few rules that I had no idea were even in there. Like your example of the 2 stroke penaly if you putt out with the flagstick in place. I did that last weekend and wasn't even aware it was a rule so instead of shooting 112 I really shot 114.

[LarryK]

Keeping your ball in the FAIRWAY where you can FIND it would save a ton of search time...

Well...yeah, but.....

Sorry Mr High Anxiety but that wouldn't fly with me. My group strictly plays by the rules. You can still play by the rules and play fast enough.

Not to pick on you in particular MG, but I believe we golfers in general tend to talk out of both sides of our "lateral hazards" on the issue of slow play and adherence to the rules.

My guess is that the golfer who professes to be a stickler for the rules would be the first one to complain when the pace (at least in front of him) starts to bog down. And I don't care how conscientious the High Handicapper might be. You simply can't play a round of 104 with two sleeves of lost balls and a brisk military cadance ("left, right, left, right") as quickly as a round of 78 where the ball is kept in play. It's a difference of 26 strokes fer crissakes! That's six extra holes. Do we really want the hackers among us to invoke their R & A given right to dig for five minutes in seach of a 75-cent Top Flite only to trudge back to the tee for a reload? Not me. But rules are rules. There is a difference in slow play caused by ignorance and slow play caused by conspicuous lack of talent. I believe we should condemn the former and be as forgiving as possible toward the latter. Same with the rules. There is a huge difference between cheating and suspending certain rules in the interest of speeding up recreational, non-tournament play where no money is changing hands. If we can't tell the differences between the extremes in both cases, then we've lost all perspective. In the meantime, just remember: Unless you are playing Match Play, picking up your ball after nine or 10 strokes.........is against the rules.