IM SICK OF THIS *$#! whats ruining golf...

[flopdarock]

played a 2 1/2 hour round today... 4 groups let me play through... only stopped for the bathroom at the turn... the course was packed with ppl but i was burning it up... shot an 81 to top it off... great day

[TheNatural]

Need to chalk up another epic failure round.
I walked, my bud and his wife drove. She stinks.

We waited on every damn hole at the tee for 5-10 minutes. The ranger did his part,,,he just drove around the course, never stopped to talk to anyone, just drove around the course.

Nododys fault but mine. The more money you spend it seems the less waiting you do.
This Muni course is cheap.

[golfaddiction]

How bout this for an idea: $20 slow play deposit. If you finish your round in under 4:30, you get your $20 back. If you finish between 4:30 and 5:00, you get $10 back.

Your deposit is fully refunded if you finish within 10 minutes of the group in front of you.

Slower players would find this unfair, and consequently stay off the course. Regular players would gladly bet their $20 that they finish in a reasonable amount of time.

[jonnythan]

How bout this for an idea: $20 slow play deposit. If you finish your round in under 4:30, you get your $20 back. If you finish between 4:30 and 5:00, you get $10 back.

All players would be anxious about the fee because they often have little control over how long the round takes.

I wouldn't play there.

[zeg]

All players would be anxious about the fee because they often have little control over how long the round takes.

Well, he did specify that it's a 10 minute window after the group in front of you (in addition to the absolute time). Interesting idea, but I don't particularly like it.

[jonnythan]

I really need to learn to finish reading posts before I respond.

[Leftygolfer]

I played in my club championship this weekend. Both rounds way over 5 hours?? I have no idea why. We finished waiting on 18 fairway both days. Are people just not used to putting out or playing by the rules?

Slow play does suck. It makes it hard to get out if it is going to take 5 hours plus the drive and to warm up.

I enjoyed myself though. I always play early and if you do that, slow play isn't an issue at where I play. It takes about 4.5 hours, maybe a bit less.

I have no idea why it was slow.

[DiverDown]

I was once told by a marshal to hurry up play when me and my two other playing partners were on pace for a sub 3 1/2 hour round! We were thinking "are you kidding me". There was nobody in front of us because the people one hole ahead jumped off at the turn and didn't continue. We were on the 11th, the marshall drives up, see's no one in front of us and decides to give us a gentle warning. I laughed it off after the marshal left, but one of the guys was pissed! It was a bit of a kick in the groin :)

[case31]

I played in my club championship this weekend. Both rounds way over 5 hours?? I have no idea why. We finished waiting on 18 fairway both days. Are people just not used to putting out or playing by the rules?

You would be surprised at how many players really are unaccustomed to finishing out holes completely in competition. I've been in a few state amateur tournaments, and the number of players who missed 8-12 inch putts is staggering to me. I'm constantly reminds of what John Feinstein wrote in "Tales From Q School", noting how many players would mark, read, and line up 4-6 inch putts because they were so nervous. What's frustrating is that the Saturday morning game at my club has started to turn into this. A group of about 15-20 golfers all chip in $10 and we play some sort of game for money...and lately you would think that everyone was playing in the final Sunday group at Augusta.

[flopdarock]

man i just got done with a 5.5 hr round...
i hooked up with another guy who insisted on playing from the tips with me...
we actually had to let a 3some of old ladies play thru...
he was a really nice guy and i told him more than a few times that i wouldnt mind if he played the forward tees but he wouldnt have it...
i wasnt doing too well either... maybe worrying about him and what the ppl behind us thought got me out of my game

[frogger]

I guess I don't get it. Every one of us started out as a very bad golfer (and I haven't improved). If that is how we treat the newbies, we won't have any new golfers and the sport won't last. It's just a game. I say calm down and wait your turn. If they want to let you through, that is nice of them but I don't see the point of getting all worked up about it.

[CarlSpackler]

I guess I don't get it. Every one of us started out as a very bad golfer (and I haven't improved). If that is how we treat the newbies, we won't have any new golfers and the sport won't last. It's just a game. I say calm down and wait your turn. If they want to let you through, that is nice of them but I don't see the point of getting all worked up about it.

The conversation has been raging for a while. It isn't so much that players are bad, but what irks me is when people are standing around chit chatting on the greens while one guy putts. When he is done, another guy starts walking off and lining up his putt... and there is three holes open in front of them.

Saturday, I was paired up with an older gentleman how was also walking. We were pushing and waiting on a riding threesome. They let us through (nice guys) and four holes later, we caught a riding twosome with nobody in front of them. THAT, is the problem. There is no way on this crazy rock that we call earth that a walking twosome should catch a riding twosome or push a riding threesome.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by johnnythan

All players would be anxious about the fee because they often have little control over how long the round takes.

Regardless, there will always be the issue of the others in your group, whose pace of play one really has no control over (even if you know them, much less if they're strangers you got paired up with.) Seems to me that makes any enforcement difficult - no way for the course to single out that one person in the group causing the issue, and not equitable to punish the whole group for it.

[Fourputt]

I guess I don't get it. Every one of us started out as a very bad golfer (and I haven't improved). If that is how we treat the newbies, we won't have any new golfers and the sport won't last. It's just a game. I say calm down and wait your turn. If they want to let you through, that is nice of them but I don't see the point of getting all worked up about it.

It has nothing to do with how good you are. I played today with a 79 year old man who couldn't hit the the ball more than about 130 yards tops. He never made better than a double on any hole yet we finished the front 9 in under 1-1/2 hours. You don't have to be slow just because you aren't skilled, and some of the better players I know are also the slowest.

Pace of play is as much an attitude as it is a learned skill. It's attitudes like yours that are a big part of the problem. "Let me play my game and nuts to you." If you are more than 1 shot behind the group ahead of you, then you are out of position and it's time to catch up. If you can't see that then you don't really belong on a busy golf course.

[golfaddiction]

I guess I don't get it. Every one of us started out as a very bad golfer (and I haven't improved). If that is how we treat the newbies, we won't have any new golfers and the sport won't last. It's just a game. I say calm down and wait your turn. If they want to let you through, that is nice of them but I don't see the point of getting all worked up about it.

I remember when I was just starting out and took upwards of 10 shots per hole. My dad, who was teaching me, made me pick up the ball if I couldn't hit it after 3 shots on each hole. I wasn't having fun, and the people behind us definitely weren't. So I took the ball up to the green, or put it next to someone in my group who was already way up the fairway.

It's one thing if you're playing on a 9-hole pitch and putt with your family. It's another thing if you go to the crowded muni at 10 in the morning on a weekend.

[wedgewizard]

Tee off today at 940AM ....after a frost delay ok....no big deal 45 minutes

behind intended time.... Here comes... we are behind two groups who proceed to play a 6 hour round....

This just sounds like whining to me.

If you go to a course and only have a few hours to play in your busy day, then you really don't have time to play golf.

[Slim 11]

This subject is all over the different threads.... it all comes down to the courtesy of slow players. If you are slow, no biggie, but you have to let others play through.
I played as a single the other day and had 3 guys in front of me that I caught around the 3rd hole. I tried to really take my time and not push them for a couple holes but they were ridiculously slow. Not real bad players, just taking forever to decide what to hit, line up putts, etc. and not playing ready golf.

I was at the tee box with them on 2 holes in a row. They didn't ask me to join them (which I didn't really want anyway) and they didn't offer to let me play through.

Eventually I just went around them and skipped a hole. It pissed me off that I had to skip a hole (not to mentioned that one of them gave me a look Like I was the a**hole) but it was better than sitting for 15-20 minutes at every hole.

[Smarf]

I guess I don't get it. Every one of us started out as a very bad golfer (and I haven't improved). If that is how we treat the newbies, we won't have any new golfers and the sport won't last. It's just a game. I say calm down and wait your turn. If they want to let you through, that is nice of them but I don't see the point of getting all worked up about it.

I don't think of it as treating people bad. You just have to be efficient as possible without distracting others or hurting your own game.

This past weekend, I went to my first real (non par 3) course for the first time in 20 years. I shot a 103, mainly from slicing my balls into the woods lining the fairways. My group was a riding threesome but we were stuck behind a FIVEsome (Four riding and one walking no less) where everyone hit their drivers 20 yards. We never caught up quick enough to play through but we still finished in four hours on a Saturday morning with a 8:15am tee time. There are quite a few things you can do that are considerate to the people behind you and don't hurt your group mates: - Everyone split up and get to their balls. Have your club ready to go while the back person is shooting, get up and hit yours then move on. - Don't look for a lost ball forever. The 20 times I was in the woods, it didn't take me more than a minute to find my ball and if it did I would just drop another one. The group behind us took their time and were hardly ever waiting on a tee though. - Park your cart at the back of the green closest to the next hole. This way the people behind you can tee off as soon as you're done putting since you don't have to walk back 50 yards to get your cart that you left at your pitching spot. There's a difference between being a newbie and just being an inconsiderate donkey synonym.