What do you do while you wait?

[Fat Slice]

OK, it's a slow day - we all hate them. You are waiting on the tee, or waiting for the people in front to clear so you can hit a shot from the fairway. You may be waiting for 5 minutes or more.

What do you do with your time while you wait? A bazillion practice swings? Chat with buddy at his ball? Play with your phone?

I do club maintenance. I clean the grooves and polish the irons with a club eraser. I clean up my bag pockets. I mark my balls. I do this at a VERY leisurely pace as I will have to do it many many times over the course of the round. I try to keep my mind off the fact that I *am* waiting, and that seems to help a lot.

I used to stare at the slow people in front of me and just fume. That didn't help my game at all.

So, what do you do?

[denver_nuggs_15]

A Rubik's Cube if I'm not talking with someone.

[David in FL]

I mutter to myself, stomp around a little, give the group in front of us the evil eye, and generally work myself into the necessary lather to ensure that I'll completely screw up the upcoming tee shot......

.....is that wrong?

[lumpuckeroo]

I bitch and moan and complain, but I'm pretty good at it.

[Mr. M]

I yell "fore" just to see if anyone ducks.

[kris]

I pace around behind my ball and twirl my club.

[cougar978]

If it's a situation where the course is just crowded and the group in front of us is not causing the delay, I will listen to my Inno (XM/Sirius) - I have a pre-recorded playlist on there, or if it's a weekend afternoon, chances are there's a baseball, NFL, or college football game on somewhere that's worth listening to.

If there's a slow group in front of us that has holes open in front of them, they usually end up letting us play through - I hit the ball 290-310 regularly, so when they're screwing off on the green and see my ball bouncing up 50 yards short of them, they usually get the hint and let us through. If they don't let us through at that point, I will usually call the pro shop and ask them to send a marshal out - that usually does the trick (especially at my home course where I know all the marshals and pro shop staff).

[billm408]

Satanic rituals. You'd be amazed how a pentagram, a few candles and some chicken's blood can get a group moving faster!

[wedgewizard]

I'll stretch some, sip my beer, maybe clean my clubs, sip my beer, apply some more sunscreen, sip my beer, check out who's playing well on other holes (and who's not), sip my beer....

[CarlSpackler]

I will mainly stretch, but I will also make slow, rhythmic swings to stay loose. Last Friday, the wait was so bad, I took a five minute snooze in the shade, and then still had to wait.

[Marinemike]

Short wait...stand on the tee box and take some practice swings.

Long wait...find a nearby bench and slouch and daydream with my hat half off my head.

[goblue107501]

Any number of things. Usually just find a shady spot to sit and relax and cool off. If I am waiting in the fairway, I will figure out my yardage and club so that when the green is clear I am ready to go. When it is hot, I try and figure out a way to keep my hands cool so they are not sweating before I hit my shot.

The one thing I don't do is get ready for my shot. I don't want to put on a glove or grab a club until I know it is time to hit. Once I see people head up to the green or put the flag in, then I pull out the club I want to hit, put the glove on and head to the tee box or my ball. Nothing gets me more stiff than having a club in hand and ready to go, only to have to wait over the ball. I don't even want to think about the shot (other than figuring out what I am going to hit) until I am in pre-shot mode.

[Cussin hacker]

Fill up my water bottle or crack open a cold beer. Smoke a cig.....yea I need to quit that! Generaly BS with whoever I'm playing with.

[nevets88]

If it's not conversation then:

iPhone - read news, play a game, blog, plan ahead, e-mail, watch a video, listen to music, etc... This little machine is a godsend for slow play.

Chip and pitch.

[billysandy]

I bounce my golf ball on my wedge, do a few tricks, or chip around the tee blocks. or try and chip my ball into a nearby bin...

[rjfan91]

I prefer to talk or think about non-golf-related things. Conversationally, I generally stay away from swing talk, wives hatred of golf, etc. Sometimes I'll just walk around and fill divots and such.

[Taylor Shrake]

tons of practice swings... if it gets ridiculous I'll pull out the phone

[jojoampt]

Tee up a ball and try to chip it off of the tee from various spots on the tee box playing h.o.r.s.e. with my buddies.