Slow Play

[bunkerputt]

Talk about slow play.  Lion's Municipal Golf Course in Austin, Tx.  The starters need a serious lesson on flow control and bandwidth.  The average player there is older and slower, too.  It took 5 hours yesterday to play 13 holes and then I just quit and walked it back because I didn't want to wait another 2 to finish the next 5 holes.  Get some people started on the back 9 first, get some marshalls jumping on people for playing slowly, or get out of the way for some student housing already.

[bplewis24]

5 hours for 13 holes.  No thanks!

[iacas]

Mike Keiser (http://golfweek.com/news/2013/oct/29/bandon-dunes-mike-keiser-architecture-oregon/):

GW: What is your assessment of the state of golf in the U.S.?

MK: Slow. Just terribly slow. Even if you look at junior golf, you see them playing six-hour rounds and taught by their expensive teacher to be deliberate and line everything up both ways. It’s sad. It’s almost the ruination of golf. I know people would say it’s too expensive. That’s been true for 50 years, and it’s not all expensive. And it’s time-consuming, but you don’t have to play 18. So those two have alternatives. But the slow part . . . I was at a friend’s golf course in Romeoville, Ill., yesterday, and I was leaving just as whole bunch of juniors were going to the range. There was one group of about 10 eighth- and ninth-graders, all boys, with a male coach, and they were on the green, and they weren’t doing anything. They were just talking. Not terrible, but I contrast that with what they would be doing in baseball, basketball, soccer. I thought it was characteristic of a slow approach to a slow game.

[PaneraiMan]

I don't complain as I slow play too sometime as I am still learning

[mcanadiens]

For what it's worth, I had today off and played by myself at the local muni with next to nobody around. I hacked up a 97 (which is bad even for me) and got around in 3:15. Now, I did probably kill approx 5 min looking for balls in the leaves. If I were any good, I'd have another 10 minutes or so due to fewer strokes. So ... The best I think I could possibly due under the most ideal circumstances might be about 3 hours.

[BuckeyeNut]

If you play later and get behind the mess......deal with it.

I choose to play early in front of the mess.  My choice..........

[rkim291968]

If you play later and get behind the mess......deal with it.

I choose to play early in front of the mess.  My choice..........

+1.   My golf course called me the other day to ask if I want to move my Saturday 10:30 tee time to 9:30 to play ahead of 44 player tournament.   I said, "hell yeah."   The last time I've got stuck behind a tournament (mess), one player hit 4 provisions on #1 hole (3 with driver and the last one with iron, 5 tee shots total).   And two more players in the same group hit provisions.  It took more than 10 minutes for the group to leave the tee box.  The starter offered me to jump to #7 ahead of the tournament and come back to #1 later.   I was only too happy to oblige.  From #7 to #18, I had the course to myself and played at 3+ hour round pace.   When I came back to #1, it was still backed up (due to the earlier said tournament).   We decided to break for lunch and finished the remaining holes afterward.   It was a 7 hour round with lunch in between but we avoided the agony of waiting for 10 minutes for each tee box to clear.

[RonTheSavage]

To improve pace of play we need more marshalls like the one at my local course. His name is JB, he's about 6 foot 3, 250lbs. I was playing as a single on Monday morning and JB rolled up to me at the turn and joined me. We came up on a foursome of PGA tour wanna bes, guys reading the hell out of putts from every possible angle etc. JB went up and said "Hey, we play ready golf here guys." Thats all it took, from that point on we had no trouble out of them. They were playing speed golf lol.

[Patch]

I guess I am in the minority on this topic. Slow play is no big deal for me, although I agree anything over 5 hours can be a bit much. If I am not held up, me and my trolley can do (7000 yards/4 miles) 18 holes in about 3 1/2 hours. When I go to the course, I always look at the parking lot and figure what the playing time might be. A crowded parking lots means a longer than normal round. I've been warned before I lay down my money. One of the reasons I don't mind slow play is because I won't let it effect my game. Slow play should not be used as an excuse for a poor score. A good pre-shot routine takes care of slow play being the cause of a poor score. My pre-shot routine takes between 30, and 45 seconds  from start to ball impact. Between shots, I am just relaxing, and taking in the sights. Another reason for slow play is over crowded courses. Again, I don't think this is a bad thing because the more golfers using the course, the less my green fees will/should be. I have seen bottle necks at the turn  (10th hole) because of folks using the rest room, and/or visiting the 19th for food and beverages. They lose their spot in line so to speak. If 4, or 5 groups finish up at the 19th, and show up on the 10th tee at the same time, it will take a while to get things rolling again. Too me slow play is just another part of the game of golf that the golfer needs to deal with regards to their own score.

[Ernest Jones]

I'm not sure how well you can tell from this picture, but see those idiots on the green? That's their cart parked about 35y behind them. So after waiting for them to all finish 3 putting I do had to wait for one of the idiots to walk 35y straight back towards me.

[mcanadiens]

I'm not sure how well you can tell from this picture, but see those idiots on the green? That's their cart parked about 35y behind them. So after waiting for them to all finish 3 putting I do had to wait for one of the idiots to walk 35y straight back towards me.

Around my parts, the courses are banging on about parking carts too close to the green, but these guys defo could have met it half way.

[colin007]

Or they could've parked in been the green and the next tee

[Ernest Jones]

Or they could've parked in been the green and the next tee

Pre-****ing-cisely! I suffered the additional injury of watching two of the idiots walk 80' to the next tee while idiot number 3 made the long walk back to the cart that was parked on the path to said ****ing tee!!!

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

I had this exact situation a couple years ago. We had a horribly slow round, almost 6 hours and after we finished I found the email on the comment card and sent a lengthy well detailed email with my complaints and concerns. I received an email reply with an offer to try the course again for free. I did. And I have played there after that as well.

[ZappyAd]

Played a five and a half hour round today. Had to wait on every single shot for the group ahead to clear. Apparently a society turned up late and instead of losing their tee times everyone else got bumped later to make room for them. I enjoyed the company of the people I was playing with and hit some nice shots but it was just too slow. The course didn't do a good job both in terms of managing their bookings for the day and then keeping things moving on the course.

[Aflighter]

I'm not sure how well you can tell from this picture, but see those idiots on the green? That's their cart parked about 35y behind them. So after waiting for them to all finish 3 putting I do had to wait for one of the idiots to walk 35y straight back towards me.

Is their cart not parked on the path that curves around? Could they park the cart farther up near green? Hard to see any path that runs up along side the green but you were behind them so you know if the path goes up closer to the green.

[Dave2512]

I see it all the time. Our course has the signs pointing carts to the path to keep carts away from greens. People will stop there if they have a pitch between the signs and the greens. Makes me crazy made because on short par 4's and 5's my drives and second shots land in that area. We end up waiting on holes we shouldn't have to and it creates small jams until we catch up. Problem is people that do that are also oblivious about everything else.

No kidding last weekend I was playing with some kids that were kind of jerky. After a couple instances of the people ahead doing stupid cart tricks one says time to buzz the tower and freakin' hits a ball over the parked carts but not so far it made it to the people that abandoned it.