Slow Play Promise and Petition

[lamebums]

As someone who takes advantage of "all you can golf" deals to hit 36 holes, it's a pain in the ass when the first 18 holes burns up 6 or more hours, so, I'll sign.

[georgep]

I've played in twosomes and threesomes that made it around in just over three hours comfortably. Four hours is leisurely on most courses.

[azgolfer]

Total agreement here. 4 hour pace is plenty of time for a round.

[ezmoney5150]

I already pledged to what I already do.....play fast. I thought of a funny story where my wife's uncle, who was already slow from bad knees, would clean whatever club he used after he hit it. As a matter of fact he took a practice swing with a club got it muddy and cleaned it before he took out the one he wanted to hit. Well what I'd do is get way ahead of him. He would be hitting his approach shot and I'd be walking up to the green. It drove him so nuts that he had to play faster. After the round he said something to a friend of mine about how winded he was. My friend told him you should be. You shot 97 multiplied by 6 practice swings. Needless to say he started to pick up the pace.

[AMGfan]

I already pledged to what I already do.....play fast. I thought of a funny story where my wife's uncle, who was already slow from bad knees, would clean whatever club he used after he hit it. As a matter of fact he took a practice swing with a club got it muddy and cleaned it before he took out the one he wanted to hit. Well what I'd do is get way ahead of him. He would be hitting his approach shot and I'd be walking up to the green. It drove him so nuts that he had to play faster. After the round he said something to a friend of mine about how winded he was. My friend told him you should be. You shot 97 multiplied by 6 practice swings. Needless to say he started to pick up the pace.

That's what I do too. If I play with a slower player, I just let them know I play ready golf. I won't be rude about it...if they are heading to their ball or if they are taking their time to make a decision on what club to hit and I see a hole to hit the shot...I will and move forward. I only do this if I see that we are not keeping up or if the are really "watching paint dry" slow.

[Jeepthrills]

Slow play is the biggest problem with the game today. I hereby pledge to do my duty to erradicate the evil that is slow play. We have a team in our league that is unbelieveably slow. They can't even keep pace with the ladies league in front of us. We were the third group on Wednesday night and finished in just over 1 hr and 45 mins. That is great for our league as we have several players that struggle and the women in our league are not very skilled or serrious about the game. The slow couple was in the 4th group and finished almost 30 minutes after us. We were putting out on 9 when they were teeing off on 10. The group ahead of us had two new golfers who shot 68 and 78 respectively and still kept pace.

Unfortunately, our pace will slow down by almost 30 minutes this week due to the ladies league starting. They play bumblebee golf. They all buz to the first ball, then all walk to the next one and so on for 9 holes. We complain every year, but to no avail. We actually had an argument in the parking lot one night. We waited on a blind par 4 for almost 20 minutes after they disappeared from view. It is about 30 yards to the green from that point. There is a bell that they are supposed to ring when the green is clear. Finally I teed off and drove the green. When I get up there they are just walking off the green and I was met with dirty looks and a sarcastic "nice shot." I was appologetic for hitting into them, but pissed that they took over 30 minutes to play the last 30 yards of the hole. They took another 30 minutes to play the 320 yard 9th. They hunted balls and zig zaged from side to side instead of playing ready golf and just walking to their own balls. When we walked out to our cars they were loading up and could tell we were pissed. One of the ladys made a comment about how "We are the type of people that ruin the game for everyone else." I almost exploded, but my wife went off. The one lady said that they were going to report our behavior to the pro shop. I asked if she wanted me to come with her. She never went in, but I did. The next week there was a ranger on the tee, but as soon as the last group tees off, he is gone. I would love to switch courses, but the ladies in our league struggle with longer courses and this one is centrally located.

[Firebat138]

Me too....Put me down...With a disclaimer. When I pay 125 bucks a round....I need not be bothered by a marshall that has a grudge or is pissed off at the world. LOL... I never look for balls if they are in the woods, high grass etc... and our rounds are usually around 4:15 or less. And when a marshall comes up and yells when there is NO one behind you is just absurd. So...Just relax and have fun....But three hours for a round is too fast.

[Norm66]

Since this thread was posted I've been paying closer attention to how long it takes to play in my area. Thus far the longest a round of golf has taken me was walking all the way at 3:50 with only small holdups at the tees. The shortest 18 was with my wife driving the cart two Saturdays ago, we completed 18 in 2:50. Yesterday my friend and I could have broken the 3:00 mark had we not gotten held up on the last 4 holes. As it was we were right around 3:30 for 18 even with the newbies ahead of us for 4 holes.

Sometimes I'm envious of the bigger areas with the nicer courses, but not when it comes to slow play. I think I'd have a fit if a round took four hours.

I have witnessed a ton of bad golf etiquette, folks marking scorecards on the green while others are waiting in the fairway etc. But so far I've been pretty lucky in regards to time.

[cdriver]

I'll sign the petition... My usual foursomes can get around in 3-1/2 hours unless we are held up by groups in front. There is one group of really good players at my course that we refer to as the "human rain delay". They can take longer to do less than any group I have ever seen and they absolutely will not let a group of faster players through. It just infuriates me.

[Jeepthrills]

There is one group of really good players at my course that we refer to as the "human rain delay".

I almost spit pop on my keyboard just now. That is hilarious. I think thier mothers all play in the ladies league infront of me on Wednesday nights.

[Ghost Runner]

I hereby declare...

[cdriver]

I almost spit pop on my keyboard just now. That is hilarious. I think thier mothers all play in the ladies league infront of me on Wednesday nights.

God Bless you.....Thank goodness they don't play in two foursomes back to back, imagine how slow that would be.

[lamebums]

God Bless you.....Thank goodness they don't play in two foursomes back to back, imagine how slow that would be.

I've had that before--four ladies were in a foursome, and then four guys were in a foursome. None of them were any good, they didn't play ready golf, and to cap it all, none of them were under 75. The four ladies would tee off, flub their shots an average of 20 feet a piece in four different directions. They would then all drive up to the ball that was away, that lady would hit, they'd all drive over to the next ball, and so on.

I spent 20 minutes waiting on a 160 yard par 3 for them to clear out...they refused to allow me to play through. When they were finally done, I fired my iron onto the green and two-putted, time, 2 or 3 minutes. The next hole, a 300 yard par 4, I waited about 15 minutes before my paitence ran out and I cranked one down the fairway. It was just short of the green, but so were the ladies--I landed about 10 feet from one of their carts. I think they got the idea, and disappeared in a hurry. Mercifully, I was only playing 9 holes, and that was the 9th. I could go on and on about the foursome that teed off from the blue tees, when at least two of their drives didn't make it past the white tees...

[hansmixer]

Signed.

I played my first <4 hour round of golf last year and it was the most enjoyable round I've ever played (foursome, walked, 3 hrs. 40 minutes, 8am start time). Golf is so much more enjoyable when you're not out there all day ... waiting. Now that I know what golf should be like, I'm definitely pushing for <3hr. 30 minute rounds.

I've stopped playing at some slow courses (>5 hours/round) and am considering not playing at 4.5 hr courses. I've pretty much stopped playing on weekends or holidays because that's the worst time.

Death to the 4+ hour round of golf!

Hans.

[Jeepthrills]

A few years ago, I took my brother golfing for his birthday. We were playing at the Indian River Golf Club in Northern Michigan. It is a nice club that is semi-private. We played at a nice pace the first 11 holes. At 12 we came up on a group that was absolutely stopped. It was two couples, all over 70. This however is not an excuse or generalization. I play with a guy who is 65 and he plays fast. I also have played with guys in their 70's and 80's that kept pace just fine. Anyway...we come to a screeching halt. They were dubbing balls 10-15 yards at a time. Finally they finish the hole and we follow up a few minutes later. We get to the next tee. It's a short par 3. Perfect place to let us through. There is nobody in front of them. The men have both hit and the second lady is just teeing off as we pull up. Before we can even ask they jump into their carts and take off. It was the fastest they moved all day. They looked us right in the eye as if to say, you are a twosome and don't have any rights on the course. This goes on for a few holes. We are both getting pissed. Our scores are balooning and the beer cart is nowhere to be found. We finish out the round and head into the clubhouse. I actually hear the one lady complaining about us giving them dirty looks. I walk into the proshop and say something to the guy at the counter. His response was "they are members and it's not the first time someone has complained about it." Big help that was. I told him that there are far too many nice courses in Northern Michigan for us to spend good money on a place that doesn't police the speed of play at all. We went there because they were closer to our cottage than some of the upscale public ones. They were only a few bucks cheaper. I would much rather drive the extra 20-30 minutes and pay $15-20 more to play at a better course without the hassle of some people that think since they are members they can set the pace of play. We have not been back. I would highly reccomend avoiding the place, which is a shame, because it's a nice course and very close to our place.

[Silvertree]

Nothing like a six hour round of golf because people can't move. Count me in.

[aceadair]

I, Ace, hereby promise to play golf within four hours.

Good to go!

[Guest]

I'm all for getting rid of slow play, sign me up!