Slow Play Promise and Petition

[dayll]

Preaching to the choir here. There are many out there that desire five plus hour rounds. For them it's a day-long picnic/social event to be celebrated with incessant ball markings and other time consuming nonsense. Double bogie max on busy courses should be a rule printed on the muni scorecards in red! and right under that - "If you cannot play this course in four or less hours please do not play here." keep dreaming! dayll

[Shindig]

I'm in, and I want to report I succeeded a few days ago with a four hour round exactly. Tee off at 7am, finished at 11am. When you play in Palm Springs, you pretty much have to keep it to that.

[theslicegirls]

and we also promise to not yell fore when we accidentally hit into the group in front who are taking 15 practice swings before topping it 15 yards

[lamebums]

and we also promise to not yell fore when we accidentally hit into the group in front who are taking 15 practice swings before topping it 15 yards

Eh, I just think that would be stupid. Go ahead and yell fore--but you know full well that they were in range. They'll get the idea all the same.

[kklick]

Sign me up for sure. Slow play has got to stop.

Today was the worst round of golf I've suffered through in a long time. It was at the course Eric just posted the review of. Eaglesticks in zanesville, ohio.

We had a group of 12 guys with our first tee time at 9:30. Now I understand its a holiday so we all expected some slow play. I tee off in the first group at almost 9:30 on the dot. We finally pull up to the club house at 3:30. A 6 hour round on a short course. No rangers out, no nothing just way too many golfers packed on the course playing way too slow. The pro was not in when we finally finished so I couldn't tell him how disappointed I was with the round. He'll get a phone call tomorrow though. Probably will not mean squat but I'll feel better.

[Grazer]

okay im i swear. by the moon, and the stars, and the sky

[Norm66]

A buddy and I went to play Saturday at a local course. They were extremely backed up, with probably 20 or more bags of clubs sitting outside the pro shop waiting to get started. Turns out they were taking over 5 hours to complete a round and nobody was starting on 1 becuase they'd managed to lose the extra cart keys. Plenty of carts, no keys. Nobody could start until a group finished. Absolutely insane.

We of course went elsewhere and played in just over 3 hours even though we were held up at nearly every tee.

[Jeepthrills]

I sent out the pledge to some golfers I know and this is one of the responses I got.

"All courses should require this to be signed and adhered to!!"

This comes from a guy who is a member at Oakland Hills. Being a world famous course it is always busy there and they still keep the pace of play on the South Course to 4 hours. When I played there as his guest, they put a tag on my bag that had a hand wearing a golf glove holding up four fingers. It read Oakland Hills C.C. a four hour club. We easily made it in 4 hours and still waited on every hole.

[doublesuited77]

signed.

let's also do something about reducing the number of carts on the golf course too.

[doublesuited77]

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.

Go to ireland or England. 3 hours for a foursome is pretty much standard. I think the biggest difference is that Americans love to ride in golf carts which kills the pace.

[gogolfing]

I coach a high school golf team in British Columbia, and before every tournament, we are reminded by the course about the pace of play and we always stress this with our players. We have a triple bogey rule for all tournament except the Championship and qualifiers, and we always finish under four hours.

The ironic thing is at one of our tournaments this season, there was a tour group of about 10 groups in front of our tournament group, and the round took five hours and fifteen minutes, not because of the juniors, but because of the adults in front of us. When we complained to the Pro Shop, they seemed indifferent, but this was the same Pro Shop staff who remind us about the pace of play with our high schoolers. I think until courses get more diligent and care more about it than the green fee, things will continue to get worse.

[tigerwho?]

I agree, i'm a ready golfer and am very impatient when people go slow

[Jeepthrills]

signed.

Carts are the double edged sword in this whole debate. Many courses have such long distances between tee and green that carts are a necessity. However, it's who is in the carts that make them slow. If you have two golfers of similar skill and style (i.e fade or draw) a cart can be fine. My father-in-law and I both hit the ball a similar distance and direction. We have played 18 holes on a tough 60 par course in 1 hour and 54 minutes.

The problem comes when one guy is short and right and the other is long and left. They go to the first guys ball and wit for him to hit then have to drive up to the next guys shot. I prefer to walk and carry, but at times I do like to ride as well. If I end up on the opposite side of the course as my partner I will simply hop out with a couple clubs and go to my ball. That way I have a chance to figure out what i want to do and possibly even hit my shot while I wait for them to come pick me up.

[scotton]

I think until courses get more diligent and care more about it than the green fee, things will continue to get worse.

They should care BECAUSE of the greens fees. Shorter rounds means more paying customers.

Say from 5:30 a to 5:30 people expect to play a full round of golf. So in that 12 hours you send people off every 9 minutes. Thats 320 golfers. Now lets say you send people off every 9 minutes for the first hour (28 golfers) but they start slowing down and the next hour you can only send groups every 10 minutes. You juts lost 4 golfers for that hour. So even if you can keep that 10 minute pace for the rest of the day, you are out 44 golfers for the day. But the reality is that the pace will probably slow down to 12 minutes between groups around 10:30 am, so that's a loss of 46 golfers for those 7 hours for a total lose on the day of 57 greens fees. Sorry for the math whip, but once I got started I couldn't stop.

[dayll]

Today - Tuesday at a local muni, tee off at 10:30 AM and finished at 4 PM! Long waits on every tee except 17 & 18. Lots of husbands and wives - watched several of the fairer sex negotiate the fairways with three practice swings, hit the ball a hundred feet, move up, three more practice swings, another 100 feet etc. etc etc. And the women always waiting for the men before they hit - out of deference for some far east custom I'm told. 210 yard par three, long wait finally group in front hits - men first. Then the ladies - none of which hit the ball more than a quarter of the way to the green. Then the practice swing regimen begins, advice is offered as the foursome slowly negotiates its way to the green almost as a single unit. WTF? Do you think they want to play 5.5 hr rounds? Frankly, I wouldn't dream of subjecting my fellow golfers to my super-high handicap wife. She plays once a month or less at a par 3. These long rounds and the incessant waiting - so unnecessary. ahhhhhh!!!!! dayll

[lamebums]

Today - Tuesday at a local muni, tee off at 10:30 AM and finished at 4 PM! Long waits on every tee except 17 & 18. Lots of husbands and wives - watched several of the fairer sex negotiate the fairways with three practice swings, hit the ball a hundred feet, move up, three more practice swings, another 100 feet etc. etc etc. And the women always waiting for the men before they hit - out of deference for some far east custom I'm told. 210 yard par three, long wait finally group in front hits - men first. Then the ladies - none of which hit the ball more than a quarter of the way to the green. Then the practice swing regimen begins, advice is offered as the foursome slowly negotiates its way to the green almost as a single unit. WTF? Do you think they want to play 5.5 hr rounds? Frankly, I wouldn't dream of subjecting my fellow golfers to my super-high handicap wife. She plays once a month or less at a par 3. These long rounds and the incessant waiting - so unnecessary. ahhhhhh!!!!! dayll

Do you need a job? If so, you can be my new on-the-course mouth piece. We have the exact same gripes.

(I on the other hand, however, have much less paitence for slow play. If they take 5 minutes to duff a ball 40 feet, I won't hesitate to bomb away from 300 yards, and land dangerously close to their cart.) And as a response to carts, carts if used properly can speed up play. Four walkers, 9 out of 10 times, will be slower than 4 riders. Sorry.

[Fletch09]

Signed.

An addition to the creed:

- I promise that I will not treat thy missing top rock as if it were the hope diamond.

[slackhouse]

I'm not opposed to slow golf and enjoy taking my time.

But, in honor of the game and those who have far more talent, energy, and money invested, I play at or under 4 hours.

Signed.