Post different course etiquettes please!

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

On Par 3's... Specifically if it is a slow round and several groups are backing up on the tee box.  Once your foursome gets their balls onto the green - mark them and waive the group behind you to hit their approach shots toward the green.  After they are done hitting their approach shots from the tee box... Finish out and then go to the next hole.  This will significantly help the pace of play.

Do you have any evidence of this significantly improving the pace of play? That's not my experience, but maybe that course wasn't doing it right. It was a par 3 sandwiched between a driveable par 4 and a reachable par 5. It didn't matter what you did on the par3, because you were gonna bunch back up again on the par 5.

[Timothy Voyles]

Originally Posted by Beachcomber

On Par 3's... Specifically if it is a slow round and several groups are backing up on the tee box.  Once your foursome gets their balls onto the green - mark them and waive the group behind you to hit their approach shots toward the green.  After they are done hitting their approach shots from the tee box... Finish out and then go to the next hole.  This will significantly help the pace of play.

I'd have to say no thanks on that one... then you could end up with those guys ball in your putt lines and them walking around hovering while you're putting. Unless you're the group causing the back up and you're doing this to next allow them to play through, they can wait it out and enjoy a few minutes of conversation with their group.

[Beachcomber]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Do you have any evidence of this significantly improving the pace of play? That's not my experience, but maybe that course wasn't doing it right. It was a par 3 sandwiched between a driveable par 4 and a reachable par 5. It didn't matter what you did on the par3, because you were gonna bunch back up again on the par 5.

I don't have any evidence other than playing regularly at a golf course in Illinois that enforced this rule with signs and Marshalls.  It helped keep things moving and we regularly turned at 1:45 to 2:00 for 9 / 3:30 to 3:45 for 18.

They also had a strict 9 minute interval rule which helped keep pace.  Some people would complain that they were running the course like Nazi's... But ultimately it got you around in a reasonable time.  Now that I moved to Socal... A 5 to 6hr round is unfortunately the norm.  It's sad because a lot of these courses don't do jack to get golfers moving at a reasonable pace.

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[Timothy Voyles]

9 minute take off times would be helpful at just about every course I play. They all seem to think they can make 7 work... the extra 2 group you get out each hour apparently is enough of a deal breaker to have everyone play 5+ hour rounds versus getting everyone in under 5.

[GatorCallaway]

You guys and this hurry up golf stuff is hilarious. I can play a 7500+ yard course in 4 1/2 hours. And thats with a few lost ball searches,a three or foursome, 100 shots and waiting on people. Walking too. Stop thinking about the goddamn shot and swing the club. I don't get what takes so long. I don't hurry at all and could easily do it in 4 or less.

[Timothy Voyles]

Originally Posted by GatorCallaway

You guys and this hurry up golf stuff is hilarious. I can play a 7500+ yard course in 4 1/2 hours. And thats with a few lost ball searches,a three or foursome, 100 shots and waiting on people. Walking too. Stop thinking about the goddamn shot and swing the club. I don't get what takes so long. I don't hurry at all and could easily do it in 4 or less.

You'll find most people can do 18 in under 4 pretty easily. There's always a random back log for unexplainable reasons, kinda like the point on your (at least my drive) drive home everyday that the highway slows to 30 and then randomly picks back up...

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by GatorCallaway

You guys and this hurry up golf stuff is hilarious. I can play a 7500+ yard course in 4 1/2 hours. And thats with a few lost ball searches,a three or foursome, 100 shots and waiting on people. Walking too. Stop thinking about the goddamn shot and swing the club. I don't get what takes so long. I don't hurry at all and could easily do it in 4 or less.

Bet you can't do it in 4hrs or less if all the groups ahead of you are doing it 5hrs or more...

And that's the point.

[GatorCallaway]

Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

Bet you can't do it in 4hrs or less if all the groups ahead of you are doing it 5hrs or more...

And that's the point.

I guess I've just never experienced this and don't understand what takes so long.

And that's my point.

[Mr3Wiggle]

Originally Posted by GatorCallaway

I guess I've just never experienced this and don't understand what takes so long.

And that's my point.

You've never been backed up on a course and had to wait 10 to 20 minutes on every shot?  Lucky you.

[GatorCallaway]

Originally Posted by Mr3Wiggle

You've never been backed up on a course and had to wait 10 to 20 minutes on every shot?  Lucky you.

No. And most Friday nights I get behind leagues. Must play a different brand of golf here in Ohio. I guess we all know what club to use and don't give a damn about being on tour is my best guess lmao.

[Mr3Wiggle]

Originally Posted by GatorCallaway

No. And most Friday nights I get behind leagues. Must play a different brand of golf here in Ohio. I guess we all know what club to use and don't give a damn about being on tour is my best guess lmao.

Yeah, must be something in the water in Ohio.  Here in MD courses play very slowly on the weekends.

[Timothy Voyles]

I'm just happy it's going to be 100+ daily for the next few months, most of the weekend hacks step outside and say eff it. 1pm tee time, it's 105? You bet your a$$, the course to myself and play at my own pace!

[meenman]

Originally Posted by GatorCallaway

You guys and this hurry up golf stuff is hilarious. I can play a 7500+ yard course in 4 1/2 hours. And thats with a few lost ball searches,a three or foursome, 100 shots and waiting on people. Walking too. Stop thinking about the goddamn shot and swing the club. I don't get what takes so long. I don't hurry at all and could easily do it in 4 or less.

you may be others pet peeve - playing 100 shots from 7500+ yards is playing from the wrong tees.  the goal of the game is to shoot as close to par as possible, not get your moneys worth by playing too far back.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by meenman

Quote:

Originally Posted by GatorCallaway

You guys and this hurry up golf stuff is hilarious. I can play a 7500+ yard course in 4 1/2 hours. And thats with a few lost ball searches,a three or foursome, 100 shots and waiting on people. Walking too. Stop thinking about the goddamn shot and swing the club. I don't get what takes so long. I don't hurry at all and could easily do it in 4 or less.

you may be others pet peeve - playing 100 shots from 7500+ yards is playing from the wrong tees.  the goal of the game is to shoot as close to par as possible, not get your moneys worth by playing too far back.

I thought you said the goal of the game was to play by the rules!?!?

[mdl]

I was always told that on par 3s you should wave up the following group if the group in front of you is still on the tee box when your whole group is on the green, but putt out if the group in front is off the tee box when that happens.  I've found that works well.  I play at very slow courses a lot of the time and if everyone follows that rule the slower groups don't end up falling further behind on every par 3.  If the group in front is off the tee box and they putt out anyway, then that group is generally most of a hole behind already when they walk up to the next tee.  If all the slow groups do that it helps make everyone's round 5-6 hours.

A couple people have said you should never leave the green before the whole group is done putting.  I disagree.  If it's a slow day and you're going to be waiting on the next tee anyway, then sure, if you hole out first, be courteous and go get the flag (I think it's fine to pick it up as long as you hold the flag itself so it doesn't whip in the wind and make noise) and replace it when the last putter is done.  But if the next tee box is open and the group in front isn't waiting on the fairway for a slow group in front of them, I'd prefer the first person done to clear out and go set up their tee shot on the next hole. That way the the first person in your group can be teeing off as the last person in your group is just walking up to the tee box.  Improves pace of play.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by mdl

I was always told that on par 3s you should wave up the following group if the group in front of you is still on the tee box when your whole group is on the green, but putt out if the group in front is off the tee box when that happens.  I've found that works well.  I play at very slow courses a lot of the time and if everyone follows that rule the slower groups don't end up falling further behind on every par 3.  If the group in front is off the tee box and they putt out anyway, then that group is generally most of a hole behind already when they walk up to the next tee.  If all the slow groups do that it helps make everyone's round 5-6 hours.

So waving the following group up on par 3s can save 2 hours per round? I'm not buying that. But if it's true, we should do it for all the par 4s and 5s too. We can finish 18 holes in about 40 minutes then, right?

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

So waving the following group up on par 3s can save 2 hours per round? I'm not buying that. But if it's true, we should do it for all the par 4s and 5s too. We can finish 18 holes in about 40 minutes then, right?

That is silly, but what it will do is even out the waiting.  Instead of waiting 10-15 min on the tee of the par 3, then playing the next hole with no waiting only to catch back up on the following hole, you wait a little bit less on all of the holes.

No matter what, you aren't magically all finishing faster.

Kind of like how people around here in Socal think that if you wait until after rush hour to start your drive you could actually get wherever you are going before you would have if you left an hour earlier and sat through the rush hour traffic.

[Golfingdad]

My etiquette suggestion is simply to ignore all other balls on the golf course but your own.  Avoiding the anxiety of having to race to my ball before some clown in the other fairway picks it up assuming it belongs to nobody might be playing a bigger part in my striving to get better than simply shooting a lower score.

Every time I knock one into an adjacent fairway (currently, average a couple a round) I know there is a good chance that the group coming the other way is going to see it and at the very least linger around it for a bit wondering where it could possibly have come from.  Who gives a damn!  It ain't your ball, leave it alone!