impatient waiting for others at golf course

[dak4n6]

When I go fishing, I don't want to be out there all day enjoying myself. I want to get out there, make a few casts, and get the hell out.

When I go to a restaurant, I don't want to spend a lot of time enjoying good food. I want to get the hell out of that nice place as fast as possible.

When I go to a ball game, I don't want to sit there forever experiencing the fine sport, art, and culture of America's pastime.

When I play tennis, I don't want to experience the stamina, exertion, and drama of long rallies. One shot per player is enough, let's end the damn point, and move on.

[colin007]

a round that takes over 4 hours is insufferably long...

[atomheartmother]

I don't know about everyone else, but I actually like longer rounds unless the weather is horrible (e.g., 100+ degrees, raining, etc.). What better excuse does one need to spend time on a beautiful day on a well-manicured, naturally beautiful golf course than to be, well, golfing. Unless you're playing on some barren flatland with dead grass, no trees, and sprinklers providing the only water. In that case, find a new golf course to enjoy.

[Wisguy]

There's is sometimes  a fine line to walk between dealing with obnoxious hurry-hurry douchebags breathing down your throat while you try to enjoy a pleasant activity, and standing around waiting because of nonsense in front of your group.  Sometimes someone chomping at the bit right at my heels can half-ruin a round of golf, especially when we're playing reasonably, not spending time looking for errant shots, and moving along at a decent pace.  I'll try to let singles or doubles play through if there's not a back-up in front of us.

A while back I had a pair of guys breathing down my foursome's necks for several holes because the course was backed-up up at least four groups ahead of us and we had to wait for our tee shots and our approach shots on every hole.  After catching up with us, one of them started making some snide comments about how a round of golf shouldn't take five hours and we ought to play quicker.  Then they asked to play through.  I would have let them, but they were horses' asses, blaming us when they should have been able to see that the problem was multiple groups ahead.  So I said "Actually, I do mind.  We're keeping pace - it should be pretty obvious that the problem is that the whole course is backed-up today.  If you don't like being outdoors on a beautiful day, maybe you should try bowling instead."

On the other hand, last year in a similar situation, our threesome had a twosome behind us who politely asked if they could play through and they gave a very real explanation, that they had a wedding to get to later that day.  We gladly let them play ahead.

I've played behind a foursome of little old ladies who took around 20 minutes on every hole.  I didn't care about the fact that they were typically hitting it less than 100 yards at a time, the problem was that they were socilalizing after every shot, taking several minutes each per shot, and then on every hole, they'd leave their carts at least 60 yards in front of the green, instead of following the cart path and pulling up alongside or behind the green.  So by the time they chatted, slowly strolled back to their carts way down the fairway, figured out everyone's scores, and then finally drove away, it was sometimes a full five minutes after they put the flag back in the hole. I ended up skipping to the hole ahead of them.

Sometimes I wonder if I come across as a bit impatient for one of my friends, who's just learning the game and sometimes is a bit leisurely, forgets to bring his putter with him as he approaches his ball off the green, forgets tees or an extra ball as he's on the tee box, etc....  But it is important to keep pace and be thoughtful about the people behind you.  Last year I was taking this friend out on an executive course with some ominous weather approaching.  There was a foursome of two dads, two maybe 14 year old sons on the first tee, there was no one in front of them for at least a full hole, and they all proceeded to stretch, take at least a dozen practice swings, chat, go back and forth betweeen the tee and their bag trying to decide what club to use, etc...  We sat there watching in disbelief when they had not yet hit their first tee shot after standing there for a full ten minutes.  I start walking toward them to ask if we could play through, but one of the kids finally teed up his ball and took a swing at it on about a 155 yard hole.  The shot looked OK, but seemed to be a bit short and left.  It hit just in front of the green and then started to break a bit to the right.

The kid's shot rolled at the pin and then disappeared.  He hit an ace (the only one I've ever seen in nearly 20 years of playing this game).  I was about 30 seconds from interrupting him and asking to play through, so I'm glad I had a bit of patience.  By the time the four of them finished celebrating, the clouds had arrived and some pretty heavy rain started, so we decided to grab some lunch and teed off more than an hour later.

Unless you can tell the group in front is playing consistently stupidly or inconsiderately, I don't think anyone should be complaing about rounds that take 4 hours and 15 minutes or maybe even 4 1/2 hours.  If you're absolutely about to burst a blood vessel at the thought of a round of golf taking more than 3 hours, maybe you need to join a speed golf league where everyone wears running shoes, carries maybe 3 clubs, and sprints from one shot to the next.  That, or maybe think about taking up knitting or stamp collecting.   After all, as the bumper sticker says, a bad day on the golf course is still better than the best day in the office.

[TidyFreak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by golf55

It takes me 4-5hrs to play 18holes cause people are freaking slow. If I had the course all to myself I can finish it in 90minutes. How do you guys deal with long wait period? I'm sure more expensive course($100) have fewer people but I can't afford that .

Wow OP - 90 minutes. Y ou play as fast as you want to, obviously, but you must absolutely fly 'round I reckon that's an average of just under 55 seconds per shot assuming you play solo, shoot 83 on a par 72 6500 yard course riding a buggy with a very heavy foot. No wonder you get frustrated on the course if you're not being asked to play through where it's feasible.

Clearly not everyone likes to play at the same pace which is why the generally accepted ettiquette works reasonably well : keep up with the group in front and if you don't then let the group behind you play through if there's room and they're consistently waiting for you to play. The many other ways to keep the pace up are just comon sense (e.g. play "ready golf" if it's a casual round; take several clubs with you if you're leaving your bag in a buggy and the ball's 20+ yards away, etc). Unfortunately, too few players have sufficient consideration for others on the course.

Personally, I don't like rushing, I don't like feeling pressued into playing faster that my natural pace and I wouldn't want to do that to others on the course - I don't know anyone who play well when tense. 4 hours is about right for me (no buggy and carrying my bag). I'm happy to let someone play through if I'm holding them up, and I expect them to do the same, but of course the Laws Of Golf then apply and many people when asked to play through make a complete hash of it and embarrassedly rush to get ahead of your group

TF

[Pablo68]

Well, today I played a round and we started being the 'problem' out there and it had a negative effect on my game to say the least.

Started off shooting a 38 on the front with 4 bogies and 1 eagle. The eagle was great (good drive and great 3 wood to 8 feet) but I still lost the hole. One of the guys I was playing with got a shot that hole (we were betting and I gave him 3 per side) and he holes out from the sand for eagle. Sandie eagle.............sucked getting my first eagle and losing 2 bets on the hole.

Anywho.....................on the back nine we started getting bogged down and by the 13th hole we were out of position but the course was relatively empty. There was a couple twilight twosomes running up on us by the 14th hole and I wanted to let them play through. I was overruled and of course started falling apart because I kept looking back and seeing the guys waiting. The solution my foursome came up with was to start playing faster but that didn't work well as they were spraying balls all over God's creation. So around the greens we were forced to play too quick and lost shots. Ended up shooting a 44 on the back and blew a couple birdie putt chances because I couldn't line up the putts properly.

I warned them that wouldn't happen again as I would wave the twosomes behind us through...............I'd rather not finish than play like a _________ firedrill. Screw that....

[dak4n6]

This reminds me of an aggravating but humorous experience I had last year.

My son and I teed off on the 1st and we both proceeded to just kill it for the first 5 holes. Bombing drives down the middle, etc. I got 4 pars and a bird. It was a wonderful stretch of golf. Then, on the 6th, he ran into a little trouble, lost ball in a waste area, etc. Just as we completed our approach shots, I noticed a 3some appear on the tee behind us. Ok, no biggie.

The next hole was a par 3 with water left. My son pulls it left. We look for it for a minute in case if might have stayed dry, but it must have rolled in, so he takes a lateral hazard drop, and I had left my tee shot a little short, so we both had to chip up. Just as we finish chipping, a cart pulls up next to the green. I had no idea what the guy wanted when he says impatiently, "Hey can we play through?". I said, "Well, we just had a little trouble last couple holes, but we'll pick it up". Then comes the winner: "WE HAVE BEEN WAITING ON YOU ON EVERY HOLE SO FAR." I said "No you have not". For the first 5 holes there was NO ONE behind us. The guy was full of $hit. So we go back and forth - yes we have, no you haven't, etc., so finally I say "Just go ahead".

So, we take a seat by the side of the green and watch two of them put their shots in the middle of the pond. It was pure heaven. As they were leaving, the one guy who did put it on the green looked at us and shrugged his shoulders apologetically.

Now it gets even better. We played up their asses the rest of the day. There were a few times when we saw them literally running off the greens to their carts. I could see they were playing like crap.

Why do some people do that to themselves? They looked like the executive Ahole type used to getting their way. Plus, I think that some people associate fast play with good play, and in their own minds they are good players, so they should be playing fast. I would bet a paycheck they have vanity caps. Hilarious.

[colin007]

  Pablo68 said:

Well, today I played a round and we started being the 'problem' out there and it had a negative effect on my game to say the least. Started off shooting a 38 on the front with 4 bogies and 1 eagle. The eagle was great (good drive and great 3 wood to 8 feet) but I still lost the hole. One of the guys I was playing with got a shot that hole (we were betting and I gave him 3 per side) and he holes out from the sand for eagle. Sandie eagle.............sucked getting my first eagle and losing 2 bets on the hole. Anywho.....................on the back nine we started getting bogged down and by the 13th hole we were out of position but the course was relatively empty. There was a couple twilight twosomes running up on us by the 14th hole and I wanted to let them play through. I was overruled and of course started falling apart because I kept looking back and seeing the guys waiting. The solution my foursome came up with was to start playing faster but that didn't work well as they were spraying balls all over God's creation. So around the greens we were forced to play too quick and lost shots. Ended up shooting a 44 on the back and blew a couple birdie putt chances because I couldn't line up the putts properly. I warned them that wouldn't happen again as I would wave the twosomes behind us through...............I'd rather not finish than play like a _________ firedrill. Screw that....

That's just wrong...there's no reason why the other guys in your group should refused to let those guys thru. I won't play with people like that.

[sean_miller]

  Pablo68 said:

Originally Posted by Pablo68

Well, today I played a round and we started being the 'problem' out there and it had a negative effect on my game to say the least.

Started off shooting a 38 on the front with 4 bogies and 1 eagle. The eagle was great (good drive and great 3 wood to 8 feet) but I still lost the hole. One of the guys I was playing with got a shot that hole (we were betting and I gave him 3 per side) and he holes out from the sand for eagle. Sandie eagle.............sucked getting my first eagle and losing 2 bets on the hole.

Anywho.....................on the back nine we started getting bogged down and by the 13th hole we were out of position but the course was relatively empty. There was a couple twilight twosomes running up on us by the 14th hole and I wanted to let them play through. I was overruled and of course started falling apart because I kept looking back and seeing the guys waiting. The solution my foursome came up with was to start playing faster but that didn't work well as they were spraying balls all over God's creation. So around the greens we were forced to play too quick and lost shots. Ended up shooting a 44 on the back and blew a couple birdie putt chances because I couldn't line up the putts properly.

I warned them that wouldn't happen again as I would wave the twosomes behind us through...............I'd rather not finish than play like a _________ firedrill. Screw that....

Good luck next time.  I've gotten in some people's bad books over the years for not taking no for an answer on allowing the following group to play through. It's gets awkward. One guys refuses to allow people through - stalemate - I just made sure not to play with him again. That's realllly awkward.