A cure for slow play

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by ChuckDee

Free beer at the 19th hole would probably do the trick

Might even be enticed to skip a hole!

[Roughstuff]

I agree with everything Righty says except that I don't believe that it's always the "Dudes" and "Bros" youngsters that screw it up

[rehmwa]

Originally Posted by Roughstuff

I agree with everything Righty says except that I don't believe that it's always the "Dudes" and "Bros" youngsters that screw it up

We followed a foursome Sunday that started drunk, and had full coolers the entire time and they were kinda youngsters.

Frankly, I was jealous, since play was so slow, a couple cocktails would have been just fine.

It actually was great fun to try to figure out which cart on the adjacent fairways was those guys vs the people actually playing those holes.....

[saevel25]

I actually think they should limit drinks on the golf course. One, in certain people it makes them do stupid and potentially dangerous things. Another is on some courses, driving a golf cart drunk could be life threatening. If not, look up the news paper article in Canton, Ohio at the Quarry. A drunk golfer drove his golf cart off a cliff into a ravene. He came out with minimal injury but he was lucky.

I know alcohol is a big seller, but there is a lot of negatives to selling to much of it.

[meenman]

Originally Posted by saevel25

I know alcohol is a big seller, but there is a lot of negatives to selling to much of it.

The problem isnt the course selling it, the problem is those that allow coolers with outside alcohol.

Here, that is against the law and a course risks losing its liquor license if caught (which isnt likely)

The guys that fill up a cooler with a 12 pack per person are not likely the type of guys that will spend $4-$5 for a beer from the cart girl.

[saevel25]

Yea, pretty much, though i play with a few guys if the cart girl could make it around more often they would have a beer per hole if it was offered. But most courses don't allow outside coolers or acohol.

[jetsknicks1]

What if the gold course put some sort of clock/timer/display on the golf carts, starting with the first group to go off.  If your lagging behind, the display would turn red basically alerting you to get it going.

I played a very nice course last weekend (Waldorf Astoria) and their carts had the timers on the cart GPS system. It's nice because it lets you know where you are, time wise but you are only as fast as the group in front of you. We played as a fivesome ( With the courses permission) and we got stuck behind a foursome of total tools. It was cart path only and these idiots decided to play a scramble and still found a way to be slow as can be. It took us 5 hrs to play because we were waiting on these guys on every single shot. The GPS showed us at 30 mins behind schedule but it wasn't our fault and we never saw a ranger.

[RayG]

I played a very nice course last weekend (Waldorf Astoria) and their carts had the timers on the cart GPS system. It's nice because it lets you know where you are, time wise but you are only as fast as the group in front of you. We played as a fivesome ( With the courses permission) and we got stuck behind a foursome of total tools. It was cart path only and these idiots decided to play a scramble and still found a way to be slow as can be. It took us 5 hrs to play because we were waiting on these guys on every single shot. The GPS showed us at 30 mins behind schedule but it wasn't our fault and we never saw a ranger .

Yes, but did THEY? If they've invested in a timing and GPS system, then they should have a system to track ALL the carts. Thus making it easy to spot the laggers. Having a "Ranger" just riding around saying "How's it going?" isn't going to solve anything.

[krupa]

Here's a naive question from a new golfer:  Why can't you trot up to the slow group and say, "Hey man, my group is playing faster than you guys.  Do you mind letting us play through at the next hole?"

If they say yes, you win.  If they say no, you call the clubhouse and say there are slow-playing idiots on the course.  If the staff does nothing at that point, they've shown they have poor customer service skills and you take your business someplace else.  In any event, you pretty much win.  Right?

[clarkgriswold]

Originally Posted by Roughstuff

I agree with everything Righty says except that I don't believe that it's always the "Dudes" and "Bros" youngsters that screw it up

Oh, it's not ALL them...but as long as TaylorMade has those particular idiots believing they are Dustin Johnson-like(and they believe it because they met some girl at the VFW last night who has the same tramp stamp as Paulina) they will continue to be a slow play problem.

I guess that breed just sticks out in my mind because their brand of slow play bothers me more than most other offenders who may have beginners issues, health/age issues, etc...stuff that actually cannot be helped.  Being douche-like is a curable condition.  For most.

[jetsknicks1]

Yes, but did THEY? If they've invested in a timing and GPS system, then they should have a system to track ALL the carts. Thus making it easy to spot the laggers. Having a "Ranger" just riding around saying "How's it going?" isn't going to solve anything.

I'm doubting they ever saw one either. The carts let you know how far behind you are so I'm sure that the clubhouse can track the carts so I'm not sure why they weren't given a warning.

[JonMA1]

Originally Posted by krupa

Here's a naive question from a new golfer:  Why can't you trot up to the slow group and say, "Hey man, my group is playing faster than you guys.  Do you mind letting us play through at the next hole?"

If they say yes, you win.  If they say no, you call the clubhouse and say there are slow-playing idiots on the course.  If the staff does nothing at that point, they've shown they have poor customer service skills and you take your business someplace else.  In any event, you pretty much win.  Right?

What? Confrontation? That's just crazy talk!

That seems to be a pretty logical option even though in a perfect world you shouldn't have to. If you're tactful, you can ask without offending and at the same time, educate them as to proper course etiquette. You can say to them, "usually when we are playing slower, we just wave people to play through". Even though that info is probably printed on their score card.

I wouldn't know being relatively new to the game myself, but I wondered the same thing. I guess the only downside might be having to drive up to them, get their permission and then drive back to the tee box and risk having the folks behind you there waiting.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by krupa

Here's a naive question from a new golfer:  Why can't you trot up to the slow group and say, "Hey man, my group is playing faster than you guys.  Do you mind letting us play through at the next hole?"

If they say yes, you win.  If they say no, you call the clubhouse and say there are slow-playing idiots on the course.  If the staff does nothing at that point, they've shown they have poor customer service skills and you take your business someplace else.  In any event, you pretty much win.  Right?

The logistics of this are typically unpredictable.  If you're following a slow group, chances are they are always a hundred or more yards away.  Driving up to them will be awkward, and yelling at them from the fairway or tee box will seem aggressive.  Not saying that a person can't try, but I don't see it going over well a lot of the time.

[RayG]

The logistics of this are typically unpredictable.  If you're following a slow group, chances are they are always a hundred or more yards away.  Driving up to them will be awkward, and yelling at them from the fairway or tee box will seem aggressive.  Not saying that a person can't try, but I don't see it going over well a lot of the time.

If they are "always a hundred yards or more away", then there IS no problem because you are just as slow or as fast as they are.

[scottgerweck]

I'm a slow-play hater. If unencumbered by groups in front, my golf buddy and I will typically play a long, excellent course in about 3:15 (Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes, for example) at what feels to us a like a very leisurely pace (marking balls, pulling flags, crossreading a few tricky putts over the round). Even with foursomes on a busy, difficult course, the game of golf never NEEDS to take 5 hours to play.

In response to saeval25 who seems shocked someone would walk off the course due to slow play, I've done it dozens of times when I was a member of a private club, which I suspect that OP was. It's a different calculus when you don't pay by the round (I resigned my membership partly due to weekend rounds always being over 5 hours). Now I play public golf and probably wouldn't walk away from a paid green fee, but I avoid courses which get too slow and try to play on weekday evenings or super-early (more below).

As for krupa's suggestion of "trot[ting] up to the slow group," the unfortunate reality is that sometimes the slow group is two hours ahead of you. Any course at full capacity (three or foursomes in all tee time slots), once it's backed up by ANY slow group it often takes hours before the congestion is relieved and ANY other slow group can ruin it again. It's much a like a massive traffic jam due to 100yards of a single lane being closed for construction on a 4-lane interstate--once it's backed up it stays backed up.

With regards to the hypothetical guy waiting in the fairway for the 350-yards-away green to clear, obviously that scenario is absurd and frustrating. However, I agree with saeval25 that I'd rather see someone wait than hit into the group in front. What needs to happen in that scenario is all other players play ready golf--walk to their balls, hit if possible, or pick a club and be ready as soon as the long shooter hits. As a very long hitter (only a middling player, though) I can attest that, due to Murphy's law, any time I've hit without waiting in a reachable-but-highly-unlikely scenario (like a 3wood from 280) I magically catch it and buzz the group ahead. (Of course, Murphy's Law also dictates a duff after waiting too long.) Got to be realistic but safe--that scenario doesn't have to contribute much to slow play if the ancillary stuff is done right.

Ready golf and MUCH speedier play around the greens are where much can be gained. Lost balls are a BIG source of slow play, but it's hard to come down too hard against playing by the rules of golf. As long as average players see the pros taking 5-6 hours too many of them are going to emulate that style; it'll require some real shift at the top to really begin to SOLVE the problem.

My personal solution: I play Speedgolf. I show up at any of a number of local (Salem, OR) area public courses (I've cleared this with management--most are accommodating) at dawn and play/run the course. In Speedgolf, your score is strokes plus minutes (shooting an 85 in 60 minutes = 145 score). I personally play with just one club (a 6-iron); most Speedgolfers use 4-6 in a small, lightweight bag. The course I play most often is 7000 yards (yes, I play the tips with a 6-iron) and has some significant hills; I played it in 51 minutes this morning and shot an 86. All the courses I play have not only acceded to my starting before the shop is open and paying at completion, but they also only charge me a nine-hole rate. Don't assume a course will allow either of these conditions, but most will if you ask graciously and ahead of time--make sure the pro or whoever you speak to informs the early shop staff of your arrangements! It's a rewarding game--not quite the same experience as regular golf, but better in someways for people of a certain mind. It's an amazing feeling to show up early for work having already run 5-6 miles and played 18 holes. Call your local course and give it shot!

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by RayG

If they are "always a hundred yards or more away", then there IS no problem because you are just as slow or as fast as they are.

Not always true.  On the tee box you wait for a slow group that is all over the place in their fairway, hitting their approach shots.  When you're in the fairway, you're waiting for them to clear the green to hit your approach shots.

Teeing off takes very little time, so unless the slow group is slow as molasses (or are waiting for somebody else to tee off, in which case they can't be that slow), they should tee off and be in the fairway by the time the group behind them clears the green.

I've occasionally been in a slower group that waves a group behind through, and at no point was that group behind us close enough to politely ask to play through.  We always had to wave them through.

[RayG]

If they are THAT slow in the fairways and on the greens, then they will be futzing around on the tee so you are much more likely to catch them on the tee. I have NEVER come across a group of pokes that got on the tee and suddenly were turned into speed demons. But, granted- on a public course on a weekend there probably isn't anywhere to go anyways. If that group is JUST fast enough to keep in touch with the group in front of THEM, then playing through is a moot point.

[bplewis24]

But, you don't have to be a speed demon on the tee.  You don't have to find balls, nor mark them.  Nothing to read.  No crazy lies to worry about, no tree trouble.  Unless they are really bad golfers (in addition to being slow), you simply tee up and tee off.  It should take much less time to do that then it does to hit an approach shot and also hole out.

Granted, it's very possible for the guys to be slow enough that you meet them on the next tee.  But I'm not sure if you realize how slow that actually is.  Assuming even groups of 4, a "slow" group should still tee off in less time than a foursome can hole out from 100+ yards away.  I'm not sure why you think a group would be more likely to catch a slow group on the tee when that is the easiest/quickest part of the hole.