A cure for slow play

[ChuckDee]

Originally Posted by jetsknicks1

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.

There in lies the problem, the rangers not doing their jobs.  Are they out there looking for wild fires or what???  I don't get it.

[RoyJeeBiv]

the problem is, not every course has a ranger.

the simple fact is, if each group of golfers manages their game accordingly, we wouldn't need rangers.

so many things slowed my round down today...

- a slow five-some that i caught up to on the back nine -- i skipped 18 and just went home early because i didn't feel like waiting while they fiddle-farted through the hole.

- a four-some with three in carts and one walker -- c'mon... i don't care if you want the damn exercise, or what.  if the rest of your group is in carts, don't opt to walk, please??  you not only slow down your own group, you slow down the pace of play for everyone behind you.  (and mind you, i was walking today and i was on top of these guys for the whole front 9.)

- in both of these groups, i had to wait for some numbskull who absolutely, positively had to find his ball in a creek -- each pulled out the telescoping retriever and everything, after they took several minutes looking for it.  maybe it's just me, but if the water is deep enough that i can't see it simply from looking in, i'm dropping and moving on to the next shot.  i wish other people would do the same.  then again, i don't play $4 balls (clearly these people shouldn't have been, either).

ugh.

[jetsknicks1]

There in lies the problem, the rangers not doing their jobs.  Are they out there looking for wild fires or what???  I don't get it.

I didn't get it either. It's a pretty high end course and the rest of the service was awesome. It was a bit strange that nobody came out to tell those guys to speed up.

[Mulligan Jeff]

My experience with being held up by a slow group has mostly been they tend to look for a lost ball far too long. The management of the course needs to be aware of slow play and to allow their rangers to approach slow play groups and communicate respectively.

[saevel25]

I think a lot of that is, all 4 players look for a lost ball. If the guy looking for the lost ball can't find his ball by the time the three other players hit, then go back to the tee box and rehit. Having 3 guys standing around looking for a ball is nuts

[BostonBrew]

Originally Posted by saevel25

I think a lot of that is, all 4 players look for a lost ball. If the guy looking for the lost ball can't find his ball by the time the three other players hit, then go back to the tee box and rehit. Having 3 guys standing around looking for a ball is nuts

That's probably a good rule of thumb. I always say the rulebook might give you 5 minutes to look, but the pace of play and the group behind you more than likely won't.

It's always painful watching four guys marching around in the woods or rough looking for a ball. And then they find it, or the guy takes a drop, and the others walk to their balls that they could have played while he was looking for it. I understand people want to help look for the other guy's ball, but play your's first. I'll hit my approach and then go rush over to help look for a minute or two.

[rehmwa]

Originally Posted by BostonBrew

That's probably a good rule of thumb. I always say the rulebook might give you 5 minutes to look, but the pace of play and the group behind you more than likely won't.

I don't care a bit about the group behind me.....

let me explain - I care only about the group in front of me, if we are keeping up, anyone on my group can look until we "aren't-keeping-up"....riding the butts of the group in front doesn't really solve anything.  Keep up, but don't be a jerk and constantly push.

That automatically takes care of the group behind me.

(one caviat - If I'm not in a foursome, and the group behind isn't either, I ALWAYS will invite them to join us if the pace is slow.  Combining two groups provides "Temporary" relief, but can't hurt)

I also try to eyeball the next group ahead of me, if I can, this lets me know if I should be frustrated or not with the one between us.  Generally, I've found backups to be choked at a specific point in a course, or with just a single group way up there.

Tangent to the topic here - Once people play ready golf, there is still a limit.  If a course wants to go faster than that, then the course designer should find the natural choke points and clean those areas up - if possible.  If not, they should find them anyway, and then adjust the starts interval to fit the course layout.

[saevel25]

Originally Posted by rehmwa

I don't care a bit about the group behind me.....

let me explain - I care only about the group in front of me, if we are keeping up, anyone on my group can look until we "aren't-keeping-up"....riding the butts of the group in front doesn't really solve anything.  Keep up, but don't be a jerk and constantly push.

That automatically takes care of the group behind me.

That's true for the most part

I have to agree that i hate those who push you. Like hitting a ball just as your walking off the green. If a ball lands near me, i might just happen to pick it up, "OOH Pro-V1, how did that get here, must have fell out of my bag"

[ChuckDee]

Anybody see Annika's commercial for slow play during the Open this weekend?