"Hey! While we're young!" - USGA Pace of Play

[nevets88]

I'm surprised someone hasn't made some kind of remix from "Caddyshack". I would make one that cuts between the USGA commercials and Dangerfield.

Here is the original scene with Rodney Dangerfield saying the words:

[Golfer6760]

IMO the pace of play starts in the pro shop of any club. Control of the 1st tee by the pro shop sending groups out at even intervals is a start. The hit when you feel you can't reach them on the 1st tee just backs the course up. One course I play at will put 18 groups on a 9 hole course out on a Sunday morning shift. The front 9 is fiarly smooth every week. Being the 1st group of the day out at times I have waited for 6 foursomes to start their round before I make the turn. Most days we play the front 9 in 1-1/2 hrs and the back nine in 3+ hours. They claim the golfers are slow, but it's the couse management trying to squeeze every dollar they can out of a day.

That's all we hear is how slow everyone plays. Can't go too fast when there's 3 groups waiting at times on a par 3 :-o

Don't blame the golfer in every case

[Jodastra]

I walked off a course two Sundays ago. Two groups let me play around/through them on the front nine, which I thought was very nice. By the ninth hole I was behind a Fivesome. By the time I cleared the ninth and headed to ten, there were 5 carts at the tee box, and enough miller/coors lit to float a barge...at 11am...glad it was a $25 course... Adios Muchahcho's!  I do not think the quality of golfers I was behind probably even watch golf on TV or would understand the "while we are young!" slogan. ok I'm stereotyping...The course ranger/marshall was working the clubhouse that day, so I just left...

[Topper]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Maybe not "most", but there is definite influence.  Especially on the green.  When I see guys plum-bobbing 4 foot come-backers for bogey reading putts from every which-a-way, and marking 3 footers, I definitely think they got those habits from watching the pros.

I would have to concede to this as well.  Even good golfers who can get onto the green quickly can slow things to a snail's pace when they mark, pickup, read the green from 6 different angles, replace their ball, align their ball mark, take stance, practice putts, and then repeat for a 2-putt.

[BugDude]

Originally Posted by saevel25

Seriously more pace of play threads, come on guys.

you know what will happen, they'll get pace of play down to 4 hours a round, and people will bitch as to why its not 3 hours per round.

It should be 3 hours.  That's 90 minutes per side or 10 minutes per hole average.  If weekend warriors would cut out the mulligans, 14 practice swings, looking for lost balls, play ready golf, stop plumb bobbing from every conceivable angle, and traverse their way around the course in a logical pattern (taking the clubs you need with you around the green, not going back and forth across the fairway, etc.), there's no reason it can't be 3 hours.

[CR McDivot]

Originally Posted by Golfer6760

IMO the pace of play starts in the pro shop of any club....but it's the course management trying to squeeze every dollar they can out of a day.

That's all we hear is how slow everyone plays. Can't go too fast when there's 3 groups waiting at times on a par 3 :-o

Don't blame the golfer in every case

This is indeed where it starts. Ten minutes minimum between tee times, clear advisories at the pro shop, starter as to expected pace of play. Explanation and encouragement of Ready Golf, Play it Forward, and alternative scoring methods such as Match and Stableford.

A round of golf need be neither a sprint nor a traffic jam!

[boogielicious]

Originally Posted by BugDude

It should be 3 hours.  That's 90 minutes per side or 10 minutes per hole average.  If weekend warriors would cut out the mulligans, 14 practice swings, looking for lost balls, play ready golf, stop plumb bobbing from every conceivable angle, and traverse their way around the course in a logical pattern (taking the clubs you need with you around the green, not going back and forth across the fairway, etc.), there's no reason it can't be 3 hours.

Agree that slows things down.  But think about the math for a second.  10 minutes per hole would be 2:30 per shot on a par four, including walking in between shots.  If you are not in the fairway, which most weekend golfers are not, then there is time to find the ball.  You hit your drive, and start walking or riding to the spot where you think it landed.  That is at least a minute there, for the tee shot.  If you are a bogey or double bogey golfer, then it is five or six shots per hole.  This is what really takes the extra time, even if they move fast between shots.

It only takes one slow group to slow the whole course down.

[jjref]

Just watched Rymer with  slow play from sand trap. He should explain better . I think the best way for slow paly from a trap is to [yes]take rake with you THEN enter trap closest to your ball [leaving rake on outside edge of trap]. I think this is a better way to eliminate slow play involving sand trap play.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by boogielicious

Quote:

Originally Posted by BugDude

It should be 3 hours.  That's 90 minutes per side or 10 minutes per hole average.  If weekend warriors would cut out the mulligans, 14 practice swings, looking for lost balls, play ready golf, stop plumb bobbing from every conceivable angle, and traverse their way around the course in a logical pattern (taking the clubs you need with you around the green, not going back and forth across the fairway, etc.), there's no reason it can't be 3 hours.

Agree that slows things down.  But think about the math for a second.  10 minutes per hole would be 2:30 per shot on a par four, including walking in between shots.  If you are not in the fairway, which most weekend golfers are not, then there is time to find the ball.  You hit your drive, and start walking or riding to the spot where you think it landed.  That is at least a minute there, for the tee shot.  If you are a bogey or double bogey golfer, then it is five or six shots per hole.  This is what really takes the extra time, even if they move fast between shots.

It only takes one slow group to slow the whole course down.

Yeah.  While I'm a strong proponent of playing quickly, 3 hours would require not only perfect golf from the entire fourball, but the planets would have to be in ideal alignment too.  Just to ask the question - when was the last time anyone here can honestly say that he saw a group of four average golfers play 18 holes in under 3.5 hours?  I'm looking for real world honesty, not internet honesty, and I'm talking about playing actual golf, not some silly speed golf modification.  3.5 hours is 11.6 minutes per hole, including travel time.  That's possible, but it isn't going to happen for a full course on  a busy Saturday.  No way you are going to get a few hundred players all playing at an exceptional speed.  The course which pushes that hard is going to drive players right out the door.

Kick that up to 4 hours and you have a possibly makeable target at 13.3 minutes per hole.  That extra 1.6 minutes can be the difference between comfort and frustration for a normal group, and even that is only going to be comfortable if they understand the principles of playing without delay, being ready to play as soon as practicable, and minimizing delays from ball searches and the like.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Jodastra

I walked off a course two Sundays ago. Two groups let me play around/through them on the front nine, which I thought was very nice. By the ninth hole I was behind a Fivesome. By the time I cleared the ninth and headed to ten, there were 5 carts at the tee box, and enough miller/coors lit to float a barge...at 11am...glad it was a $25 course... Adios Muchahcho's!  I do not think the quality of golfers I was behind probably even watch golf on TV or would understand the "while we are young!" slogan. ok I'm stereotyping...The course ranger/marshall was working the clubhouse that day, so I just left...

Yeah, that pisses me off.  A course definitely isn't going to care much about pace of play when they allow 5somes to tee off.  I avoid a local course here as much as I can simply because they allow 5somes.

[minitour]

While we're at it, get rid of the two-person carts and get something like a segway for each player.  No more waiting for your cart partner.

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

While we're at it, get rid of the two-person carts and get something like a segway for each player.  No more waiting for your cart partner.

There's no way this is gonna happen anytime soon. Why doesn't each player just get a one man version of Bubbas Hovercraft golf cart? That would speed things up tremendously. And I'm sure it's very economical. Lol.

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

Yeah.  While I'm a strong proponent of playing quickly, 3 hours would require not only perfect golf from the entire fourball, but the planets would have to be in ideal alignment too.  Just to ask the question - when was the last time anyone here can honestly say that he saw a group of four average golfers play 18 holes in under 3.5 hours? I'm looking for real world honesty, not internet honesty, and I'm talking about playing actual golf, not some silly speed golf modification.  3.5 hours is 11.6 minutes per hole, including travel time.  That's possible, but it isn't going to happen for a full course on  a busy Saturday.  No way you are going to get a few hundred players all playing at an exceptional speed.  The course which pushes that hard is going to drive players right out the door.   Kick that up to 4 hours and you have a possibly makeable target at 13.3 minutes per hole.  That extra 1.6 minutes can be the difference between comfort and frustration for a normal group, and even that is only going to be comfortable if they understand the principles of playing without delay, being ready to play as soon as practicable, and minimizing delays from ball searches and the like.

I have played over 50 rounds of golf on 40 different courses here in Myrtle Beach in the last 9 months. I think the fastest round of fourball was 4 hours 5 minutes. The slowest was 5 hours 30 minutes. I think it's very rare for a fourball to finish a real 18 hole golf cours in under 3.5 hours. It's borderline insane to think they can finish 18 holes in under 3 hours.

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

The course I played last week had this sign on the 5th tee box: We were being held up by the group (4 players) in front of us, and it was already 1hour 12min into our round when we reached this tee.

[cutshot878]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

Thank God. I don't understand how it can take some people so long to golf. I was playing 9 with a friend of mine and his sister, and we finished in just under an hour and a half. We weren't rushing, and none of us are great. Granted, I can understand walking takes a bit longer, but you should still be able to finish a round in under 4 hours.

Walking can actually be faster than using a golf cart, especially if there's nobody on the course, say late evening.  Granted, if the course is chock full of cart riding foursomes, you're going nowhere. I walk with a lightweight Sunday Bag and carry a Driver, 4 iron, 7 iron, PW and Putter (I usually don't even bring the putter, I just putt with my 4 iron. Your first putt---if you've hit the green in regulation---is usually just a lag putt anyway.) Believe it or not, you don't actually need 14 clubs to play a good round of golf. Granted this type of golf requires someone who can make hard, full, 3/4 or half swings for shots in the distance gaps. Or if you only have 1 swing speed or length, there's always the wheeled pull cart option, so you can walk and have all your clubs at your disposal.   Carrying my bag, or using a pull cart, I can actually get some exercise while walking right to my ball without parking the golf cart, pulling out the clubs, walking laterally to the ball from the cartpath, and never really knowing which club to pull, having to take a couple of clubs because you're not at your ball yet and you don't know what your stance (uphill/downhill) or lie is like.  I find cart golf very annoying, mostly just a way for the pro shop to make some extra $$$ in the form of the cart fee. Sometimes a twosome in a cart will come around the dogleg and see me "a walker" and I'm sure they're thinking they will have to "play through" because they're in a golf cart but they never even come close. In 30 minutes I'm two holes ahead of them.  In 5 years of playing at my local course there's only one golfer who ever caught up with me. He was a single, carrying his own bag. He was walking like it was the Bataan Death March.  And his pre-shot routine, as I watched him on the tee box, took all of 5 seconds. Tee in the ground, no rehearsal or practice swing, a quick unconscious swat, a Gary Player style walk off, a quick snatch of his ancient leather golf bag with his left hand (driver still in right hand) and then he was cruising down the fairway and probably already hitting his next shot in his head. My kind of player. Faster than me.

[Ernest Jones]

It's the little things that speed up a round. Advancing to the next tee box immediately and filling in your score card there while someone is hitting instead of everyone standing around the green and doing it while NO ONE is hitting. No honors on the tee box, if you're ready GO. Be ready to hit your shot BEFORE it's your turn. Hit your ball before going to help buddy look for his in the jungle. Don't stand around like a bunch of pilons after hitting your ball, walk to it. You can blather away while walking can't you??? They all seem like inconsequential things but they add up. Some guys I play with do the opposite of everything above and it pisses me off because sometimes we only have time for a 9 because off their constant dawdling.

[colin007]

If you look around and no one's hitting then or walking then there's a problem...

[mgd150]

This is the sort of thing that causes pace of play issues: