Anyone else tired of hearing the PGA and USGA talk about pace of play?

[colin007]

is it actually a country club?  some public courses around here call themselves country clubs but they are fully public.

[Dave2512]

Country clubs have limited memberships and thus less play, even on weekends, without as much competition for tee times.  I've never played a a club that ran on 7 or 8 minute tee intervals like many public courses.  Public courses need to stay competitive to stay in business in a different way than private clubs do.  Players at the local muni rarely accept a $50 green fee as reasonable, so in order to load the course more, the intervals have to shrink.  While I don't really think that they are doing a service to the player this way, it's how such courses function.  They have to adjust tee intervals to be consistent with green fees and regional norms to maintain a balance between pace of play and revenue.  My home course has an 8 and 9 minute staggered system to add a few more tee times during the prime morning hours, then straight 9 minute times after 10:30.  Those few added groups add significantly to the bottom line.  The widest spacing I've ever experienced on a public course is 10 minutes.

Country clubs don't have to use such strategies to stay competitive.  Instead they have to offer what their clientele expect as the perks for the premium cost of playing a private course - and one of those perks is well spaced tee times which prevent the log jams that would otherwise occur during the natural ebb and flow of a round of golf.

Not at the Ranch CC. My parents are members and I lived on it for 13 yrs. They once functioned that way but not now. I could join that club for less than the annual gold membership at my public home course. If it wasn't a 40 minute drive I would join, just can't make it work. They still expect people to get around it in 3:52. My home course was once private and their posted POP is 4:12 and it potentially can play 600 yds longer than the Ranch.

[Fourputt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Country clubs have limited memberships and thus less play, even on weekends, without as much competition for tee times.  I've never played a a club that ran on 7 or 8 minute tee intervals like many public courses.  Public courses need to stay competitive to stay in business in a different way than private clubs do.  Players at the local muni rarely accept a $50 green fee as reasonable, so in order to load the course more, the intervals have to shrink.  While I don't really think that they are doing a service to the player this way, it's how such courses function.  They have to adjust tee intervals to be consistent with green fees and regional norms to maintain a balance between pace of play and revenue.  My home course has an 8 and 9 minute staggered system to add a few more tee times during the prime morning hours, then straight 9 minute times after 10:30.  Those few added groups add significantly to the bottom line.  The widest spacing I've ever experienced on a public course is 10 minutes.

Country clubs don't have to use such strategies to stay competitive.  Instead they have to offer what their clientele expect as the perks for the premium cost of playing a private course - and one of those perks is well spaced tee times which prevent the log jams that would otherwise occur during the natural ebb and flow of a round of golf.

Not at the Ranch CC. My parents are members and I lived on it for 13 yrs. They once functioned that way but not now. I could join that club for less than the annual gold membership at my public home course. If it wasn't a 40 minute drive I would join, just can't make it work. They still expect people to get around it in 3:52. My home course was once private and their posted POP is 4:12 and it potentially can play 600 yds longer than the Ranch.

But if you can't make the recommended pace from those back tees, you would be expected to move up to the tees from which you can make pace.  If you can't make the pace, then you probably don't belong on the course.  Maybe I'm just lucky, but most of the men I see playing at Foothills seem to be able to park their egos with their cars.  Most don't seem compelled to play the back tees unless they actually have the game for it (there are exceptions of course, and that's what our rangers are there for).

What tee interval do both courses send players out at?

[Dave2512]

FWIW I am not a speed demon. I like to be out there and around 4 hrs is fine with me as long as the course is moving. I mentioned this already, if I made time to golf it is my free time, I am done with work or any other responsibilities for the day. I don't want to race through just to head home or to a restaurant to kill more time and wish I was still golfing. For me the slow play problem is how it makes me feel on the course. The waiting then rushing in an attempt to stay out of the way of the groups stacking up behind is a buzz kill. I get out of routine and typically play badly. We could very well finish before the posted POP and still feel like we are slogging along if the groups ahead are hacking the course to bits. I may even play slower alone if the course is empty because I am trying to take advantage of the peace and quiet to play well. Hard to do when I am waiting on young guys taking 3 shots to get to the 100 yd marker and then 4 more to get it in the hole. Even if they complete the hole in 12 minutes or whatever it seems like all I do is wait for them to bat it around. Which is why I usually book the first or last time of the day.

[Dave2512]

But if you can't make the recommended pace from those back tees, you would be expected to move up to the tees from which you can make pace.  If you can't make the pace, then you probably don't belong on the course.  Maybe I'm just lucky, but most of the men I see playing at Foothills seem to be able to park their egos with their cars.  Most don't seem compelled to play the back tees unless they actually have the game for it (there are exceptions of course, and that's what our rangers are there for).

What tee interval do both courses send players out at?

You know it's a funny thing and really varies course to course. My home drives me nuts because they put the gold tees out, it's some 7500 yards. They have tee recommendations based on index range. I play in the 8-11 range, they say I should play the black tees at 6900 yards but I usually play the blues at 6600. Without fail if it is busy I catch young guys that can't break 90 back on the gold tees. It's crazy to watch them struggle on the 480-490 yard par 4's. My former home course is a rinky-dink rural course in Ft. Lupton and most men play the 6000 yd white tees and typically even with as many as 200 golfers out on a Sat it moves along pretty quick. I played with an ex-pro football player last weekend that could kill the ball and after he caught me on the 4th hole he still chose to play whites when he saw me head for blues.

I don't play the Ranch as often as I'd like just because my folks are always busy. I have no idea what the actual intervals are because people just kind of do whatever, they don't have starter. If our time is 2:15 there is usually a group on the box and a couple of carts stacked behind us watching us tee off. When the group ahead is out of range they hit. At my home course time are 8-9 minutes on GolfNow. But like I said I book either first or last time or when there is a gap. It's slow enough there I can roll out as a single and be several times between groups.