No group behind you

[The Recreational Golfer]

We all know that we should maintain pace with the group ahead of us and not the one behind. I was playing in a foursome yesterday, and by the fifth hole we had lost contact with the foursome ahead of us. I suggested we pick up our pace, but the other three thought that since there was no group behind us, we weren't holding any one up, so there was no need to play faster.

I didn't have a response for that. Any help?

[isukgolf]

I am sure there will be lots of debate on this one ... but for me, there is never an excuse for slow play.  With that said, its not a race and I do not always feel obligated to keep up with the group in front of me in the case you mentioned, but I would except to finish in at least 4 hours ...

I do keep pace when there is group behind me, but I have found that the course if fuller, and I usually have no problem keeping pace with the group in front of me.

I am very much a proponent for teeing forward, and pace of play, etc ... but again, its not a race, but one should be aware of "pace."

[Shorty]

No one has ever said that it is a race and no one really even says that they want to play fast. People just don't want to be waiting on shots because someone ahead of them is dawdling. The guys you played with are the types who cause hold ups but don't even realise it because of their selfish attitude. They need to realise that faster play is normal play and dawdling is unacceptable. Why would you play slowly just because there is noone behind? Golf has a natural rhythm.

[whatwoodtigerdo]

We all know that we should maintain pace with the group ahead of us and not the one behind. I was playing in a foursome yesterday, and by the fifth hole we had lost contact with the foursome ahead of us. I suggested we pick up our pace, but the other three thought that since there was no group behind us, we weren't holding any one up, so there was no need to play faster. I didn't have a response for that. Any help?

No response needed. If you finished in a 4 to 4.5 hour range and no one ever got behind you then who cares. If it took you longer or you didn't like the pace then find a new group.

[Fourputt]

We all know that we should maintain pace with the group ahead of us and not the one behind. I was playing in a foursome yesterday, and by the fifth hole we had lost contact with the foursome ahead of us. I suggested we pick up our pace, but the other three thought that since there was no group behind us, we weren't holding any one up, so there was no need to play faster.

I didn't have a response for that. Any help?

You should still play at the pace required by the course.  Just because the course is not jammed up is no reason to begin developing a potential bad habit.  If you make a habit of playing at a good pace, you won't have to feel rushed when you are on a full course.

[Pretzel]

While they technically weren't holding up anyone behind them, they still were holding you up. Just because you're in the same group as the slow players doesn't mean that you lose the right to complain to a marshal (should it be deemed necessary) about their pace of play provided that you're doing what you can to speed it up. If that doesn't work and there's room ahead, just let them know that you prefer to golf at a faster pace and "play through" to go on ahead! Now if you're in a group that you came with, that might not be the optimal solution, but it would still be helpful just to ask the marshal casually about whether your group is on pace or not as he passes by. That way you can tell them, with factual evidence, that they are playing slower than they need to be and ask them if they'd mind just speeding up a little bit.

The little things like adding up your score for the previous hole while traveling to the next tee, leaving your cart/bag on the way to the next tee, and only going to your ball (watched a group of three today that zigzagged to everyone's ball as a pack, instead of going to their own ball) make a big difference over the course of a round. A friendly reminder now and again to instill the habits of doing these things goes a long way.

[Dave2512]

See ya' would be my response. I break pace with groups I am in or catch all the time. Easy to be polite and move along.

[jakepalm]

I have never understood what the issue with this could be. If you aren't going to be holding anyone up behind you, why should you feel the need to rush and catch up with the group in front of you? This doesn't mean you need to drop the pace of the game to that of a snail, but just try to enjoy being out on the course.

[David in FL]

I have never understood what the issue with this could be. If you aren't going to be holding anyone up behind you, why should you feel the need to rush and catch up with the group in front of you? This doesn't mean you need to drop the pace of the game to that of a snail, but just try to enjoy being out on the course.

No one said rush. They said maintain an acceptable pace of play, whether you have a group behind you, or not.

[jakepalm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Recreational Golfer

I suggested we pick up our pace

Picking up the pace basically means to speed up..and speeding up means to rush. When you speed up in golf, your play gets affected.

[nevets88]

See ya' would be my response. I break pace with groups I am in or catch all the time. Easy to be polite and move along.

See ya', wouldn't wanna be ya!

This is what I would do. You'll catch up with that foursome, but the threesome behind you should keep about the same pace as the foursome so they won't catch up. In theory.

The thing about this situation is you're sandwiched as a single between two groups, I never liked that, especially when they're both using carts.

[David in FL]

See ya', wouldn't wanna be ya! This is what I would do. You'll catch up with that foursome, but the threesome behind you should keep about the same pace as the foursome so they won't catch up. In theory. The thing about this situation is you're sandwiched as a single between two groups, I never liked that, especially when they're both using carts.

Maybe..... You need to be a little careful. Sometimes it's better to play a little slower with a group, where you can maintain some kind of rhythm, than to get stuck behind another group and wait 5 minutes on every shot. Generally speaking, I'd opt to move on too though.

[CarlSpackler]

I would have checked the holes behind to see if another group was gaining ground. If you were paired with a group, you could have politely asked if you could play on ahead since you had some things to do later.

[Fourputt]

As OP said,

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Recreational Golfer

I suggested we pick up our pace

Picking up the pace basically means to speed up..and speeding up means to rush. When you speed up in golf, your play gets affected.

Not necessarily.  All it has to mean is that the group uses some sense.  If they are playing behind the recommended pace, then they are doing something wrong.  I don't care if anyone is pressing from behind.  They need to use that opportunity to try out some good pace processes at a time when they aren't stressed by being pushed.

If riding, practice good cart etiquette by not sitting in the cart and waiting on each shot.  Unless you are disabled, get off your butt and walk over to your ball with a couple of clubs that should include the right one for the shot - take your GPS or laser along and get the distance for the shot while your cart buddy or others are playing their shots.  You should at that point be ready to play promptly, yet with no rushing.

If you are walking, walk directly to your ball.  If one of your buddies is near the same line, then by all means, walk together most of the way.  Then after playing, you can join back up along the walk toward the green.   Don't do what I see so often - two or three or all four walking together like they are window-shopping at the mall, then they stand and watch after they get to the first ball until that guy hits, then they all walk to the next ball, or finally split up to opposite sides of the hole to start trying to find the balls in the 2" rough that they should have been looking for during last 2 minutes of standing around.

In either case, just get to your ball in a timely manner, and start getting ready for your shot as soon as possible.  Play every round with the intent of playing ready golf.  If you can't do it because of the relative positions of the balls, then that's fine, but don't use that as an excuse on every hole.  When your turn is approaching, just be ready to play as promptly as possible.  If your routine has wasted time in it, then you need to consider making some changes.

Playing at a good pace doesn't necessarily mean playing fast, it just means playing smart.

[jakepalm]

@Fourputt

Yeah I do agree with you on that. Playing smart is what I agree with the most. The dumber you play, the longer it will take for you to get your shots off.

[RayG]

It was mentioned in another thread about that business of "position should be just behind the group in front, not just in front of the group behind..." Which is a bit much, SOMETIMES. As I've mentioned before a few times- I dont enjoy playing with "Rabbits"- the guys who insist on trying to play in 3 hours.. even though there is no chance on a Sunday mid-morning. The pace is usually 4.5 or so, which is normal and acceptable as long as we're all moving at the same rate. But the rabbits insist on getting up on the tee and firing away when the group in front is maybe just getting to their pull carts or whatever and will be walking in a second or two. Hitting as they get to the edge of a green when they're done putting, and other poor decisions. "Where are you going to go?" You know the pace on a Sunday, I've seen you before. I KNOW you folks wouldn't enjoy them behind you, either. If that's your game then get out first, or play in the rain when most people stay home. Don't show up when you KNOW it will be 4.5 and then complain about how slow the idiots in front of you are. And don't kid yourself about the early groups being the fastest players. I've been 3rd out and get bogged down when that first group is apparently playing for 50 cents a side and turn into slugs. This is an argument that nobody will win. If you win the lottery and want to play 18 in 2 hours on a Sunday mid-AM, buy yourself your own course, and only let people of like speed play on it and don't allow them back if they take 2:10. You'll lose money hand over fist, but it's your money. If, as the OP thought, they were "falling behind" because they lost touch... they might have been guys who play fast just to play fast. His group may have been on the pace, while the group behind were the dawdlers. I certainly don't enjoy getting to a tee only to find that they haven't teed off, or are just a 100 yds out and we have to stand around waiting everywhere. Hopefully, they just had one bad hole and will pick it up and things string out as normal. Not "faster", just normal so everyone moves along.

[whatwoodtigerdo]

I still don't agree with making them speed up unless the pace is absolutely horrible. I play fast but sometimes speeding up does mean rushing. We've all been there. Groups packed in. You are waiting on all your shots and have a group behind you waiting for you every shot. So you hit 2 on the side of the green and what do you do? Of course you blade the wedge to the other side of the green. Now you walk all the way over to the other side, hoping you aren't playing with morons who are just standing there because you are "still out", now out of breath you hit your next shot on the green without getting a good read so you get a long putt. Now if everybody did as they were supposed to as far as hitting up or lagging their long putts as you walked across the green then you are still probably out. Now you putt without taking much time to read the green and putt the ball which probably is not going to be the best putt. So now you have a 6 or 7 footer and not much time to read it. So you miss and get your triple bogey and it feels like a +5 or 6.

These are the scenarios where if no one is pushing me my pace is going to slow down and if you didn't want to play with me you could move on. Do you not feel rushed just reading that?

[Zeph]

I like to keep up a good pace, but I don't have any issues with letting a group ahead go, if it doesn't mean we're holding up someone behind. Of course, if there is just one or two holes in the groups, and the general pace of the group is slow, a slow pace can get worse. If you spend 20 minutes too long on the first six holes, you could end up at an hour by the 18th. Which means it comes down to how much time you personally want to spend on this round of golf. Your group may not hold up someone outside of it, but one, two or three slow players in a group will be slowing down the rest of the group.

The groups ahead or behind is not always a good indiciation on the pace, as some can play really fast, and others really slow. In general, if the course is packed, I just try to keep the same pace as everyone else. I'd rather waste some minutes here and there, than wait on every tee. My experience is that groups don't go faster even if the group behind constantly has to wait on the tee.