"Correct" pace of play

[AmazingWhacker]

To me . .it's very simple.  If there are open holes ahead and groups waiting behind you then you should let them play through.  This is regardless of how fast or slow you are playing.

If I were the OP, I probably would've asked the guy who said he was playing to 4.5 hours .. "why do you want to be a jerk?  What's it going to hurt to let a faster group play through"?

[iacas]

I don't believe a single person who says a 4.5 hour foursome round is slow plays golf. Y'all need to get off the website and golf every now and then. 4.5 is an acceptable weekend foursome round where you might wait every now and the. If your group has a low scoring hole. 4 is rushed unless it is a bunch of scratch golfers who go fairway/green a high percentage of the time and you really know the course.

Oh c'mon. I've played plenty of golf. I've played in a foursome in under three hours walking. If you can't play golf in a cart in under four hours, something is drastically wrong. I'm not saying that should or can happen all the time because it would require everyone to be mindful of their pace, but it is not unreasonable, nor does it require scratch golfers playing at the top of their game. It simply requires anyone to be ready to play without delay. Part of the problem with slow play is that so many people are so accepting of slow play that it simply pervades. A round of golf should not take more than four hours. If it does someone somewhere is screwing up.

[billchao]

I went with keeping up. There's a course by me that was rated for something like 4:10 for a foursome and they enforce this pace regardless of how busy the course is. There have been times where the group I was playing with has been told to speed it up, despite there being nobody directly ahead or behind us. Some people complain, but I love the policy because I know that I can book a tee time at that course in any time slot and be able to play a round of golf in a reasonable time. I've walked off courses when the pace drags; I've never had to do it at this course.

[MS256]

But 4 1/2 hours IS slow!!! That's about the pace my cousin plays and OMG I feel like I am watching grass grow between everything he does. He walks slow, talks slow, puts his clubs back in the bag slow, takes forever over shots (and then hits bad ones), and then gets back in the cart slow. And doesn't know he's slow. (Bless his heart). ;-)

[MisterLCP]

I had to register to this site just to reply to what a load of BS this statement is.  4-1/2 hours is almost Chinese water torture slow.  I'm a 20 handicap (athletic good swing and long driver but I have a two way miss on long shots and I easily lose focus on shorter shots), I can lose 2-8 balls in a round (my bad rounds at difficult courses are easily over 100), I laser every approach shot, I take a practice swing (or two) before most shots, I pace off my puts for distance, I take a half dozen practice shots a round, I drink beer on the course and in a foursome usually play in less than 4 hours UNLESS we get backed up behind people.  3:40 is a good foursome pace (3:20 or 3:30 is easily attainable if playing well though with no backups), 4:00 is acceptable if everyone is playing bad/hard conditions/cart path only, etc., and about 4:15 is the absolute upper limit for sanity, and that pace will usually include at least 10 minutes waiting on the group in front.

Just this morning, the weather was so great I "had" to go play even though I didn't really plan to.  I teed off by myself around 10 and passed a threesome on the fourth hole (when I caught them on the third hole that is when my round went to the dogs too!).  Got stacked up on the seventh hole, but still played the front 9 in about 1:30.  Then I joined the twosome I caught for a 2:30 back 9 stacked up behind at least a few groups of slow pokes on every hole.  It was terrible.  And the golfers I was playing with were awful, and we were still stacked up.  The threesome I passed was stacked up behind us the last several holes.  Sure, they still played in about 4:10, but it was excruciating how slow the groups had gotten backed up in front of us.

[dkolo]

I'd love to have 4 and a half hour rounds. On weekends here, 5 and 5 and a half are standard, with 6 being in play sometimes. I'm not happy about it, but I've never experienced faster golf and accept that it's a full day affair, so I try to not get too upset get it.

[MisterLCP]

I'd go home and clean the bathrooms in my house before I'd endure a round of golf over 5 hours, no matter how much beer I drank there or how great the weather was.

[David in FL]

You're not a golfer if you can't get around in under 3:30, assuming no one is holding you up..... .....oh wait, that's another thread, isn't it?

[jmanbooyaa]

Pace of play is an issue because golfers take to much time with practice swings waggles and 2 tee shots. The cart crew who doesn't understand that both don't need to go to each ball and wait for their cart buddy to hit and get back in the cart and go to the other guys ball. Pure pain when you witness this cart picnic take place.

[Lihu]

I had to register to this site just to reply to what a load of BS this statement is.  4-1/2 hours is almost Chinese water torture slow.  I'm a 20 handicap (athletic good swing and long driver but I have a two way miss on long shots and I easily lose focus on shorter shots), I can lose 2-8 balls in a round (my bad rounds at difficult courses are easily over 100), I laser every approach shot, I take a practice swing (or two) before most shots, I pace off my puts for distance, I take a half dozen practice shots a round, I drink beer on the course and in a foursome usually play in less than 4 hours UNLESS we get backed up behind people.  3:40 is a good foursome pace (3:20 or 3:30 is easily attainable if playing well though with no backups), 4:00 is acceptable if everyone is playing bad/hard conditions/cart path only, etc., and about 4:15 is the absolute upper limit for sanity, and that pace will usually include at least 10 minutes waiting on the group in front. Just this morning, the weather was so great I "had" to go play even though I didn't really plan to.  I teed off by myself around 10 and passed a threesome on the fourth hole (when I caught them on the third hole that is when my round went to the dogs too!).  Got stacked up on the seventh hole, but still played the front 9 in about 1:30.  Then I joined the twosome I caught for a 2:30 back 9 stacked up behind at least a few groups of slow pokes on every hole.  It was terrible.  And the golfers I was playing with were awful, and we were still stacked up.  The threesome I passed was stacked up behind us the last several holes.  Sure, they still played in about 4:10, but it was excruciating how slow the groups had gotten backed up in front of us.

Welcome to TST. I agree 3:30 is a better pace, but 4:30 is the widely accepted pace. I walked a 7100 yard course playing 6700+ in a foursome with HC from 8 to 25 without feeling rushed in 3:30. So, it is possible, but not normal.

[dkolo]

Pace of play is an issue because golfers take to much time with practice swings waggles and 2 tee shots. The cart crew who doesn't understand that both don't need to go to each ball and wait for their cart buddy to hit and get back in the cart and go to the other guys ball. Pure pain when you witness this cart picnic take place.

I kinda don't care about stuff like that. I mean, sure, those slow it up. But I look at it as a big picture thing: keep up with folks ahead of you. You can take 5 tee shots but be sure you make up for that time somewhere when you realize you need to catch up or if you're holding folks up. I've been in groups where we fall behind a bit, and it's even been my fault on one occasion or another, but I try to be mindful about making sure we make up that time as soon as possible and close any gap.

[jmanbooyaa]

Bigger picture? I understand what you are saying about that wouldn't bug you as long as they make it up during the hole or round. I find people who take too many practice swings or camp out in the cart with their buddy don't make it up or even attempt to.

[MisterLCP]

Practice swings are no big deal.  Realistically, what does each one take?  7 seconds soups to nuts?  Now, " the cart crew who doesn't understand that both don't need to go to each ball and wait for their cart buddy to hit and get back in the cart and go to the other guys ball" is the definition of Chinese water torture.  Sadly, it's one of the things that makes me hate playing golf with my dad.  That plus his practice swings are at least twice as long as they should take, maybe more and he's not even ready to hit when he gets out of the golf cart, takes forever to laser the shot, forever to figure out what club to hit, then forever to find the club in his bag, then multiple practice swings, then finally success.  It's dumbfounding considering he was once a +2 handicap only about a decade or so ago in his 50's.

[Patch]

I am not pro long rounds, but they exist now and will exist in the future. The only way to stop longer rounds is to keep slower players off the course while allowing the faster folks to make up the lost revenue.

That brings up another question. How much more money would 3.5 hours or less, per round, be worth to the faster golfer? $20, $30 or maybe more?

Another thing I wonder about are those golfers, because of being told they need to play faster, to pacify others, cheat themselves out of lower scores because they are in  too big of a hurry. Of course, the opposite is the faster player who is slowed down, who let's it effect them adversely, loses their mental game, and shoots a higher than  normal score.

[flopster]

I don't believe a single person who says a 4.5 hour foursome round is slow plays golf. Y'all need to get off the website and golf every now and then. 4.5 is an acceptable weekend foursome round where you might wait every now and the. If your group has a low scoring hole. 4 is rushed unless it is a bunch of scratch golfers who go fairway/green a high percentage of the time and you really know the course. 5 is when the round starts to be unbearable. It is dependent on the course though. Short and wide open courses should play slightly faster obviously.

And to the OP the course isn't stating that "they have the right it be out there for at least 4.5 hours" as you stated. The course is saying as long as they finish in 4.5 hours they deem it acceptable regardless of what other groups in front of them are doing.

My group is always pushing the group in front of us and one is a very short hitter but to think four 18 handicaps should keep up with four low single digit handicaps is absurd and maybe y'all need to join a private course.

No I didn't, I said because of this policy people feel that it's okay to take the full 4.5 hours for a round regardless if they hold anyone else up, and wrong on the other point, the keeping up with the group in front of you is in the rules of golf section under etiquette and this was only a disagreement I had with a player in that group. I remember now your the guy who takes a full lunch at the turn and just cruises right up to the 10th tee to play his other 9 even though your 3 groups back, no wonder you think 4:30 is acceptable, I guarantee you could never do that where I volunteer.

[MisterLCP]

No I didn't, I said because of this policy people feel that it's okay to take the full 4.5 hours for a round regardless if they hold anyone else up, and wrong on the other point, the keeping up with the group in front of you is in the rules of golf section under etiquette and this was only a disagreement I had with a player in that group. I remember now your the guy who takes a full lunch at the turn and just cruises right up to the 10th tee to play his other 9 even though your 3 groups back, no wonder you think 4:30 is acceptable, I guarantee you could never do that where I volunteer.

A full lunch at the turn is quite acceptable so long as it's between the morning 18 tee time and the afternoon 18 tee time!  But not otherwise!  Just have to make sure slow play in the morning doesn't make you late for the afternoon tee time.

[MS256]

To me when a course posts that 4 1/2 hours (or whatever) is acceptable it is like a minimum speed limit on the Interstate. It's there to remind the very few that would actually drive slower than that but it's not the speed most people are going to drive. BTW. It's funny but I always feel rushed when I'm playing with an extremely slow player in the group but never feel rushed when playing with fast players. It's like I am trying to make up for the slow one even at the expense of my own game so I won't be in THAT group that's slowing anybody down.

[MS256]

Hmmm. I never saw a gap between the "morning 18 tee time" and "the afternoon 18 tee time". At the busy courses I play (occasionally) there are only tee times and there is never a time where you could find a gap to eat lunch. Edit: After thinking about it I guess you mean to make tee times with a built in gap. :doh: :doh: