Tips to Improve Slow Play

[Ernest Jones]

I agree with not looking for balls over a minute, even if the rule is five minutes, in casual play. There I said it, screw the ROG!  I write a ball off quick it if it doesn't look like I am going to find it. But I have been starting to keep a handicap, so now it gets complicated. Maybe not wanting to take those lost ball penalties in casual rounds because people are keeping handicaps slows play? Naah! Maybe if the course is busy, the round should be declared a practice round beforehand as an act of good sportsmanship?

You are not obligated to spend the whole 5 minutes looking for it. You're not obligated to even look for it. You cannot "declare" the ball lost but your totally free to "not find it".

[wannabe]

nice info in this thread.

recently played a course where the gps on the cart told you in big letters whether you were ahead of pace, on pace or behind, and by how many minutes.  there were also a regular stream of rangers on the course keeping people aware of their position and the position of those around them.

pretty cool.  for non-cart users and courses without the gps systems, there ought to be something similar - even if it's just the ranger - as a way to keep folks informed.

I find that slow play can inadvertently creep in when guys are trying to follow etiquette and honor/order of play, instead of playing ready.

Each course and group should discuss pace of play prior to starting the round, so no one gets upset when honor is not followed, etc.

Allowing groups to play through, when it makes sense, should be a no-brainer.

[iacas]

Three things that seem to be ignored and which can make up for a lot of other sins:

• Move forward whenever you can and it's not rude to do so.
• Walk quickly.
• Put your bag/cart/trolley in logical places to make the walking you'll do in the first two more efficient.

Quite seriously, if you can do those three things, you can pretty much take almost as long as you want over your shots. You might annoy the rest of your foursome (particularly if they can't walk ahead, like on the putting green), but you'll keep your place on the course pretty easily.

[Shindig]

Move forward whenever you can and it's not rude to do so.

Can you elaborate on this as it relates to when one is using a riding cart? For me, it's a very rare round when I'm using a riding cart and am on a golf course with other people, and since Mike posted this thread yesterday, I've had it in my mind that I might be one of the guilty parties he's talking about. I was driving the other cart in Mike's group on Sunday at the TST outing, and when I'm in a riding cart, I'm generally hesitant to move it when someone's about to hit, even if it's because I just hit from several yards back. I don't know how much I did that on Sunday, but I'm sure it's a non-zero number of times. At the very least, that hanging back is something I need to avoid, or at least find a way to do without interfering with their shot.

[colin007]

When I brought it up with the marshal he said, will "legally" foursomes have priority over twosomes and singles.  I got it, but you allow that mix out on the course and proper etiquette dictates they should allow faster players to play through. He only shrugged his shoulders.  He did mention it to the foursome and it probably made them more aware of their pace as things started to pick up a bit after that.

im pretty sure thats categorically untrue.

Can you elaborate on this as it relates to when one is using a riding cart?

For me, it's a very rare round when I'm using a riding cart and am on a golf course with other people, and since Mike posted this thread yesterday, I've had it in my mind that I might be one of the guilty parties he's talking about. I was driving the other cart in Mike's group on Sunday at the TST outing, and when I'm in a riding cart, I'm generally hesitant to move it when someone's about to hit, even if it's because I just hit from several yards back. I don't know how much I did that on Sunday, but I'm sure it's a non-zero number of times.

At the very least, that hanging back is something I need to avoid, or at least find a way to do without interfering with their shot.

if your ball is on a 45* angle from someones line to the green, i would move up to your ball.  in practice, i would probably move up if im on a line as close as 20* off their line.

[Moppy]

I think courses are so different and people's experiences are so different because of that, that comparing them is almost pointless. Everybody immediately brings to mind whatever steamed them from their last outing and pastes that thought to anybody who remotely resembles that person in a post.  I don't like being rushed over a putt and I have decided I won't be. I agree with iacas, take care of the key things in playing quickly, and keep pace in mind when navigating the course, and you won't have to rush your shots and you can still keep a decent pace.  I just flat out disagree that the answer to slow play is for people to rush their shots.

[No Mulligans]

I really don't like to tell my playing partners how to speed up play, it's hard to do it without it being perceived as condescending or even confrontational.  It can throw my focus away from my game.

I wish the starter and marshall would explain how to play at the proper pace to all golfers.  Explanations with rules to follow to increase pace of play should be placed on the scorecard and pointed out to all players.

Just explain how to 1) properly use a cart (i.e. dropping one player off with his club while you head on to your ball) and 2) Don't spend more than a couple of minutes looking for a ball.  If those two things were observed there would be an appreciable increase in the speed of play.

[Strandly]

When that occurs, I just walk/cart ahead, assuming there is room, and go.

That's basically what I did, since the weather sucked so I had no intention of playing more than 9 anyway.

[RFKFREAK]

I'm not one to rush through a round of golf (I like to enjoy the time out there), but I'm very conscious of pace of play and our position on the course relative to other groups.  I'm usually the first person in our group to notice if we're falling behind and urge others to pick up the pace.  Even as a high handicapper, there's no excuse for unnecessarily slow play and it's not hard to keep your place on the course:

1)  Play ready golf.  Don't stand around on the tee box waiting for the guy with honors, who is writing scores down, taking a leak in the bushes, putting his glove back on, etc.  If you're ready, get up there and hit!

2)  Nothing wrong with having a pre-shot routine, but don't make it an arcane ceremony involving throwing grass in the air, plumb-bobbing the fairway, circling your ball three times, taking five practice swings and four deep breaths standing over the ball before you hit.

3)  If you're walking to your ball from a cart, take several clubs with you - whatever you may need for the shot.  Walking clear back to the cart because you don't have the right club is a big time-waster.

4)  If you're using a laser rangefinder/GPS, have it out and ready as you approach your ball.  Don't wait until you're standing over your ball to pull it out of the cart/case and faffle around with it.  Have it ready, give it a quick look and pull the trigger.

5)  On/around the green, play ready golf.  If somebody hits out of a bunker and is still away, other people should putt rather than standing around waiting for him to rake the bunker, gather up his clubs and walk to his ball on the other side of the green.

6) Again on the green - if you don't concede putts/gimmes, finish the putt out rather than marking your 4-inch tap-in for triple bogey.

7) Whoever has putted out should grab the flagstick and have it ready to put back in the cup as soon as the last person is done putting.

8)  Clear the green immediately.  Don't screw around practicing that putt you missed, putting gloves back on, counting your strokes, etc.  And don't sit/stand right off the green writing down your scores - go to the next tee box and do it while somebody else is hitting.

Agree except on point 5.  Most people already think that the person who's off the green plays first, not who's farther from the pin.  Particularly if I'm playing with someone I don't know, I'm not going to get into a situation where I pull the pin to putt and risk the guy in the bunker's going to get all upset with me for playing.  The possible time saved isn't worth it, IMO.

I ran into some slow play this weekend, it was the Holiday so we expected it but it still hurt, to me there is only solution- the clubs need to send out rangers and help the situation, that's it.

Teaching people is pointless, because the people out there that are slow are probably those that see, read, discuss and know nothing about golf, they don't care, they simply decided to go out that day for whatever reason, maybe a friend that plays, maybe saw it on TV, whatever, they're clueless, and that type of person will always be there.

Courses simply must have rangers cruising around all the time, why is it I rarely see them? they should be looking for slow players and issue warnings, you get two, three and you're out, problem solved.

Oh, God.  Sometimes the courses are terrible.  I played on Saturday and they sent out a single and put him ahead of us and behind a foursome instead of pairing him with another single or twosome.  What was really terrible, though, was when he decided to drop and hit three balls from the fairway while we were waiting to see off.  We told the Ranger and he did nothing

[Strandly]

Yeah the 2 public courses here do not have full-time rangers.  Occasionally there will be an old guy making a couple laps during the weekend because they let him play for free but all he does is stop and chat people up because it's a small town and he knows everyone .

The other policy problem here that I would abolish immediately is they allow fivesomes, and I'm not positive but maybe even sixsomes.  I've seen groups of 6 but I'm not sure if the people did that on their own.

[David in FL]

Agree except on point 5.  Most people already think that the person who's off the green plays first, not who's farther from the pin.  Particularly if I'm playing with someone I don't know, I'm not going to get into a situation where I pull the pin to putt and risk the guy in the bunker's going to get all upset with me for playing.  The possible time saved isn't worth it, IMO.

As I read it, the recommendation wasn't that you putt before he plays his bunker shot, but rather that, once he plays his bunker shot onto the green, even if he's still away, go ahead and putt "out of turn", instead of waiting on him to rake the bunker and get to his ball.  I absolutely support that.

[dkolo]

Agree except on point 5.  Most people already think that the person who's off the green plays first, not who's farther from the pin.  Particularly if I'm playing with someone I don't know, I'm not going to get into a situation where I pull the pin to putt and risk the guy in the bunker's going to get all upset with me for playing.  The possible time saved isn't worth it, IMO.

In a case like that, I just putt with the pin in. It ain't going in anyway, and if it does by some stroke of luck and hits the flag on the way in, so be it. My brother has a habit of letting himself finish the hole and putting out if he's on the green and I'm off. In that case, I don't bother pulling the pin once I get on.

[RFKFREAK]

As I read it, the recommendation wasn't that you putt before he plays his bunker shot, but rather that, once he plays his bunker shot onto the green, even if he's still away, go ahead and putt "out of turn", instead of waiting on him to rake the bunker and get to his ball.  I absolutely support that.

Oh, yeah, I totally misread it.

Haha.

Then I agree with all of @Mac62 's points.

[Mac62]

Quote:

5)  On/around the green, play ready golf.  If somebody hits out of a bunker and is still away, other people should putt rather than standing around waiting for him to rake the bunker, gather up his clubs and walk to his ball on the other side of the green.

Agree except on point 5.  Most people already think that the person who's off the green plays first, not who's farther from the pin.  Particularly if I'm playing with someone I don't know, I'm not going to get into a situation where I pull the pin to putt and risk the guy in the bunker's going to get all upset with me for playing.  The possible time saved isn't worth it, IMO.

Point taken when you're playing with a stranger (subject to the clarifications of others above, lol).  I rarely play with strangers, and the group I usually play with doesn't object to it because it keeps the pace of play up, so it's a pretty normal thing amongst us.  If we pull the pin to putt, somebody is standing there holding it and will immediately put it back in if the other person is still off the green and wants it, so no time wasted there.  We also don't object to somebody walking (as quietly and discreetly as possible) around the outside of the green to get to their putt while one of us is putting, which is something else I'd never do when playing with strangers.

When playing with my usual group of friends, it's always ready golf.  A couple of them tend to screw around and chit-chat at the tee boxes, so I pull a club, tee it up and go.  I wouldn't necessarily take that liberty when playing with strangers either, but among our group it's an unspoken rule that whoever's ready hits, honors be damned.  I'm also not hesitant to tell them to get the lead out of their asses and play if we start falling behind - another thing I'd be much less forward about when playing with people I don't know.  Our group is pretty thick-skinned and we have our own boundaries on etiquette which are looser than some, but I'm much more mindful of it when playing with people I don't normally play with.  Just because we don't play like gentlemen amongst ourselves doesn't mean we don't know what it means and how/when to do it.

[RFKFREAK]

Point taken when you're playing with a stranger (subject to the clarifications of others above, lol).  I rarely play with strangers, and the group I usually play with doesn't object to it because it keeps the pace of play up, so it's a pretty normal thing amongst us.  If we pull the pin to putt, somebody is standing there holding it and will immediately put it back in if the other person is still off the green and wants it, so no time wasted there.  We also don't object to somebody walking (as quietly and discreetly as possible) around the outside of the green to get to their putt while one of us is putting, which is something else I'd never do when playing with strangers.

When playing with my usual group of friends, it's always ready golf.  A couple of them tend to screw around and chit-chat at the tee boxes, so I pull a club, tee it up and go.  I wouldn't necessarily take that liberty when playing with strangers either, but among our group it's an unspoken rule that whoever's ready hits, honors be damned.  I'm also not hesitant to tell them to get the lead out of their asses and play if we start falling behind - another thing I'd be much less forward about when playing with people I don't know.  Our group is pretty thick-skinned and we have our own boundaries on etiquette which are looser than some, but I'm much more mindful of it when playing with people I don't normally play with.  Just because we don't play like gentlemen amongst ourselves doesn't mean we don't know what it means and how/when to do it.

Well, when I play with strangers, since I'm always playing public or semi-public courses, I always just gingerly suggest we play ready golf.

But, like I said, I misread what you wrote but, to the overall point, with my friends, we play ready golf and try and hurry it up.  With strangers, I try and come to an understanding of ready golf.  I almost never play honors off the tee or anything like that.

[iacas]

Can you elaborate on this as it relates to when one is using a riding cart?

You can drop the farther player off and go to the farther forward ball. You can go near the green as the second person in the other group is getting ready to hit his approach shot. Not within earshot and not close enough that it will distract them visually, but there are plenty of times I'll be 50 yards away behind some tree trunks ahead of the other players. When they hit, I'm again advancing and forward… maybe my partner is the only one off the green and has to play from (and then rake) a bunker, etc.

If I'm on the green, too, I'll often just grab my putter and walk 100 yards because I can do that while my cart partner drives closer to his ball to hit a chip shot, or parks the cart. I can repair ball marks while he walks to the green rather than delaying BOTH of us from reaching the green. If I repair all four hallmarks before anyone else gets to the green, I've saved the entire group time.

So long as you're not being rude to others, you can still advance in carts. Sometimes that means grabbing some clubs and walking a bit (if you're capable of it).

For me, it's a very rare round when I'm using a riding cart and am on a golf course with other people, and since Mike posted this thread yesterday, I've had it in my mind that I might be one of the guilty parties he's talking about.

I think that's a fair assumption, but I don't know that it has to do with the use of the cart.

I agree with iacas, take care of the key things in playing quickly, and keep pace in mind when navigating the course, and you won't have to rush your shots and you can still keep a decent pace.  I just flat out disagree that the answer to slow play is for people to rush their shots.

Nobody has said to rush your shots. They have said that if you have a tap-in, not to go through your whole routine. Either get the ball out of there or step in and hit it and get out of the way.

[Golfingdad]

Move forward whenever you can and it's not rude to do so.

Can you elaborate on this as it relates to when one is using a riding cart?

I'm of the opinion that some people are too "polite" sometimes.  An example that comes up frequently is where at least one member of the group hits a short drive and I hit a decent one.  I walk as fast as I (comfortably) can along the side of the fairway furthest from that guys ball as far as I can get until he's ready to hit.  (And if I'm out of his eyesight I sometimes hold my irons with my right hand to stop the bag chatter and keep walking.)  That might be all the way to my ball, and if it is, I can pull out the rangefinder and start getting ready for my shot before it's my turn.  It's very rare (like, non-existent) when I'm not ready to hit before it's my turn.  And I'm usually already walking again by the time the guys behind me catch up.

Same goes with carts.  You can get that cart up level with the first riders ball so he can get a distance and choose a club.  After short hitter goes, then drop off first guy with his club and get to second ball.  Then after first guy hits, he walks to cart while second guy is hitting and they are on the move to the green.  Such a large percentage of what needs to be done can be done when it's NOT your turn to hit.

I think it's safe to say that if you are sitting in the cart doing nothing and you are not waiting on the group in front of you ... then you're doing something wrong.

[Big C]

I really don't like to tell my playing partners how to speed up play, it's hard to do it without it being perceived as condescending or even confrontational.  It can throw my focus away from my game.

I understand this concern, but I think there are definitely ways you can do it without being confrontational. One of the normal members of our men's club group is pretty slow, so I have learned to perfect the art of the "gentle" nudge.

If I notice that we are starting to fall behind, I'll generally bring it up after I have putted out. I'll say "hey guys, we're falling a bit behind, do you mind if I go tee off on the next hole?" Inevitably, no one will have an issue with it. It's a nice way to get your group to be a bit more mindful of the pace without explicitly pointing the finger at anyone.