Rushing Because of Faster Players Behind

[natureboy]

It bears repeating....3.5 hrs to play a round as a single is slow. Period. Full stop.

If the course is empty. Otherwise you play at the pace of the groups in front unless they call you through.

[BuckeyeNut]

Played 18 today walking as a single. Teed at 11:30 am and finished at 3:02 pm for a total of 3:32 on a course that lists playing time at 4:30. Generally had a good round with one single directly ahead for 9, and a twosome ahead of him for 9. Even though the twosome was a might inexperienced they played at a decent pace leaving us ahead of pace through the front.

When I reached the tee at 10, I could see a clear green in front, and no one for 4 holes behind. By 12 I caught sight of a twosome in a cart on the 11 green, and when I teed on 13 they were on the second shot of the par 5 twelfth.

I stepped up my pace, and cleared every green before the twosome behind hit tee shots, but by the time I was on the par four 18 green the speedsters hit into me!

Now I was a bit perturbed. I had felt rushed since 13 and dropped a good 3 or 4 strokes through 18 because of this, even though I was NOT anywhere near behind pace. And then the speed golfers hit into me before I cleared the green on the last hole of the round.

I cleared the green and when the young (teen to twenty something) culprit came towards his putt I approached and politely explained that I had played nearly an hour ahead of pace and did not appreciate being hit into. I noted that etiquette is also a part of the game.

The young fellow was very polite and apologetic and we parted as gentlemen, but I am convinced that the concept of "Speed Golf" is even more detrimental to the spirit of the game than slow play!

Good etiquette is basically consideration of your fellows on the course. Play at a proper pace and NEVER hit into another player especially if you are only trying to set a land speed record!

Rant over, it's my own fault I felt rushed. Should have just played my own (ahead of pace) round and let the rabbits rant about the slow old man instead.

You were obviously playing "Behind Pace" because empty holes were in front of you and faster players were behind you.     Why didn't you wave them through?    Make sense?   In all honesty, a single playing in 3.5hrs is snail pace.   If the course is wide open, try being courteous and get the heck out of the way of faster play.  You obviously had many chances to wave them through or else they wouldn't have hit into you out of frustration on the 18th hole.   Why not be pro-active to avoid the inevitable?  My 2 cents...

your pace was obviously too slow..........chalk this up as a lesson learned. Pace of play is relevant to the situation.

[natureboy]

You obviously had many chances to wave them through or else they wouldn't have hit into you out of frustration on the 18th hole.   Why not be pro-active to avoid the inevitable?  My 2 cents...

your pace was obviously too slow..........chalk this up as a lesson learned. Pace of play is relevant to the situation.

I disagree. Hitting into a group that is in plain sight because you misjudged the distance to them / unusual roll / how far you could hit the shot is one thing. Hitting into someone out of frustration only marks you as a d#%khead IMO, especially if they are on the green and you know you can reach it with an above average shot.

Shout first out of frustration, before you hit. Better yet if you play that fast and you see a gap, send one guy up in a cart and ask to play through on the next hole who then drives back to play their shot. A genuinely fast group playing into a gap should make up any lost time pretty quickly.

[BuckeyeNut]

What golfers need to realize is the "Standard of Play" changes depending on the situation.   For example, if you make a 630am tee time............please be aware you are held to a much higher standard because your group is setting the pace for the entire course on this morning..   If you are lucky enough to snag one of these times at my home club and your "4some" can't play 18 in about 3hrs flat-3hrs 15mins.............I promise you will get steamrolled by multiple groups.   You have no business being on the course at this time.   On the other hand, a 10am-2pm tee time is perfect...............you will fit in well with the "cluster****".

[Lihu]

3 hours for a foursome going first is about right. No dawdling, and regulation or near regulation on every hole. Slower than that leads to extreme frustration, but still no cause to hit into the slow players. However, it really sounded like an accident in the original post.

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

3 hours for a foursome going first is about right. No dawdling, and regulation or near regulation on every hole. Slower than that leads to extreme frustration, but still no cause to hit into the slow players. However, it really sounded like an accident in the original post.

I wish I could play with some of you guys, or at least where you play. I'd be available to play a lot more golf if my round was only 3 hours long. This weeks Monday round, I will leave my house at 8am and will be lucky if I return by 3:30pm.

[colin007]

I wish I could play with some of you guys, or at least where you play. I'd be available to play a lot more golf if my round was only 3 hours long. This weeks Monday round, I will leave my house at 8am and will be lucky if I return by 3:30pm.

Why don't you just get up early and get the first tee time of the day?

[colin007]

I disagree. Hitting into a group that is in plain sight because you misjudged the distance to them / unusual roll / how far you could hit the shot is one thing. Hitting into someone out of frustration only marks you as a d#%khead IMO, especially if they are on the green and you know you can reach it with an above average shot.

How do you know they hit into the OP out of frustration? Maybe it was a genuine mistake? It was a one time thing. The OP made things worse for himself by worrying about the guys behind him far earlier than he needed to.

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

Why don't you just get up early and get the first tee time of the day?

If it was only that easy! Groups start on both tee #1 and #10 starting at 7:10am every 10 minutes until 9:40am. If you tee off #1 and get to #10 before 9:40am, you will sit and have to wait until 9:50 to hit your tee shot off #10. Being the first group out gives you zero benefit, aside from being able to play the front 9 at any pace you like. The faster you play the front, the longer you have to wait until you are allowed to tee off #10. **SIDE NOTE** Even if the above wasn't the case, the very first morning tee-time is usually booked up at least a week in advance. Being a local, and using a discount member card, I'm only allowed to book a tee time 48 hours in advance, and am therefore stuck with taking whatever morning tee-time is available (if I want to pay a discounted rate).

[colin007]

If it was only that easy! Groups start on both tee #1 and #10 starting at 7:10am every 10 minutes until 9:40am. If you tee off #1 and get to #10 before 9:40am, you will sit and have to wait until 9:50 to hit your tee shot off #10. Being the first group out gives you zero benefit, aside from being able to play the front 9 at any pace you like. The faster you play the front, the longer you have to wait until you are allowed to tee off #10.

Holy crap that's not right....

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

Holy crap that's not right....

Of the 90 courses in the area, there are only 2 that don't "double tee". And that's because they don't make the turn anywhere near the clubhouse. They can't start players on tee #10, because it's miles away from the clubhouse. Sending players off both #1 and #10 for 2 hours 30 minutes in the morning doesn't add any extra tee times to the courses revenue, but it does double the number of early morning (prime) tee-times available.

[colin007]

I would definitely be going to one of those two courses....this actually happened near me the other week. We had the first tee time and made the turn in an hour and twenty, only to come to a screeching halt as we ran into 4 foursomes of old dudes in a "league" - what that means is they're friends with the old dudes who are the starters. They block off a section of time for them. I argued with one of the starters that this wasn't right and he basically told me, that's how we do things. I've been told in the past by these same asshats that I couldn't make a time because players would "be making the turn"....WTF....

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

I would definitely be going to one of those two courses....this actually happened near me the other week. We had the first tee time and made the turn in an hour and twenty, only to come to a screeching halt as we ran into 4 foursomes of old dudes in a "league" - what that means is they're friends with the old dudes who are the starters. They block off a section of time for them. I argued with one of the starters that this wasn't right and he basically told me, that's how we do things. I've been told in the past by these same asshats that I couldn't make a time because players would "be making the turn"....WTF....

Right, there are no tee-times available from 9:50am - 12:20pm because the course is completely full and players would be making the turn to #1 or #10 every 10 minutes during that time. As far as the 2 courses go, one of them I do play on occasion. It's nice. The other I avoid, as it's a bottom tier course. Usually not in great shape.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by colin007

Why don't you just get up early and get the first tee time of the day?

If it was only that easy! Groups start on both tee #1 and #10 starting at 7:10am every 10 minutes until 9:40am. If you tee off #1 and get to #10 before 9:40am, you will sit and have to wait until 9:50 to hit your tee shot off #10. Being the first group out gives you zero benefit, aside from being able to play the front 9 at any pace you like. The faster you play the front, the longer you have to wait until you are allowed to tee off #10.

**SIDE NOTE** Even if the above wasn't the case, the very first morning tee-time is usually booked up at least a week in advance. Being a local, and using a discount member card, I'm only allowed to book a tee time 48 hours in advance, and am therefore stuck with taking whatever morning tee-time is available (if I want to pay a discounted rate).

Start off before 5:35am play the front 9 before 7:05am. 1:30 would have some waiting. . .

My home course starts populating the back 9s on both courses by around 6:30am, but they are generally faster players and play in less than 1:30 anyway. Even the old guys walking can finish walking the back 9 in 1:30.

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

Start off before 5:35am play the front 9 before 7:05am. 1:30 would have some waiting. . . My home course starts populating the back 9s on both courses by around 6:30am, but they are generally faster players and play in less than 1:30 anyway.

I realize this is a joke. But the first tee time of the morning is right around 7am. We had the very first tee time last week, it was at 7:16am. They won't let you out any earlier than that.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Start off before 5:35am play the front 9 before 7:05am. 1:30 would have some waiting. . .

My home course starts populating the back 9s on both courses by around 6:30am, but they are generally faster players and play in less than 1:30 anyway.

I realize this is a joke. But the first tee time of the morning is right around 7am. We had the very first tee time last week, it was at 7:16am. They won't let you out any earlier than that.

No joke, I often start off at 5:00am. I even got a free glow ball off the first tee on an OC course, the only issue is that I hit it pretty well with the driver (it went 180-200 yards), and probably destroyed the light.

That's a bummer about the courses opening at 7:00am. On my home courses, there are at least 100 people out on both of them by that time. Most of the time spent waiting is for the starter to get us out. . .

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

No joke, I often start off at 5:00am. I even got a free glow ball off the first tee on an OC course, the only issue is that I hit it pretty well with the driver (it went 180-200 yards), and probably destroyed the light. That's a bummer about the courses opening at 7:00am. On my home courses, there are at least 100 people out on both of them by that time. Most of the time spent waiting is for the starter to get us out. . .

Oh, I thought you were kidding. No, you can't just show up and go out on the course at 5:30am. Even if you are a single and fast. Tee-times here start around 7am and the starter won't let you off the tee until your booked time. I'm assuming the workers are still out on the course mowing, raking and putting in pins.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

No joke, I often start off at 5:00am. I even got a free glow ball off the first tee on an OC course, the only issue is that I hit it pretty well with the driver (it went 180-200 yards), and probably destroyed the light.

That's a bummer about the courses opening at 7:00am. On my home courses, there are at least 100 people out on both of them by that time. Most of the time spent waiting is for the starter to get us out. . .

Oh, I thought you were kidding. No, you can't just show up and go out on the course at 5:30am. Even if you are a single and fast. Tee-times here start around 7am and the starter won't let you off the tee until your booked time. I'm assuming the workers are still out on the course mowing, raking and putting in pins.

The workers are still out there, but there are a lot of us golfers out there with them. Just don't hit the workers. I've gotten a lot better by having to avoid the guys cleaning bunkers and moving pins in the dark.