When I play a round of golf

[9wood]

By all means, I am not a good golfer. I shoot in the high 80's or low to mid 90's. I'm 67 years old and my longest drives might get to 220 yards, but on average my drives are more in the 190 - 200 yard range, but at least the majority of them are in the fairway. I'm fairly good when I get within 100 yards of the green, and my putting isn't the best, but it's not too shabby. 

The reason I am mentioning this is because when I am playing a round of golf I am constantly looking behind me to see if I am slowing other players down. In my observations I have never noticed that the speed that I play a round has ever slowed anyone down who is playing behind me. The only time anyone behind me is being slowed down is when golfers in front of me are slowing me down. The reasons why those in front of me are slowing me down are numerous. It could be because their skill level gives evidence that they should be playing from the white tees instead of the blues, which I have noticed is often the case. Another main reason those ahead of me are slowing others down is because they have hit their ball into the woods or high grass or weeds and are spending too much of their playing time hunting for lost balls. 

Oh, and BTW, the individuals who are usually slowing me down are people who are half my age. Go figure.

[RickK]

I'm almost 70 years old and can play a round in under 2 hours if no one is ahead of me and shoot somewhere near my handicap.  

If people play by the rules and play ready golf...it does not take all day to play.

I do occasionally hit one in the woods or weeds.  I will look for it.  The rules allow me to do that.  But, If I think it is lost off the tee, I will hit a provisional.  

One of the reasons people older than you and I are not holding us up is because there are not a lot of them playing any more.  :)

 

[vangator]

I played with a guy this past Saturday that was 95 (96 next March).  He hit the ball very well.  Made solid contact most of the time.  Hit his drives were in the 200 yard range.  He was close to be on all par fours in two.  Good short game.  He must have been a pretty good player in the day.

He played the whites with us.  I would estimate he hit in the 90's.

I hope to be still playing when I'm 95!  37 years to go!

I look behind me quite a bit while playing also.  I really hate being pushed.  I'm a fairly fast player, but not a speed golfer.  I walk 18 holes as a single with no one in front in about 3 hours.  Our foursomes usually take about 4 hours.  If all the golfers are pretty good, about 3 1/2 ours.  Using carts are about 1/2 hour faster per 18 I'd guess.

I don't take much time looking for balls.  The rough at my course is not real high and I keep a good eye on it.  The trees have mostly been planted so they are dense thickets, just pains in the a$$.  I rarely lose balls.  I stay away from the high weeds.  Big snakes.

[Dave325]

I usually play by myself and drop a few extra balls for practice round. However, I do this early in the morn before any other golfers show up and am always looking over my shoulder to see if any others are coming up behind me. I am 61 and move fairly quickly around the course and finish up in just under 4 hours.... that includes a quick venture into the thicket to refresh my ball collection (we only rent them anyway... smile). On my last round, I was held up by a foursome, another single came up behind me and we ended up having a great time finishing up the round as a twosome.

[CoachB25]

IMO, one of the worst things a golfer can do to spoil their round is to think about the group behind them.  Rather, have a routine that ensures that you are playing at a steady pace.  For example, if you know the conditions like wind direction and speed and you get to a tee box, you should know which club you need but you might take two to the tee box if you are riding a cart.  Helping a playing partner "mark a ball" by mentioning some object that is close to where their ball landed if you think that they are in trouble.  Things like "first in tends the pin" helps a round go faster.  There are so many ways to make sure that you don't waste time that you should be able to play a comfortable/enjoyable round without having to think about hose behind you at all.  JMHO!

BTW, I walk most rounds and so, have found that there are ways I can advance to my ball by heading down the rough on the sides of the fairway gaining distance while my playing partners play their balls.  Even if I'm only 10 yards ahead of them but to the side in the rough and watching their shot, I can get to my ball a lot faster. 

[bkuehn1952]

14 hours ago, CoachB25 said:

IMO, one of the worst things a golfer can do to spoil their round is to think about the group behind them...  

Agree.  Keep up with whomever is ahead of you and everything else takes care of itself.  On those occasions where no one is in front of me and/or my group, checking the situation behind is appropriate.

[Dave2512]

I wouldn't worry about your pace unless the group ahead starts to get away from you. And only if it's actually due to something I was doing and not because they are speed demons with an open course in front of them.

FWIW I rarely encounter slow older golfers unless they are obviously new to golf. The seasoned older golfer usually hits it short and in the intended direction of their target. Same with ladies they just don't have the speed for their errant shots to get too far off line.

The slowest golfers I see are usually guys in the 20-40 age range. Most are unskilled, unrealistic and spend the day chasing balls playing tees too long relative to their skill.

[rkim291968]

Keep looking to the group in front and make sure there is no gap bigger than a hole develops.   I look back only when there is a clueless group who keeps hitting into my group.  

[WUTiger]

I played in a city tournament down in Oklahoma many years ago. Flights included Championship, A, B, and Women's. (I was in B.)

The slowest players, by far, were in A flight. These guys agonized over every approach shot and two-foot putt like there was $100,000 on the line.

[dak4n6]

One of the things golfers have to realize is that the spacings between groups is elastic. They expand and contract over 18. My 4some could be waiting on every tee on a packed course, with the 4 behind us doing the same, and then on #6, two of my 4some hit trouble and have to look for balls but meanwhile the 4 in front of us get a birdie and 3 pars. Now, by the next hole it looks like we are out of position, and the group behind us are giving the folded arms body postures. Relax, relax, the equilibrium will be restored by the next hole.

[shanksalot]

 When you are out playing it is important to keep up with the group in front of you period. If there is no one in front of you than yes make sure you are playing fast enough to keep well ahead of the those behind you. I have found it does not matter the age of the player it is the pace they play at during the round. Too many times I see all four players looking for a lost ball. If they would hit their shots first and then go help look for the ball, when it is found the player can hit his ball and everyone can move on. Too many times I see everyone looking for the ball and then when it is found they all have to hit shots and this takes extra time. 

[9wood]

I am finding that I play faster now than I did earlier in the year. It now takes me less time to set up for a shot, and I usually take no more than one practice swing. When I tee off, I no longer take a practice swing. And since I am hitting almost every fairway on my drives I don't have to hunt for balls in the woods or rough. Lastly, I no longer agonize when I line up a putt. I make just as many putts as before when I took more time to line my putts up. The one shot that I probably take the most time to line up are chip shots. All those things have help me speed up my playing time.

[dak4n6]

5 hours ago, shanksalot said:

 When you are out playing it is important to keep up with the group in front of you period. If there is no one in front of you than yes make sure you are playing fast enough to keep well ahead of the those behind you. I have found it does not matter the age of the player it is the pace they play at during the round. Too many times I see all four players looking for a lost ball. If they would hit their shots first and then go help look for the ball, when it is found the player can hit his ball and everyone can move on. Too many times I see everyone looking for the ball and then when it is found they all have to hit shots and this takes extra time. 

Not sure about this one. Those two activities are in my opinion commutative, that is, 

Hitting shots + looking for ball = looking for ball + hitting shots, unless the ball hunter finds his ball while the others are hitting, however that possibility is offset by the fact that 4 people looking for a ball will find it faster than 1 person looking for a ball.

[shanksalot]

20 hours ago, thug the bunny said:

Not sure about this one. Those two activities are in my opinion commutative, that is, 

Hitting shots + looking for ball = looking for ball + hitting shots, unless the ball hunter finds his ball while the others are hitting, however that possibility is offset by the fact that 4 people looking for a ball will find it faster than 1 person looking for a ball.

 Not sure that is true. I play a lot of golf in senior tournaments and one of the biggest wastes of time is all four guys looking for the ball instead of the three other guys hitting first. More often than not the first guy finds the ball right away or at least his covered X amount of ground looking for it. When the other three get there, there is less ground to cover, and after found the guy hits it and everyone goes on to the green or their next shots. The guy who usually plays in the foursome behind us is the tournament director for the course. This is one of his pet peeves. 

[vangator]

One thing that I hate is when the starter pairs up groups in uneven numbers.  I typically play twilight (2pm eastern) and it gets dark at 5:30 - 5:45 here in Fla.  There were not that many people waiting, but he puts 2 twosomes together out first.  These guys back up everybody behind them (they eventually broke into 2 twosomes too). 

I was playing with a friend and he puts a single with us.  That's 3.  We notice on the second hole there's a twosome on our tailpipe.  Then another twosome behind them (maybe they broke up on there own after getting past number 1).  So we let those groups play through the next two holes.  Then there's a single coming.  So the single that was paired with us and the new single paired up and we let them through since they were in carts.  And remember, we are battling the clock to get 18 in before dark.  We did make it but we hit our tee balls into the dusk and hoped..

[Grumpter]

23 hours ago, vangator said:

I was playing with a friend and he puts a single with us.  That's 3.  We notice on the second hole there's a twosome on our tailpipe.  Then another twosome behind them (maybe they broke up on there own after getting past number 1).  So we let those groups play through the next two holes.  Then there's a single coming.  So the single that was paired with us and the new single paired up and we let them through since they were in carts.  And remember, we are battling the clock to get 18 in before dark.  We did make it but we hit our tee balls into the dusk and hoped..

I wouldn't have let the twosome play through. When it gets to this time of year if we are running out of light I don't have the luxury of letting them play through unless I know it will not add time to my round. Even if it was the middle of summer I probably would not let them through as they had another twosome behind them. They have the option to pair up with the other twosome or wait. Their choice.

[vangator]

One of the guys with us knew the guys u=in the twosome behind us and let them through.

I really hate holding up groups behind me that are waiting because of us.

[dak4n6]

So, I have a question. As I stated earlier, on a packed course, even if every group is waiting, invariably every group will at some point fall behind a bit on 1 or 2 or maybe even (gasp!) 3 holes due to errant shots during the round (unless it's a 4some of + cappers). Even though this gap will be closed on the next or maybe the following hole, should the group responsible for the errant shots let the group behind play through as soon as trouble is encountered?