What Do You Do When Play Is Slow?

[bkuehn1952]

What do you do when play is slow, the days when there is no way to play through and you just have to kill time waiting.  Besides the typical chatting with your fellow players, are there any activities you occasionally do while waiting on the tee or in the fairway to play?

Some players play a "game" on the tee, putting their balls with their drivers at various objects (usually tee markers).  I have tried it but it is not for me.  I often scour the tee collecting broken parts of tees and tossing them in the trash barrel.  If there is a bucket of sand/soil I will fill in divot holes on par 3's.  Often I just sit on the bench and chill.

In the fairway/rough, I typically find a tree to stand beneath.  If the wait may be prolonged, I might poke around in the tree line or hazard for balls, depending on what hole I am on and my ball's location.  I will also replace large divots if there are any in the area.  To signal my displeasure with the pace of the group during yesterday's tournament (5 hours as a 3-some with literally no one in front of them), I laid down in the fairway and sunned myself for 10 minutes.

 

[Rainmaker]

Yeah - pretty much look for balls or tees and wait.  I can't really get into the tee box games, either.

[newtogolf]

I find a shady part of the course to park the cart and just make some slow motion and practice swings to keep me from tightening up.  

[rehmwa]

Hunt balls, enjoy the scenery, sit back and just take it in.

There's not really much else to do - and I'm outside, it's still beats so many other things

[Asmanning95]

Complain bitterly to playing partners and then do nothing about it...ever

[nevets88]

If it's possible, I find an open space and practice chips and pitches. Slow play is the main reason I have my smartphone on my person. At least I can be productive.

[Patch]

As for the slow down, I do nothing. It's just part of the game sometimes. 

While waiting at the tee box, I might pick up trash, read a book, clean my clubs, maybe some chips/pitches, check emails, watch Hulu, or anything else that comes to mind. 

If I am waiting in the fairway, I keep watch on those impatient folks behind me, making sure I don't get hit with a ball. It is my opinion the impatient player is more of a harmful problem than what/whom ever is causing the slow play. 

[Elrey Desol]

i usually have some music going via bluetooth speaker, so i'm fine to just sit back and relax in the shade with some music. it'll probably be that way today when i get out (Monday's are notoriously slow) this afternoon, and i'm almost looking forward to it.

[boogielicious]

10 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

If it's possible, I find an open space and practice chips and pitches. Slow play is the main reason I have my smartphone on my person. At least I can be productive.

I do the chip/pitch practice and stay loose. 

[MrDC]

In this heat? I crawl under the nearest tree and relax, try not to pass out, drink more water, it was like the Sahara out there yesterday.

But usually I stand on the tee box and bitch about the slow play, "wtf are they doing up there?"

Thankfully I haven't had this issue much in 2016, late tee times are your friend.
 

Edited July 18, 2016 by MrDC

[nevets88]

19 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

I do the chip/pitch practice and stay loose. 

Some places don't like this though. Most munis not a problem.

[BogeyDylan]

Typically where I play the tee boxes are elevated, so I will go off of them and practice chipping up onto them.

[boogielicious]

11 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Some places don't like this though. Most munis not a problem.

Then they should speed up play and I won't do it!

[newtogolf]

16 minutes ago, MrDC said:

In this heat? I crawl under the nearest tree and relax, try not to pass out, drink more water, it was like the Sahara out there yesterday.

But usually I stand on the tee box and bitch about the slow play, "wtf are they doing up there?"

Thankfully I haven't had this issue much in 2016, late tee times are your friend.
 

It was really hot on Long Island yesterday.  Fortunately we had a few sun showers that helped cool us off.  Fortunately the course wasn't crowed (tee time at 3:00) so we played 18 in 3 hours.  I drank lots of G2 to keep hydrated and electrolytes in balance.  

[Elmer]

slowly turn into a cantankerous wanker.
Have a beer!
Than quickly turn into a cantankerous wanker!

[Aflighter]

40 minutes ago, MrDC said:

In this heat? I crawl under the nearest tree and relax, try not to pass out, drink more water, it was like the Sahara out there yesterday.

But usually I stand on the tee box and bitch about the slow play, "wtf are they doing up there?"

Thankfully I haven't had this issue much in 2016, late tee times are your friend.
 

This pretty much and of course play bad probably cause im bitchin haha. 

[Golden Greek]

This is hard to admit, but instead of taking in the scenery and enjoy being outside...I find myself checking work email.

[dave s]

When things are slow out there, I try to adjust my pace as much as possible.  that means after finally teeing off on the next hole, I don't race to my ball just to wait some more.  I'll go through crap in my bag, throw stuff away that I don't need, check the phone for scores, game times, look at weather radar, local and national news, etc.

If I'm stuck in the fairway, I'll chip off the tightest lie possible and even practice downhill chips really short distances if available.  Hit lob chips from the rough, if I happen to be over there.  When close to a road or near ob markers, look for balls.  I never find anything that actually goes into the bag.  I'll hit some off the course if the opportunity presents.

Most guys I play with have music going.  I'll go over and ask them to ditch the Led Zeppelin channel for something more to my liking.  That usually goes over with a resounding, "uh ... yeah ... NO."

We tell the same stupid stories over and over and still get laughs from most.  On the rare occasion that we're close to the clubhouse, the first guy who can hit takes a drink order and returns with beverages.

Then, we wait on the next tee.

I don't get bent out of shape over pace.  Knowing my game will suffer a little, it's still better than being anywhere else on a beautiful Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon.

dave