Does the course know how long your round takes?

[roamin]

9 hours ago, CarlSpackler said:

Or if the cart girls are skinny dipping with the members in the ponds. 

Not sure how it was up north, but I'd stay away from the ponds down here, we've got gators. 

Edited September 16, 2016 by roamin

[newtogolf]

At my course starters record the cart number and start time and when the carts are returned, the cart number is checked in, so I assume they know how long a round takes.  

[CarlSpackler]

8 minutes ago, roamin said:

Not sure how it was up north, but I'd stay away from the ponds down here, we've got gators. 

No gators up north. Only Buckeyes. 

[JonMA1]

I don't think pace of play is even on the radar of those who manage my home club.

At another local club this year, the new manager asked if I play fast (walking) before starting a round. Told him I have no problem keeping pace. When I finished my round in 3hrs he came up to me and said, "man, you're slow". I thought he was kidding at first but realized he wasn't. Turns out he thought I had only made the turn, didn't realize I'd played the entire course.

At least it's something he thinks about.

[shanksalot]

Our course is aware of the slow play.The course is a tough course with lots of bunkers and hazards. We have Marshals/player assistants that go around and try to break up bottlenecks. However they do not have the power to enforce a faster pace of play. We just quit the course and while talking to the Head Pro who is also the Manager we discussed the slow play problem and told him it was one of the deciding factors or why we left. He knows the problem but doesn't seem to have any power over it. Really great course that our group really liked, but two of the three days we play every week takes up to 5/5 1/2 hours. We spent an hour getting to and from the course every day and we have three courses next to us that we can get to within minutes. I hate waiting on every shot all day long. 

[David L Yskes]

in my area, it depends on the course..... the nicer courses, usually all have GPS in the carts and have marshalls roaming the course so ya they probably know.. ..    other courses probably have no clue.. 

the course i normally play with my dad usually isnt busy when we are out, and we walk 9, and usually get done in about 2 1/2 hours... but i doubt they know how fast or slow people are playing..  

i've only had it once when a marshall came to a group i was playing in and asked us if we was having any issues cuz we was playing a bit slow lol...  we wasnt trying to play slow.... it was just a tough " Arnold Palmer " course and we lost a bunch of golf balls... after that we all said if we couldnt find a ball in 20 seconds to just drop a ball lol.... 

[ZappyAd]

It does seem a bit strange if you think about a golf course as a business that provides a product.  It is probably true to say that everyone who plays a round of golf will remember and have an opinion on (a) what they scored (b) how long it took to get round.  These aren't the only metrics by which people judge their enjoyment or value for money but they are probably common to most golfers.  But the golf course (the service provider) has no idea about either of these two metrics for the majority of golfers (users), and in effect they have no idea how well a major factor of their 'service' is being received.  

[newtogolf]

A club close in proximity to my home club closed at the end of last year and our club ended up adding close to 90 new members (at a significant discount to what the existing membership pays) which put us above the maximum number of golf members we are supposed to have.  The club that closed wasn't a country club, it was strictly golf so these were all hard core golfers and needless to say it has taken its toll on the course and the existing membership.  

In order to accommodate the extra golfers, tee time gaps were reduced from 11 minutes to 8 minutes which has wrecked havoc with the time it takes to complete a round, especially on weekends.  Not only is the course always packed, but many of the new members being hardcore (hardcore doesn't mean good) golfers are also extremely slow players.  Most play for big money so they take 3-4 practice swings, take forever to read greens and then settle up bets on the green after every hole.  

There have been a ton of complaints and ultimately we're told it comes down to money, 8 minute tee times allow for more rounds, cart fees, beer cart revenue, etc.  In addition to the longer round times we've seen the tee boxes on par 3's be destroyed (they are re-sodding them this week) along with some other tee boxes and the greens have been in fair to poor condition most of the season because of the high number of rounds played and people failing to fix their ball marks.  

I provided this background this because this is an example of a business that is oblivious to what's happening because they are making a ton of money and they aren't likely to change anything until members quit.  Too many people that run businesses aren't forward thinkers, if things are good today, they don't worry about tomorrow.  

I have heard rumblings that some of the older members will be quitting this year, this will have a major impact on the club because the older members are country club members, they use all the amenities and spend a lot more money at the club than these new golf members do.  In the end, this season could be the catalyst for the downfall of the club if they don't do something to change things.  Older members will leave and bad mouth the club which will give it a bad reputation and discourage new members from joining. We are fortunate to have a number of private country clubs in the area to join so it's a highly competitive market. Eventually the older members will quit, move or die and there won't be an influx of new members which will place the club in financial trouble.  

I've spoken to the Club Pro and person in charge of sales and marketing but they believe this is just a blip and that through attrition the membership will be reduced back down to the proper number and tee time gaps will be increased.  They are minimizing the feelings of the older members and seem more concerned about how they will spend their bonuses for the record number of rounds and golfers they had this year.  

[CarlSpackler]

On 9/16/2016 at 0:06 PM, GolfLug said:

I am thinking two ways to know if the course bothers at all to know:

1. Marshall actively driving around (or at least once every half hour or so) to note the bottlenecks and addressing BEFORE the back up affects the starting tee. The best kind.

2. After the bottleneck has backed up to starting tee. Then they send somebody to drive up the chain till they get to the open hole (again if they bother at all). The lazy kind, but at least they bother eventually.

Of course the courses with GPS have another venue to monitor.

In general if the course's majority clientele is typically over 4 hour rounds then they will not try to enforce speed and vice versa. They will most possibly cater to the type that fills the majority revenue.

Also, IMO courses hurting for business will be gun shy in enforcing speed. Of course, slow play might be the reason they lost clientele in the first place. Pretty much a slow bleeding death from then on.

I would love to have a drone to monitor course activity. You could see which groups are neglecting to repair pitch marks and reward the guys like me who repair several that are not my own. I went through a whole bottle of sand filling in divots last Saturday. It was better than standing there for 10 minutes in every fairway picking boogers.

[GolfLug]

6 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

I would love to have a drone to monitor course activity. You could see which groups are neglecting to repair pitch marks and reward the guys like me who repair several that are not my own. I went through a whole bottle of sand filling in divots last Saturday. It was better than standing there for 10 minutes in every fairway picking boogers.

Somebody's gotta do it...

Your every 10th round will be free.

7 minutes ago, CarlSpackler said:

I would love to have a drone to monitor course activity. You could see which groups are neglecting to repair pitch marks and reward the guys like me who repair several that are not my own. I went through a whole bottle of sand filling in divots last Saturday. It was better than standing there for 10 minutes in every fairway picking boogers.

Somebody's gotta do it...

Can't think of a reward though.

[Moppy]

I feel bad for you guys. I went out Sunday afternoon at 4 and had the course to myself. After Labor Day this place becomes a ghost town.

[Tod]

Apparently not at my course.  Until i told them. I had two tee times on Sunday,  five hours apart, and play was so slow , our first round was 5:20. Fortunately,  we had gotten off early, so we were only 10 minutes or so late starting our second round which ended up being right at five hours.  It was brutal.  Walked all of it, but spent too much of it in a pissy mood,  which is on me and something i need to work on,  but it just is not fun to be so slow.

[mcanadiens]

51 minutes ago, Tod said:

Apparently not at my course.  Until i told them. I had two tee times on Sunday,  five hours apart, and play was so slow , our first round was 5:20. Fortunately,  we had gotten off early, so we were only 10 minutes or so late starting our second round which ended up being right at five hours.  It was brutal.  Walked all of it, but spent too much of it in a pissy mood,  which is on me and something i need to work on,  but it just is not fun to be so slow.

10:20 to play two rounds. You must really like golf. Not sure I'd have bothered making the turn after the first nine. 

[Tod]

54 minutes ago, mcanadiens said:

10:20 to play two rounds. You must really like golf. Not sure I'd have bothered making the turn after the first nine. 

I do. And I try to make the most of the one day during the weekend that I am "allowed" to play. I perhaps should have quite after the first nine since my scores tanked from there. BUT, I watched my son go 82/80 and hit monster drive after monster drive, playing par 5s driver/5i or driver/7i. From that perspective, it was pretty darn cool.