Why the hurry?

[Nutsmacker]

1 minute ago, David in FL said:

We played as a 6-some, yeah, 6 yesterday.  Obviously a pretty open course later in the day.... 

Handicaps ranged from 5  to 14 and we were in carts.  No "extra carts though.  Each pair played a match against the other 2 pairs, so there wasn't a whole lot of picking up or given putts.  Gross scores ranged from 78 to 89, so there weren't a whole lot of GIR's in the group.  We finished in 3:50, and I assure you, we weren't trying to get done in any special time.  Efficient, ready golf...

Well, I didn't say it was impossible...just difficult.  I can keep up with any group but in my experience, it is rare to get done in that time frame...its been done but not typical.  In the end it really doesn't matter because the only way you are going to get done that quickly is if the course is completely empty.  Even if I am speeding through, I really don't want to be playing through on 9 of the 18 holes either...which is what it would take to get a round in on a typical saturday around me in sub 4 hours....and most likely there will be a group that won't be keen on letting you play through anyway.  So a 6some or whatever playing in 4 hours is great...but there was not anyone in your way...so that is totally feasible.  

[David in FL]

34 minutes ago, Nutsmacker said:

Well, I didn't say it was impossible...just difficult.  I can keep up with any group but in my experience, it is rare to get done in that time frame...its been done but not typical.  In the end it really doesn't matter because the only way you are going to get done that quickly is if the course is completely empty.  Even if I am speeding through, I really don't want to be playing through on 9 of the 18 holes either...which is what it would take to get a round in on a typical saturday around me in sub 4 hours....and most likely there will be a group that won't be keen on letting you play through anyway.  So a 6some or whatever playing in 4 hours is great...but there was not anyone in your way...so that is totally feasible.  

Understand, that's what we're talking about in this whole thread.  No one is arguing that slower players in front won't hold things up.  The OP, and others, simply feel that anything faster than a 4 hour round, even on an empty course is rushing, and detracts from the experience.

I suspect that it can be a bit of an eye opener with respect to efficient pace of play for a 3-some with the course open in front of them, to get run down from behind by a 5 or 6-some...  

[billchao]

1 hour ago, Shooting29 said:

I've explained how it's done. Continue in your bubble that we must be running, not conversing, frantic and only focused on ourselves.

While I generally agree with what you posted earlier, skill level has a lot to do with being able to play quickly, too.

You're kind of speaking from your own bubble if you think every foursome that plays ready-golf efficiently will come in regularly at a 3-hour pace. I bet spend at least 30 more minutes per round just looking for my ball than you would.

[NM Golf]

3 hours ago, Shooting29 said:

Part of the problem with slow play is shown in this thread: slow golfers do not believe they are slow.

We might as well beat our head against a brick wall as to tell a slow golfer we don't run, sprint, jog or even walk fast in order to play a 6400 yard course in 3hrs as a fourball.

We are ready to play when it is our turn. We take clubs we need so we don't backtrack. We finish up short putts without marking them first. We play ready golf. If a guy blades one out of the bunker the others will putt out while he is making his way across the green. We do our chatting as we are walking or riding to our ball (or while on the tee box watching 4 guys go to one ball at a time). In a fast group nobody is just standing around slack jawed staring at their partners. 

 

Anything above a 3 hour round is slow? I've been playing golf for 25 years and have been working at a golf course for 20 of those years. I have played thousands of rounds of golf, and while working in the golf business watched people play tens of thousands of rounds. What you said above is complete garbage. 

For one It's just not possible unless you happen to own your own personal golf course or happen to play at the least popular golf course in history. Even then a 10 minute per hole pace for a foursome is highly unlikely on a regular basis. You can say it's so, but I believe you to be as delusional as the people who come on this forum and rage on about the importance of the short game over the long game.

Listen, no one on here has said playing fast is a bad thing. I don't personally understand your hurry, but if you want to play as fast as humanly possible good luck to you. BUT 4 hours is not slow, there is not a golf course I have ever seen that would consider a 4 hour round slow. That being said if my SLOW 4 hour round is ever in front of you we will be more than willing to let you guys jog on through.

[iacas]

14 hours ago, NM Golf said:

that’s a ridiculous comment meant to elicit a combative response

Calling a comment “ridiculous” is far far more combative, Danny.

55 minutes ago, NM Golf said:

What you said above is complete garbage. 

Tone it down please.

3 hours ago, Fourputt said:

I can only think of once in my life that I managed to play 18 holes in under 3 hours, and even then it was just barely under.  That was 2 of us playing (both about 12 handicap), each in his own cart, and we never had another group to play through.  We played fast, but still only made it in about 2:45.

@mvmac and I played 21 holes on a course he’d never seen before and that I had seen once. Same cart.

In the car a few miles away after the round I remarked to Mike… “Hey, it’s three hours after our tee time right now.” It was. We didn’t rush. Plenty of conversation 

Three hours for a foursome is a bit of a reach, but it can be done in a twosome pretty easily. @NatalieB and I do it all the time.

Finally, no, 4 hours isn’t slow.

[colin007]

I actually do think 4 hrs is slow. Reason being, I've never played a 4 he round where we weren't waiting multiple times.

[JonMA1]

Not that this topic is anything new, but these are a couple of observations I've made in the last couple years.

1. Skill has less to do with it - other than the obvious... more strokes, lost balls. (When on a busy course, we don't spend much time looking for balls in the woods.)

2. Different folks have different definitions of ready golf or reasonable pace of play, but I suspect there are few on this forum who would purposely lallygag the way some folks do.

3. The duration of my solo rounds vary greatly for whatever reasons. But I can always increase my pace when I need to.

My playing partner for most of 2017 is at least as poor a golfer as I am, but he plays fast. As a twosome, we regularly play 3 hr rounds (I walk, he rides), about the same as when I play solo. We "push" one another and two sets of eyes can actually speed things up. When I play with my son, our rounds tend to take a little longer than 3 hrs.

When I've played in foursomes, those rounds are rarely under 4 hours. I don't know why... just more opportunities arise to slow the group down. But I can't worry about or control others, only myself.

I have taken almost 4 hours for a solo round on an empty course, but have also walked 36 holes in 5 hours on an equally empty course. I can play fast when there is a need or desire to, but as long as I'm not holding others up, those two things aren't always present.

Slower golf doesn't piss me off, people purposely screwing off does. There's a difference and you can tell when slow golfers are at least making an effort to play at a good pace.

It doesn't matter that some foursomes regularly play 18 holes in 3 hrs. While that's impressive and takes not only desire, but coordination and skill with the entire group, it's not a standard that everyone has to - or will ever - conform to.

On the other hand, holding up an entire busy course by playing slowly because you wan't to stop and smell the roses, or play grab-ass, or because it's your prerogative, is inconsiderate (not saying anyone here does that, but I have been behind those guys). Especially when there is no effort to let others play through.

Seems like there should be a reasonable standard deviation between fast and slow, though I don't think it would solve much.

[Fairway_CY]

I had a group of friends out to my course yesterday to play.  We had some pretty heavy rains the night before, so it was cart path only throughout our round.  

In our group, our indexes ranged from around 12 to as high as 18.  We've not horrible golfers, but we're not "point and shoot" golfers either.  

On the 7th hole, we had one of the guys from our pro shop pull up on us and ask us to move a little faster.  Admittedly, we were about half a stroke behind the group in front of us, so we said we'd pick up the pace.  When we finished the 9th hole, we realized we had played that side in just under 2 hours.  A pretty good pace on a pretty cold day where it's cart path only. 

We had to wait at the turn for about 10 minutes while our group and the group in front of us grabbed some drinks and whatnot and kept up with the group in front of us with no issues, but on the 13th hole, the same guy drove up on us and again asked us to pick it up.  I was a little frustrated with him because we were on the group ahead of us and then the group behind us was nowhere in sight.  

We finished in 4 hours and 10 minutes with a 10 minute delay at the turn.  I fail to see how that's to be considered even remotely slow.  I've been a member here for about 15 months and the average round is about 4 hours and 15 minutes... often approaching 4 hours and 30 minutes.  To play as quickly as we did on a cart path only day was more than sufficient in my opinion, especially since we hit our approaches to 18 shortly after the group ahead walked off.  

I had to apologize to my guests for being pushed.  I'm gonna have to speak to the guys at the course when I'm there next, but... I'm pretty certain that the group behind us called in to the clubhouse on us.  They were on top of us all the way through the 7th hole... then they started to fall back a bit.  

Still... I don't see how a 4 hour round constitutes being slow.  I feel like that's a good pace and allows me to enjoy the company and the course while not feeling like I'm out of breath or rushing myself to putt out.  

I know guys who love to play fast and I know guys who are definitely on the slow side.  I like a 4:30 pace, personally... but I'm fine with 4 hours.  I get annoyed when it gets beyond 5 hours... but during tournaments, I regularly see 6 hours.  

To each his or her own, I suppose.  As long as you're within the 4:00 - 4:30 range, I don't think anybody should be complaining.  

CY

[Golfer gal]

I've played quite a few courses where they post acceptable pace of play, like clocks out in various places on the course or the cart GPS telling you if you're on pace or not, or clearly saying on the card how long your round should take.  I've never seen them say a group should finish in less than 4 hours; most common seems to be 4:15. One course around here is notoriously slow (mostly fivesomes, and tee times only 8 minutes apart), and it does throw off any rhythm I might have... waiting on every tee box, sometimes with a few other groups. I myself rarely have to wait in the fairway, because I'm not getting on the green with my next shot anyhow, but the guys I play with are waiting on every frickin shot and it's even more annoying for them.