SO, SO, SO agree. I have played with more than a lot of shitty players that play ready golf and at a reasonable pace.
More often I find the biggest offenders to be the 20-something Backwards Hat "Dude" Brigade of pseudo-good golfers. You know the type. You may be the type. Typically, 4 "dudes' or "bros" who dress like they can play and have the sticks that say they can play...then head to the bar and each come out with a cooler of Coors Light. Then they proceed to each take a breakfast ball on the first hole since none of them "flushed one, bro" and battle it out for the best double bogey of the group. All the while enjoing the finest of todays new country on their "smart phone" while playing.
On the third hole, a 550 yard Par 5, two of them pop up their drives 180 yards but proceed to wait for the green to clear before hitting their second shot. One puts it in the 9th fairway, complete smother hook, the other a weak pop fly to right field splash down. After the exchange of "dude!" disbelief they proceed to the the other two balls(15 yards ahead of them) who are using one laser range finder to tell them that they have 340 to the front. Both pull 3 woods because "dude, DJ gets there from here ALL the time" and TaylorMade told them they have 17 extra yards to play with, so go for it.
An easy 5 on the 4th hole(a 142 yard par 3 from the whites but these players are too good for that, they are tippers) puts them over the hour and 1/4 mark for the front nine. Right on pace!
After a 3 hour front 9, you can bet they refill their coolers and maybe do a shot of Jag at the turn which apparently has a negative impact on their hearing as they proceed crank up the country tunes in their carts that is obviously helping their awesome tempo. Guess how slow their back 9 plays out...cuz it's the tougher nine and they are now buzzing and bad. More country music, louder, will probably help. Right?
You get the picture. THIS is the problem with pace of play...not beginners. To me, it's the influx of sausage-fest NFL/NASCAR mentality mixed with the need to emulate what the they see on TV.