Slow Play | USHandicap Classic

jddonovan LowIndex
Go to Last Reply 88 Views 113 Replies 4 Likes
Something has to be done about slow play and playing from the correct tees. Golf courses are killing the business by not enforcing some kind of standards upon players. This weekend my threesome was stuck behind a twosome. The twosome were playing from the Championship tees and they couldn't hit farther than the tee box. They kept slicing the ball and/or hitting into the rough on the forced carries. It made a four hour round into a five hour round. One player said courses are so desperate for money they just want everyone to play. Thus, they aren't holding to the standards. I think that course of action is having an opposite effect of that intended. Decent players are staying away and finding other activities because a round is taking too long. Besides look what happened to Facebook when it started (not the recent IPO scandal). FB made themselves exclusive then suddenly everyone wanted it. I think if courses were to go back to enforcing dress codes, course etiquette, and playing from the correct tees we would find a resurgance in golf and not the declining memebership we see now.
PISC Legend
# 1 6/26/2012 7:35:28 AM
Slow play is a given hence the reason I belong to a private club now. However,that was a driving force for me to join! Lets address the other items you raised. Dress Code-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA enough said Course Etiquette-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA enough said There is a certain honor about this game and sorry someone dressed with his Kangol hat on backwards and his pants down past his A@# is not in tradition of this "GENTLEMENS/LADIES GAME" But the courses own the blame for not enforcing the rules of slow play, dress and etiquette! LETS GET BACK TO BASICS
car12old Legend
# 2 6/26/2012 7:46:23 AM
Just as you said, courses need to start enforsing the rules. In fact many of them do not have a rule or you cannot find it in text. Slowplay, Fivesomes,Six players. Familys will small kids on the weekends. You can argue that all have a right, players need to let the folks in charge know.
njgolfer Legend
# 3 6/26/2012 12:25:22 PM
One of the reasons I joined a semiprivate country club. I got tired of playing 5.5 to 6 hour rounds even in the middle of the week. Now I get out early in the morning as a single and get around in two hours or less. I will still play other courses during the week and weekends but I am a bit more tolerant now knowing I have my own course to go back to.
jonwhiteman Professional Champion
# 4 6/26/2012 12:39:57 PM
I think if courses educated golfers on "ready golf", going to your ball and not waiting for your buddy to drive 5 yards to yours, no out of bounds, make everything a lateral hazard and no walkers during the busiest of times would speed things up considerably. I know you purists will take issue with some of these, but even you guys must be sick of 5, 5 1/2, 6 hour rounds.
njgolfer Legend
# 5 6/26/2012 1:12:18 PM
I think if courses educated golfers on "ready golf", going to your ball and not waiting for your buddy to drive 5 yards to yours, no out of bounds, make everything a lateral hazard and no walkers during the busiest of times would speed things up considerably. I know you purists will take issue with some of these, but even you guys must be sick of 5, 5 1/2, 6 hour rounds. I thoroughly enjoy playing with a group that plays ready golf. It seems when I do get paired with a group like this the round is much more enjoyable and conversational no matter how long the round takes to finish. One of my pet peeves was and is being behind a group that is a foursome with carts and they only gather at one ball, then move to the next after it has been hit. I have tried to get rangers to speak with that type of group but it only works until the ranger is out of sight.
Duckhunter Legend
# 6 6/26/2012 1:53:37 PM
I saw a guy last weekend mark his ball look at it from both sides of the hole turn his ball that had a line on it and he did all this for a putt less then 6 in. not that a putt like that can not be missed but there was no break there.
Don Freeman Professional Champion
# 7 6/26/2012 2:47:24 PM
Just carry the phone number of the pro shop in your cell phone and call them when a group is too slow. This works. I have called 3 times in the past year. The ranger rides out and warns the slow group to speed up or let our group play through. Its amazing how they will pick up the pace after being warned. Don't feel bad about calling. Thats a part of the rangers job. They arent there just to ride around and smile.
OtterMan08 Legend
# 8 6/26/2012 3:16:14 PM
I think if courses educated golfers on "ready golf", going to your ball and not waiting for your buddy to drive 5 yards to yours, no out of bounds, make everything a lateral hazard and no walkers during the busiest of times would speed things up considerably. I know you purists will take issue with some of these, but even you guys must be sick of 5, 5 1/2, 6 hour rounds. I rarely find dedicated walkers holding up play at any time. Most of us who walk preferentially are adept at locating and playing our ball without delay. This is especially true during "peak" times when all you need to do is keep up with the group in front of you. For players who know what they are doing there really is no time penalty for walking. For those that don't, the cart doesn't seem to help all that much. Playing ready golf, on the tee box, in the fairway, and putting out on the green when practical are key to keeping things moving along. It also helps if everyone has eyes on the ball to reduce lost balls. Out of bounds is usually off property. You don't need to change the rules of golf, just hit a provisional and keep moving. I do agree that education would benefit greatly. I occasionally play with less experienced golfers, if things start to slow up I'll sometimes recommend that we play best ball teams for a few holes. That tends to speed things up quite a bit.
Mongo68 Legend
# 9 6/26/2012 4:17:16 PM
I strongly believe carts are a major contribution to slow play for some of the very reasons already mentioned. When this game was first played there were no carts or any other type of transportation to your ball. I'm sorry but there is NO way that if two people hit to opposite sides of the fairway that they can both hit their 2nd shots when riding in a cart fatsre than if they were to both wlak to their own ball without a cart. I've seen it and I DO it all the time. Don't get me wrong, I know some people NEED a cart to get around the course for a multitude of reasons but to FORCE the charge of a cart on players whether they tak the cart or not is ridiculous. Of course the majority of people will take a cart if they're being charged for it. I will only take a cart if I haven't played the course before or don't know the layout of the course and how far of a walk it is from green to the next tee. Which again, becuase of the evolution of the cart in golf, many courses make the distance between one green and the next tee so ridiculously long that you have almost no choice but to ride. I played a course this past weekend that I hadn't played in a few years and couldn't remember the layout very well so I did take a cart. There were a few holes where there was quite a distance between holes but if I play it again, I know I'll be walking it as it wasn't all that bad. I usually score better when I walk anyway. If you want to speed up play and force a cart on people then give everyone Segways. They already make them with bag carriers. Everyone can have their own transpostation rather than riding tandem and it will surely increase the speed of play. Riding a Segway while ingesting alcohol? Well that's another story....
gsollars LowIndex
# 10 6/26/2012 9:56:53 PM
This past weekend we played at Sharpstown GC here in Houston. There was a group in front of us, two ladies in a cart that could play,and a rank beginner walking. we waited every single hole on the front and suddenly noticed that they took off on us. We couldn't keep up and they ended up finishing an entire hole ahead of us. Their rank beginner dropped out at the turn and the two ladies that were decent golfers proceeded to play vey quickly. Playing tees that are too long for you and insisting on taking ten strokes to get to the green and then 4-putting are a huge problem. The bigger the guys are the farther back they think they should play. I see big bruisers playing back tees regularly and they can't hit the ball more than 100 yards in a straight line. Because they are playing "the tips" they feel like they need to take massive swings so when they hit that beautiful slice,they have go to the next fairway to find it. A few weeks ago I played in Austin, Texas and played with a guy that was on the phone "literally" most of the day. We were constantly waiting for him to find a good point to take a break in his conversation before he would hit. Even his buddy that was with him did not appear too happy
Mark Simmons Legend
# 11 6/27/2012 1:18:16 AM
This weekend my threesome was stuck behind a twosome. Why were you stuck? Did you ask to play through? Did you ask them to pick up the pace? Did you ask the Marshall for help to get them moving? I don't know the specifics of this instance, but I am amazed at the number of golfers I find that will complain about slow play, but don't do anything about it. I also consider it MY RESPONSIBILITY to help newer players to learn ready golf and even police others in my own group to keep pace.
tothetop777 Legend
# 12 6/27/2012 11:37:15 AM
Just as you said, courses need to start enforsing the rules. In fact many of them do not have a rule or you cannot find it in text. Slowplay, Fivesomes,Six players. Familys will small kids on the weekends. You can argue that all have a right, players need to let the folks in charge know. I think most courses are just happy to get anyone paying a green fee in these economic times. They don't care where it comes from. There are alot of courses out there struggling to stay open.
jschauer Schauer Professional Champion
# 13 6/27/2012 12:09:48 PM
mark knows i hate slow players.... i get crazy when im held up,
Dandy Professional Champion
# 14 6/27/2012 12:45:44 PM
I think if courses educated golfers on "ready golf", going to your ball and not waiting for your buddy to drive 5 yards to yours, no out of bounds, make everything a lateral hazard and no walkers during the busiest of times would speed things up considerably. I know you purists will take issue with some of these, but even you guys must be sick of 5, 5 1/2, 6 hour rounds. Sorry, but you need to NEVER suggest that 'walkers' slow up play again. Ever. Maybe the most offensive thing I've read on this site to date. And that's saying something...
Don Freeman Professional Champion
# 15 6/27/2012 2:30:46 PM
Sorry walkers, but there is no way a walker can go faster than a cart. The problem is that courses put two players in a cart together. That creates slow play. Today I played in a cart by myself. I finished 18 holes in less than 3 hours. And I did some practice chipping on some of the greens also. If courses would give every play their own cart, the pace of play would be fine.

jddonovan

LowIndex

Go to Last Reply

88 Views 113 Replies 4 Likes

Something has to be done about slow play and playing from the correct tees. Golf courses are killing the business by not enforcing some kind of standards upon players. This weekend my threesome was stuck behind a twosome. The twosome were playing from the Championship tees and they couldn't hit farther than the tee box. They kept slicing the ball and/or hitting into the rough on the forced carries. It made a four hour round into a five hour round.

One player said courses are so desperate for money they just want everyone to play. Thus, they aren't holding to the standards. I think that course of action is having an opposite effect of that intended. Decent players are staying away and finding other activities because a round is taking too long.

Besides look what happened to Facebook when it started (not the recent IPO scandal). FB made themselves exclusive then suddenly everyone wanted it. I think if courses were to go back to enforcing dress codes, course etiquette, and playing from the correct tees we would find a resurgance in golf and not the declining memebership we see now.

PISC

Legend

# 1 6/26/2012 7:35:28 AM

Slow play is a given hence the reason I belong to a private club now. However,that was a driving force for me to join!
Lets address the other items you raised.
Dress Code-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA enough said
Course Etiquette-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA enough said
There is a certain honor about this game and sorry someone dressed with his Kangol hat on backwards and his pants down past his A@# is not in tradition of this "GENTLEMENS/LADIES GAME"
But the courses own the blame for not enforcing the rules of slow play, dress and etiquette!
LETS GET BACK TO BASICS

car12old

Legend

# 2 6/26/2012 7:46:23 AM

Just as you said, courses need to start enforsing the rules. In fact many of them do not have a rule or you cannot find it in text. Slowplay, Fivesomes,Six players. Familys will small kids on the weekends. You can argue that all have a right, players need to let the folks in charge know.

njgolfer

Legend

# 3 6/26/2012 12:25:22 PM

One of the reasons I joined a semiprivate country club. I got tired of playing 5.5 to 6 hour rounds even in the middle of the week. Now I get out early in the morning as a single and get around in two hours or less. I will still play other courses during the week and weekends but I am a bit more tolerant now knowing I have my own course to go back to.

jonwhiteman

Professional Champion

# 4 6/26/2012 12:39:57 PM

I think if courses educated golfers on "ready golf", going to your ball and not waiting for your buddy to drive 5 yards to yours, no out of bounds, make everything a lateral hazard and no walkers during the busiest of times would speed things up considerably. I know you purists will take issue with some of these, but even you guys must be sick of 5, 5 1/2, 6 hour rounds.

njgolfer

Legend

# 5 6/26/2012 1:12:18 PM

I think if courses educated golfers on "ready golf", going to your ball and not waiting for your buddy to drive 5 yards to yours, no out of bounds, make everything a lateral hazard and no walkers during the busiest of times would speed things up considerably. I know you purists will take issue with some of these, but even you guys must be sick of 5, 5 1/2, 6 hour rounds.

I thoroughly enjoy playing with a group that plays ready golf. It seems when I do get paired with a group like this the round is much more enjoyable and conversational no matter how long the round takes to finish. One of my pet peeves was and is being behind a group that is a foursome with carts and they only gather at one ball, then move to the next after it has been hit. I have tried to get rangers to speak with that type of group but it only works until the ranger is out of sight.

Duckhunter

Legend

# 6 6/26/2012 1:53:37 PM

I saw a guy last weekend mark his ball look at it from both sides of the hole turn his ball that had a line on it and he did all this for a putt less then 6 in. not that a putt like that can not be missed but there was no break there.

Don Freeman

Professional Champion

# 7 6/26/2012 2:47:24 PM

Just carry the phone number of the pro shop in your cell phone and call them when a group is too slow. This works. I have called 3 times in the past year. The ranger rides out and warns the slow group to speed up or let our group play through. Its amazing how they will pick up the pace after being warned. Don't feel bad about calling. Thats a part of the rangers job. They arent there just to ride around and smile.

OtterMan08

Legend

# 8 6/26/2012 3:16:14 PM

I think if courses educated golfers on "ready golf", going to your ball and not waiting for your buddy to drive 5 yards to yours, no out of bounds, make everything a lateral hazard and no walkers during the busiest of times would speed things up considerably. I know you purists will take issue with some of these, but even you guys must be sick of 5, 5 1/2, 6 hour rounds.

I rarely find dedicated walkers holding up play at any time. Most of us who walk preferentially are adept at locating and playing our ball without delay. This is especially true during "peak" times when all you need to do is keep up with the group in front of you. For players who know what they are doing there really is no time penalty for walking. For those that don't, the cart doesn't seem to help all that much.

Playing ready golf, on the tee box, in the fairway, and putting out on the green when practical are key to keeping things moving along. It also helps if everyone has eyes on the ball to reduce lost balls. Out of bounds is usually off property. You don't need to change the rules of golf, just hit a provisional and keep moving.

I do agree that education would benefit greatly. I occasionally play with less experienced golfers, if things start to slow up I'll sometimes recommend that we play best ball teams for a few holes. That tends to speed things up quite a bit.

Mongo68

Legend

# 9 6/26/2012 4:17:16 PM

I strongly believe carts are a major contribution to slow play for some of the very reasons already mentioned. When this game was first played there were no carts or any other type of transportation to your ball. I'm sorry but there is NO way that if two people hit to opposite sides of the fairway that they can both hit their 2nd shots when riding in a cart fatsre than if they were to both wlak to their own ball without a cart. I've seen it and I DO it all the time.

Don't get me wrong, I know some people NEED a cart to get around the course for a multitude of reasons but to FORCE the charge of a cart on players whether they tak the cart or not is ridiculous. Of course the majority of people will take a cart if they're being charged for it.

I will only take a cart if I haven't played the course before or don't know the layout of the course and how far of a walk it is from green to the next tee. Which again, becuase of the evolution of the cart in golf, many courses make the distance between one green and the next tee so ridiculously long that you have almost no choice but to ride.

I played a course this past weekend that I hadn't played in a few years and couldn't remember the layout very well so I did take a cart. There were a few holes where there was quite a distance between holes but if I play it again, I know I'll be walking it as it wasn't all that bad. I usually score better when I walk anyway.

If you want to speed up play and force a cart on people then give everyone Segways. They already make them with bag carriers. Everyone can have their own transpostation rather than riding tandem and it will surely increase the speed of play. Riding a Segway while ingesting alcohol? Well that's another story....

gsollars

LowIndex

# 10 6/26/2012 9:56:53 PM

This past weekend we played at Sharpstown GC here in Houston. There was a group in front of us, two ladies in a cart that could play,and a rank beginner walking. we waited every single hole on the front and suddenly noticed that they took off on us. We couldn't keep up and they ended up finishing an entire hole ahead of us. Their rank beginner dropped out at the turn and the two ladies that were decent golfers proceeded to play vey quickly.

Playing tees that are too long for you and insisting on taking ten strokes to get to the green and then 4-putting are a huge problem. The bigger the guys are the farther back they think they should play. I see big bruisers playing back tees regularly and they can't hit the ball more than 100 yards in a straight line. Because they are playing "the tips" they feel like they need to take massive swings so when they hit that beautiful slice,they have go to the next fairway to find it.

A few weeks ago I played in Austin, Texas and played with a guy that was on the phone "literally" most of the day. We were constantly waiting for him to find a good point to take a break in his conversation before he would hit. Even his buddy that was with him did not appear too happy

Mark Simmons

Legend

# 11 6/27/2012 1:18:16 AM

This weekend my threesome was stuck behind a twosome.

Why were you stuck? Did you ask to play through? Did you ask them to pick up the pace? Did you ask the Marshall for help to get them moving?

I don't know the specifics of this instance, but I am amazed at the number of golfers I find that will complain about slow play, but don't do anything about it.

I also consider it MY RESPONSIBILITY to help newer players to learn ready golf and even police others in my own group to keep pace.

tothetop777

Legend

# 12 6/27/2012 11:37:15 AM

Just as you said, courses need to start enforsing the rules. In fact many of them do not have a rule or you cannot find it in text. Slowplay, Fivesomes,Six players. Familys will small kids on the weekends. You can argue that all have a right, players need to let the folks in charge know.

I think most courses are just happy to get anyone paying a green fee in these economic times. They don't care where it comes from. There are alot of courses out there struggling to stay open.

jschauer Schauer

Professional Champion

# 13 6/27/2012 12:09:48 PM

mark knows i hate slow players.... i get crazy when im held up,

Dandy

Professional Champion

# 14 6/27/2012 12:45:44 PM

I think if courses educated golfers on "ready golf", going to your ball and not waiting for your buddy to drive 5 yards to yours, no out of bounds, make everything a lateral hazard and no walkers during the busiest of times would speed things up considerably. I know you purists will take issue with some of these, but even you guys must be sick of 5, 5 1/2, 6 hour rounds.

Sorry, but you need to NEVER suggest that 'walkers' slow up play again. Ever. Maybe the most offensive thing I've read on this site to date. And that's saying something...

Don Freeman

Professional Champion

# 15 6/27/2012 2:30:46 PM

Sorry walkers, but there is no way a walker can go faster than a cart. The problem is that courses put two players in a cart together. That creates slow play. Today I played in a cart by myself. I finished 18 holes in less than 3 hours. And I did some practice chipping on some of the greens also. If courses would give every play their own cart, the pace of play would be fine.

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