What Brought Me to MGS: A 5 HOUR ROUND

[Stuka44]

Loving this site!  Just wanted to share with everyone the article I came across after a 5 hour round at one of my local courses, and researching if anyone is still talking about it or trying to fix it, which brought me to this website. Sadly many of the things directed at courses responsibility, I regularly see.  As the lets squeeze in two more foursomes because of a price drop,  between 3:20 and 3:30(our tee time), and not make them wait until the next available, which contributed heavily to the 5 hour round.  There is blame all around, courses, players, rules, that all contribute to slow play.  Here is the link

https://mygolfspy.com/the-pace-of-play-conundrum-does-golf-really-want-to-fix-it/

I have shared it with all the people I play with, and emailed it to all of the courses I play.  Not sure if it will help, but I'm going to keep trying to do my part to be a part of the solution not the problem. As the tone of some of my previous  posts already would indicate, I am about playing and having fun, not so much about the rules, and rigid nature of the game.

 

[xOldBenKenobiX]

36 minutes ago, stuka44 said:

Loving this site!  Just wanted to share with everyone the article I came across after a 5 hour round at one of my local courses, and researching if anyone is still talking about it or trying to fix it, which brought me to this website. Sadly many of the things directed at courses responsibility, I regularly see.  As the lets squeeze in two more foursomes because of a price drop,  between 3:20 and 3:30(our tee time), and not make them wait until the next available, which contributed heavily to the 5 hour round.  There is blame all around, courses, players, rules, that all contribute to slow play.  Here is the link

https://mygolfspy.com/the-pace-of-play-conundrum-does-golf-really-want-to-fix-it/

I have shared it with all the people I play with, and emailed it to all of the courses I play.  Not sure if it will help, but I'm going to keep trying to do my part to be a part of the solution not the problem. As the tone of some of my previous  posts already would indicate, I am about playing and having fun, not so much about the rules, and rigid nature of the game.

 

Slow play is awful, I'm glad that as of late we have not faced any problems with it. 

Our 18 yesterday was less than 3 hours. 

[MadMex]

Here is my two pesos,,,,

 

The only way speed of play will improve is if golfers attitude improves. The following is repeated daily all over the US.: 

Two carts with 4 staff bags,  all four occupants with logos on their shirts and hats. They drive past the white tee onto the blue tees, after ensuring the group ahead of them is at least 375 yards, the first golfer of the group tee’s up his ball and proceeds to take practice swings which can only be described as a cross between a severe electrical shocks and a seizures. 
After tossing grass to the air and sticking a wet finger out and calls to the weather service to ensure the barometric pressure, he takes a mighty swing and watches his brand new Pro-V1 roll 10 yards short of the white tees. He then proceeds to explain why he did not hit a 320 yard drive. Of course we are treated to this display 3 more times, when questioned they state they are going to play the whole course since they paid for it.

Pro’s and the PGA can help, play “ready golf” and grow a backbone , penalize slow play.

[cciciora13]

10 hours ago, MadMex said:

Here is my two pesos,,,,

 

The only way speed of play will improve is if golfers attitude improves. The following is repeated daily all over the US.: 

Two carts with 4 staff bags,  all four occupants with logos on their shirts and hats. They drive past the white tee onto the blue tees, after ensuring the group ahead of them is at least 375 yards, the first golfer of the group tee’s up his ball and proceeds to take practice swings which can only be described as a cross between a severe electrical shocks and a seizures. 
After tossing grass to the air and sticking a wet finger out and calls to the weather service to ensure the barometric pressure, he takes a mighty swing and watches his brand new Pro-V1 roll 10 yards short of the white tees. He then proceeds to explain why he did not hit a 320 yard drive. Of course we are treated to this display 3 more times, when questioned they state they are going to play the whole course since they paid for it.

Pro’s and the PGA can help, play “ready golf” and grow a backbone , penalize slow play.

Yes I Totally agree. It really grinds my gears when people insist on playing from the tips when they really don't belong there. Who wants to make the game that much harder than it already is anyways!

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

Yes slow play is tough. I actually have seen that besides one round a few weeks ago, pace of play has been great around here. All my 18s have been around 4 hours which is perfect. Could be shorter but 4 is fine.

as @MadMex mentioned folks just play out of their league and of course that’s a factor but I think a lot of courses rifgt now are not enforcing pace of play. I have played over 20 rounds this year (not slot compared to most but is a good number for me) and have only seen 2 starters and a martial (singular) luckily have not had many issues but no martial doesn’t help

[GolfSpy BOS]

Yes I Totally agree. It really grinds my gears when people insist on playing from the tips when they really don't belong there. Who wants to make the game that much harder than it already is anyways!

A few courses around here have starts that will ask you your handicap if you try to play the blues or black tees. It’s a small deterrent. But it’s something.

I partially blame the courses for having 7-8 minute tee times too.

[cciciora13]

1 minute ago, B.Boston said:

A few courses around here have starts that will ask you your handicap if you try to play the blues or black tees. It’s a small deterrent. But it’s something.

I partially blame the courses for having 7-8 minute tee times too.

Yes very good point. With tee times squeezed right next to each-other, it will get backed up at some point during the round.

[GolfSpy BOS]

Yes very good point. With tee times squeezed right next to each-other, it will get backed up at some point during the round.

I played a few rounds right after courses opened and had 10 minute tee times and even with the parking lot full we moved through quicker.

I’ve been spoiled with a lot of weekday morning rounds this summer. I’ve generally only been waiting for the greenskeeper to finish rolling the greens in front of me (he’s a friend). What a treat that has been. Feels like a PGA event when you wake up to untouched freshly rolled greens.

[EEZurg]

13 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

I played a few rounds right after courses opened and had 10 minute tee times and even with the parking lot full we moved through quicker.

I’ve been spoiled with a lot of weekday morning rounds this summer. I’ve generally only been waiting for the greenskeeper to finish rolling the greens in front of me (he’s a friend). What a treat that has been. Feels like a PGA event when you wake up to untouched freshly rolled greens.

I have found the same.....it's fantastic.  Now...let's not tell too many people.

[DiscipleofPenick]

I have found the same.....it's fantastic.  Now...let's not tell too many people.

Shhhhhh it's a big secret

That's why I play at sunup.

Take Dead Aim

[russtopherb]

re: tee times - a number of the courses in my area are still going with 10-12 minutes between groups. The last two rounds of 18 that I played at one of the hillier, longer courses around me came in at just at or under 4 hours both times. I walked 9 with my son at another course on a Saturday in 1:45. So the slightly longer gaps between groups has really been working from what I've seen. Will it be something courses keep going forward? I kind of doubt it, but it would be nice. 

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

21 minutes ago, russtopherb said:

re: tee times - a number of the courses in my area are still going with 10-12 minutes between groups. The last two rounds of 18 that I played at one of the hillier, longer courses around me came in at just at or under 4 hours both times. I walked 9 with my son at another course on a Saturday in 1:45. So the slightly longer gaps between groups has really been working from what I've seen. Will it be something courses keep going forward? I kind of doubt it, but it would be nice. 

Yea I can’t see them maintaining that. If times went from 12-8 that’s an extra 2.5 foursomes per hour and let’s say 10 hours a of playing time a day makes for 25 extra groups so 100 people x $50. No way in hell courses turn down 5k a day (in a perfect way anyway)

[fixyurdivot]

Situational awareness and consideration of others has become a lost skill... and the negative impact extends way past golf.  

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

8 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

Situational awareness and consideration of others has become a lost skill... and the negative impact extends way past golf.  

This is why I struggle playing with some of my friends 

[Middler]

9 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

Situational awareness and consideration of others has become a lost skill... and the negative impact extends way past golf.  

+1, it’s not unique to golf.

[DiscipleofPenick]

re: tee times - a number of the courses in my area are still going with 10-12 minutes between groups. The last two rounds of 18 that I played at one of the hillier, longer courses around me came in at just at or under 4 hours both times. I walked 9 with my son at another course on a Saturday in 1:45. So the slightly longer gaps between groups has really been working from what I've seen. Will it be something courses keep going forward? I kind of doubt it, but it would be nice. 

Unfortunately I doubt it will last. As soon as restrictions were lifted in June, a bunch of courses went right back to 7 minute gaps in times. Courses need to make decisions, do they want to offer a quality golfer-focused experience, or do they just want to jam the course full and only focus on bottom line.

Take Dead Aim

[xOldBenKenobiX]

On 8/21/2020 at 8:33 PM, MadMex said:

Here is my two pesos,,,,

 

The only way speed of play will improve is if golfers attitude improves. The following is repeated daily all over the US.: 

Two carts with 4 staff bags,  all four occupants with logos on their shirts and hats. They drive past the white tee onto the blue tees, after ensuring the group ahead of them is at least 375 yards, the first golfer of the group tee’s up his ball and proceeds to take practice swings which can only be described as a cross between a severe electrical shocks and a seizures. 
After tossing grass to the air and sticking a wet finger out and calls to the weather service to ensure the barometric pressure, he takes a mighty swing and watches his brand new Pro-V1 roll 10 yards short of the white tees. He then proceeds to explain why he did not hit a 320 yard drive. Of course we are treated to this display 3 more times, when questioned they state they are going to play the whole course since they paid for it.

Pro’s and the PGA can help, play “ready golf” and grow a backbone , penalize slow play.

Last week we played behind a twosome, one was were a nice guy, they were playing from the blues, the nice one had no business playing from the blues as a couple of his tee shots barely passed the white tees. 

His buddy was not being helpful at all. 

[zrumble]

Played 18 the other with a cart in a twosome in 1 hour and 56 minutes. That’s my favorite pace. But the same course on Sunday morning turns into a 5 hour death march. No marshal to speed people along, too many players not picking up their 20th shot, looking for balls for 8-10 minutes. And my two personal favorites, reading every putt like you’re about to win The Master’s, or the everyone drive to one ball watch him hit then proceed to the next, and the next, and so on. 

[Nateyeight]

When COVID first hit, the tee times were spread out to limit the amount of people on the course. A course I play is known for 5-6 hours for 18, this cut a round down to just over 4, it was bliss, now they have started to go back to their original time gaping and its going back to 5 hours. Fun while it last, but golf courses need to be more realistic on the tee times. 

[Firebird]

We stopped playing our course on Wednesdays as the seniors tee are first to tee off. I understand that as you get older you slow down but considering the course is only 5400m 5 and 1/2 hours is just ridiculous. Only issue is that as this is a public course (with private club) the pro shop can do little to speed it up. Saturdays are generally ok however with Covid restrictions  max 2 players per group it was surprisingly quicker. They changed the time between groups from 8min to 5 and we only got held up on the 4th which is a par 3.

For some reason I always play badly when I have to wait on almost every shot.

[xOldBenKenobiX]

On 8/22/2020 at 7:17 AM, B.Boston said:

I played a few rounds right after courses opened and had 10 minute tee times and even with the parking lot full we moved through quicker.

I’ve been spoiled with a lot of weekday morning rounds this summer. I’ve generally only been waiting for the greenskeeper to finish rolling the greens in front of me (he’s a friend). What a treat that has been. Feels like a PGA event when you wake up to untouched freshly rolled greens.

Out of curiosity I went back and look at the rounds for this year, most rounds we played were less than 3 and half hours, with the fastest at 2 hours and 44 minutes and the longest at 4 hours and 24 minutes, even with that one, we average 3 hours and 33 minutes per round, which is not too bad, yesterday we played in 3 hours and 22 minutes, and as the first two out, we were waiting for some greens to be rolled, and for some holes and flags to be cut, I got to say, I have been enjoying a lot Thursday first or second tee times before work.

[Buffly]

There are going to be slow rounds. The golfers have the most control over pace. Many golfers just can't play faster or don't care to. The rest of us suffer because of it. 

Twilight tee times bring out the golfers who don't afford to take the game as seriously. 

Once, behind a slow group of people playing in a tournament, the Marshall was frustrated at the slow play and timed them. They were not playing slow according to the rules of golf. The issue was just that they were scoring high = more shots. The Marshall said you can't penalize poor golf. 

Golf courses can only do so much to speed up play:

• Proper pairings - not 2 groups of two instead of 1 of 4
• Checking in golfers efficiently
• Having carts ready
• Putting pins in scoring positions instead of nightmare spots
• Avoiding overbooking (their biggest error)

The golf course has no control over:

• The quality of a player or their ability to shoot low scores. Low scores = faster pace. Higher scores = slower pace.
• The decisions of golfers to split into two groups because they don't like who they got paired up with
• What golfers do when nobody is looking - like playing extra shots, mulligans, playing extra holes, playing tees beyond ones ability, playing from the tips even when it's not the designated tee for that day

The takeaway: enjoy the round no matter how long it takes. Some things are just beyond your control.