anyone else dislike playing at public clubs?

[pgagreg1]

Many people mention slow play as a downside to playing at public courses.
My question is what's your hurry? Why are you trying to get done so fast?
Do you not like your playing companions?
Are you skipping out of work?
Are you a single with no friends?

just wondering

[MtlJeff]

[quote name='pgagreg1' timestamp='1356955979' post='6142585']
Many people mention slow play as a downside to playing at public courses.
My question is what's your hurry? Why are you trying to get done so fast?
Do you not like your playing companions?
Are you skipping out of work?
Are you a single with no friends?

just wondering
[/quote]

Do you honestly believe those are the reasons people don't like slow play, or are you just trying to take a subtle jab at everyone in this thread by accusing them of not having friends

just wondering

[pgagreg1]

[size=4]no jabs intended [/size]

[size=4]I have been playing golf for over 40 years at public golf courses. In that time I have seen all kinds of players that play at all kinds of speeds. Some guys seem to care more about how fast they can play than what they shoot.[/size]
[size=4]Some guys have the day off work and seem to be taking their time just enjoying the day and the golf course. [/size]

[size=4]Who gets to make the decision what is slow play? Is it the fastest guy on the golf course and everyone else is slow so they should have to speed up to his pace. Is it the proshop guy that tells everyone it should take 4 hours to play and it is the golf courses policy that if you don't you will be harassed by rangers and may even be removed from the golf course. If the average time to play a round of golf is 4 hours, or even 3 hours doesn't that mean by the definition of "average" that some rounds will take longer and some will be faster.[/size]

[size=4]Why are people expected to play faster than the best golfers in the world?[/size]
[size=4]They are expected to play by the same rules and will obviously take more time playing a round than professional golfers. The average joe is taking more strokes, is spending time looking for his lost golf ball, fixing their own divots and ball marks, raking their bunker tracks and such. Seems like normal people doing normal things that happen during a round of golf will take even longer than professional golfers.[/size]

[size=4]There are times on any golf course when the pace of play is fast and times when it is agonizing slow. But I will go back to my original questions. What's your hurry? Why are you trying to get done so fast[color=#282828]? There are a lot worse places to be than spending time on a golf course.[/color][/size]

[size=4][color=#282828]still wondering [/color][/size]

[Thrillhouse]

[quote name='MtlJeff' timestamp='1356965675' post='6142949']
[quote name='pgagreg1' timestamp='1356955979' post='6142585']
Many people mention slow play as a downside to playing at public courses.
My question is what's your hurry? Why are you trying to get done so fast?
Do you not like your playing companions?
Are you skipping out of work?
Are you a single with no friends?

just wondering
[/quote]

Do you honestly believe those are the reasons people don't like slow play, or are you just trying to take a subtle jab at everyone in this thread by accusing them of not having friends

just wondering
[/quote]

I had a friend once.

His name was bubba, and he was always talking about shrimp. Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.

[MtlJeff]

[quote name='pgagreg1' timestamp='1356983338' post='6144317']
no jabs intended

I have been playing golf for over 40 years at public golf courses. In that time I have seen all kinds of players that play at all kinds of speeds. Some guys seem to care more about how fast they can play than what they shoot.
Some guys have the day off work and seem to be taking their time just enjoying the day and the golf course.

Who gets to make the decision what is slow play? Is it the fastest guy on the golf course and everyone else is slow so they should have to speed up to his pace. Is it the proshop guy that tells everyone it should take 4 hours to play and it is the golf courses policy that if you don't you will be harassed by rangers and may even be removed from the golf course. If the average time to play a round of golf is 4 hours, or even 3 hours doesn't that mean by the definition of "average" that some rounds will take longer and some will be faster.

Why are people expected to play faster than the best golfers in the world?
They are expected to play by the same rules and will obviously take more time playing a round than professional golfers. The average joe is taking more strokes, is spending time looking for his lost golf ball, fixing their own divots and ball marks, raking their bunker tracks and such. Seems like normal people doing normal things that happen during a round of golf will take even longer than professional golfers.

There are times on any golf course when the pace of play is fast and times when it is agonizing slow. But I will go back to my original questions. What's your hurry? Why are you trying to get done so fast[color=#282828]? There are a lot worse places to be than spending time on a golf course.[/color]

[color=#282828]still wondering [/color]
[/quote]

well if you put it that way....here is my answer

I've played at private courses for the past 5-6 years, probably 90% of my rounds have been at private courses. The past couple of courses i've joined i've had a few friends with me but i end up playing a lot of rounds with other members too since i play a lot more then my friends.

Most of the time guys have stuff to do, they have wives or kids they need to get back to, or errands they have to run etc. I mean the average guy probably plays the majority of their rounds on weekends (at least that's when clubs are most busy) and a lot of guys just can't afford to play a 5 hour round, plus warmup and having a beer with the guys after the round. That ends us taking basically your whole day. With the exception of one qualifying round at my old club every single 5 hour round i've played has been at public courses. If you're a single guy i mean i can see how you could do that.

I don't believe that people should have to rush, i'm not advocating 3 hour rounds for foursomes. But anyone can play in 4:15 comfortably. Even though you wouldn't know it at the public courses around here

[wrmiller]

I find that I am getting tired of playing rounds like I did recently: Paired up with two young(er) guys, one of whom was probably a 30 hc, the other worse by far (four shots = 100 yds?).

Following older guys who never fixed a ball mark, theirs or others, nor raked a trap. Who are following a series of similar groups in front of them. The impact areas at 29 Palms had fewer craters in them than these greens did.

Then, to add insult to injury, while we were waiting to tee off on 18, these two 'gentlemen' in a cart drive up and ask to play in front of us, as they were in a hurry and just skipping holes on the back nine. I won't print what I told them, but suffice it to say they took my advice and just drove in to the club house.

I am moving to CO soon (new job) and will seriously consider a private club for the first time. I, like some others here, dislike a forced food and beverage minimum, and won't join if the atmosphere is 'too' stuffy/arrogant (I can start attending Mensa gatherings again if I desire that), but some rules/decorum would be greatly appreciated.

[citizencage]

I'd love to join a private club, but there's just too many $$$ associated with memberships out here on Long Island. Apparently, I didn't get the memo that everyone in the suburbs of New York is wealthy.

The "best" deal I could find was with Pine Ridge. They have a twilight special for $1595. The only issue is that the golf season is essentially limited to 9 months out of the year due to inclement weather. In order to make it worth my while, I'd have to commit to playing once a week, each week during the playing season. For someone who works 5 days a week, that can be a tall order (I probably average about $1200 a year in green fees based on my current public options).

If anyone living out here on the Island has any suggestions, I'm all ears. I play at decent Muni, but let's face it, like everyone else, I get tired of 5 hour rounds on weekends, and beat to crap greens cause nobody has the time or good sense to repair ball marks.

[Jens0n]

Play amongst the great unwashed, jeans,shirts hanging out, mobile phones and not a single digit handicap in sight!?!
You gotta be kidding right?

[2bGood]

[quote name='wrmiller' timestamp='1357060350' post='6148235']
I find that I am getting tired of playing rounds like I did recently: Paired up with two young(er) guys, one of whom was probably a 30 hc, the other worse by far (four shots = 100 yds?).

Following older guys who never fixed a ball mark, theirs or others, nor raked a trap. Who are following a series of similar groups in front of them. The impact areas at 29 Palms had fewer craters in them than these greens did.

Then, to add insult to injury, while we were waiting to tee off on 18, these two 'gentlemen' in a cart drive up and ask to play in front of us, as they were in a hurry and just skipping holes on the back nine. I won't print what I told them, but suffice it to say they took my advice and just drove in to the club house.

I am moving to CO soon (new job) and will seriously consider a private club for the first time. I, like some others here, dislike a forced food and beverage minimum, and won't join if the atmosphere is 'too' stuffy/arrogant (I can start attending Mensa gatherings again if I desire that), but some rules/decorum would be greatly appreciated.
[/quote]

Lots of talk about food minimums, if you actually use the course the minimum will not be a big issue. I use up my yearly food minimum in one month at my club. We actually really like going there for dinner as a family or when my wife is out I take the kids out for dinner.

[wrmiller]

I very seldom ever eat at a golf course. Now, maybe that will change if that offered at a CC is better than that I have found so far.

I sometimes do stay and have a drink when playing with friends.

[moonshine]

[quote name='Jon Robert' timestamp='1356274328' post='6107673']
Me to. I prefer not to have to mingle with the unkept peasants. Unless of course she is an 18 year old babe driving the refreshment cart and wearing shorts. I also would prefer if the commoners would have the courtesy to stay off the roads so my driver would not have to make my ride herky jerky by dodging them on the way to the course.

Peasants and commoners should play in the fields and leave the course to us private club types.

My mother ruined over 15 years of my life telling me that golf was only for rich people. As a young kid I said I wanted to play after watching Palmer, Nicklaus etc on TV and did not pick it up then until I was in my late 20's

Don't get mad at me I am using exageration to make my point.
[/quote]
Lol.....wow! For someone with such high standards you you should have a better spell checker.

I have worked and played many fine privates.....nothing beats $1800 for year play any trail stop best practice facilities included two week tee time access with locker....no forced food and discounts in golf shop. You should have privileges as a member, not extra cost.

18 year old....lol. Edit: what is a commoner....a person not defined by money?

[CPSOX]

[quote name='pgagreg1' timestamp='1356983338' post='6144317']
[size=4]no jabs intended [/size]

[size=4]I have been playing golf for over 40 years at public golf courses. In that time I have seen all kinds of players that play at all kinds of speeds. Some guys seem to care more about how fast they can play than what they shoot.[/size]
[size=4]Some guys have the day off work and seem to be taking their time just enjoying the day and the golf course. [/size]

[size=4]Who gets to make the decision what is slow play? Is it the fastest guy on the golf course and everyone else is slow so they should have to speed up to his pace. Is it the proshop guy that tells everyone it should take 4 hours to play and it is the golf courses policy that if you don't you will be harassed by rangers and may even be removed from the golf course. If the average time to play a round of golf is 4 hours, or even 3 hours doesn't that mean by the definition of "average" that some rounds will take longer and some will be faster.[/size]

[size=4]Why are people expected to play faster than the best golfers in the world?[/size]
[size=4]They are expected to play by the same rules and will obviously take more time playing a round than professional golfers. The average joe is taking more strokes, is spending time looking for his lost golf ball, fixing their own divots and ball marks, raking their bunker tracks and such. Seems like normal people doing normal things that happen during a round of golf will take even longer than professional golfers.[/size]

[size=4]There are times on any golf course when the pace of play is fast and times when it is agonizing slow. But I will go back to my original questions. What's your hurry? Why are you trying to get done so fast[color=#282828]? There are a lot worse places to be than spending time on a golf course.[/color][/size]

[size=4][color=#282828]still wondering [/color][/size]
[/quote]

^^^

This is why I play private golf.

[Thrillhouse]

[quote name='wrmiller' timestamp='1357065944' post='6148741']
I very seldom ever eat at a golf course. Now, maybe that will change if that offered at a CC is better than that I have found so far.

I sometimes do stay and have a drink when playing with friends.
[/quote]

Food minimums are easy if you drink or like the food at the course.

If the food is awful and you aren't a drinker then it's hard to buy enough gatorades to meet the minimum.

[2bGood]

[quote name='Thrillhouse' timestamp='1357076592' post='6149681']
[quote name='wrmiller' timestamp='1357065944' post='6148741']
I very seldom ever eat at a golf course. Now, maybe that will change if that offered at a CC is better than that I have found so far.

I sometimes do stay and have a drink when playing with friends.
[/quote]

Food minimums are easy if you drink or like the food at the course.

If the food is awful and you aren't a drinker then it's hard to buy enough gatorades to meet the minimum.
[/quote]

I would avoid a club where the food is awful.

[MtlJeff]

easiest way to hit the minimum is to buy a beer after 9, or after your round (hey, or 2). Alcohol will run up your tab

I'm actually pretty fortunate, my club has really good food and it's pretty cheap too. If you don't hang out at the club a bit it might actually be tough to spend. But that's where the beer would come in i suppose

[GooseHook]

[quote name='Jon Robert' timestamp='1356274328' post='6107673']
Me to. I prefer not to have to mingle with the unkept peasants. Unless of course she is an 18 year old babe driving the refreshment cart and wearing shorts. I also would prefer if the commoners would have the courtesy to stay off the roads so my driver would not have to make my ride herky jerky by dodging them on the way to the course.

Peasants and commoners should play in the fields and leave the course to us private club types.

My mother ruined over 15 years of my life telling me that golf was only for rich people. As a young kid I said I wanted to play after watching Palmer, Nicklaus etc on TV and did not pick it up then until I was in my late 20's

Don't get mad at me I am using exageration to make my point.
[/quote]

Movable, printed type? We musn't let the serfs discover this, lest they stage a coup.

[wrmiller]

Kinda gave up drinking with the coffin nails. Never was much of a beer drinker either. I do have a weakness for a good single malt though. LOL...

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

RE: DINING MINIMUMS

At our club, drinks don't count toward the food minimum. Neither do snacks from the snack bar. Or pre-made carryout sandwiches to take with you on the course.

The food minimum is basically part of the dues as far as I'm concerned since it's a fixed, sunk cost whether I play golf that month or not. Fortunately it's fairly modest and the bulk of it gets used up by the few meals I do eat there.

For our club, dining minimums are basically a cross-subsidy from the members like myself who live 20+ miles away on the other side of town and just come for the golf in favor of the relatively small number who live adjacent to the course and want to have a fancy dining room open a couple evenings a week plus Sunday dinners.

But looking at my entire dues plus minimums plus nickel and dime stuff it's still a good bargain given the quality of the golf course and membership.

RE: PLAYING PUBLIC COURSES

The one thing I'm always struck by when playing at non-private courses is how much noisier it is. I never have the feeling at my club that myself or anyone else is going out of their way to be quiet. But at most public courses there seems to be more shouting from one fairway to the adjacent one or intermatch Hoo-Rah'ing or just general noise and bustle. Doesn't really bother me as my "concentration", such as it is, when playing golf is not affected by background noise. But it seems odd that two similarly busy types of courses would be so different in that regard.

RE: PACE OF PLAY

The appeal of a reasonably brisk pace of play is simple. Golf is most enjoyable when it consists of walking the course with brief pauses to hit the ball. Standing around with absolutely nothing to do might be enjoyable to a few people but not to me. The game either flows at a walking-like pace or it's a series of isolated shots. I can hit isolated shots on a driving range.

[isaacbm]

I don't have a problem with public courses around Calgary because there are a lot of semi private ones where the conditions are as good as country clubs and the green fees are half.

I personally would rather be at a country club but I'm too cheap I guess. I was a member 2 years ago at a club that had a seasonal $3500 annual fee.
If I play on average 3 rounds per week in Calgary's short summer, I get about 70 rounds in per year. At least 25 of those are in tournaments at other courses. Then I play at least 10 rounds with buddies at different clubs or at semi private clubs where I have to pay a green fee.

So that basically means that I'll only play 35 rounds at most at my own course. That's a wopping $100 per round! I can play all kinds of other courses around here for $40-$70 where the conditions are great and the pace of play is just fine.


I know there's more to being a member than just dollar cost averaging but at this point in my life, I'll take the variety and the price over the benefits of being a member somewhere.

[Thrillhouse]

[quote name='isaacbm' timestamp='1357288204' post='6165743']
I don't have a problem with public courses around Calgary because there are a lot of semi private ones where the conditions are as good as country clubs and the green fees are half.

I personally would rather be at a country club but I'm too cheap I guess. I was a member 2 years ago at a club that had a seasonal $3500 annual fee.
If I play on average 3 rounds per week in Calgary's short summer, I get about 70 rounds in per year. At least 25 of those are in tournaments at other courses. Then I play at least 10 rounds with buddies at different clubs or at semi private clubs where I have to pay a green fee.

So that basically means that I'll only play 35 rounds at most at my own course. That's a wopping $100 per round! I can play all kinds of other courses around here for $40-$70 where the conditions are great and the pace of play is just fine.


I know there's more to being a member than just dollar cost averaging but at this point in my life, I'll take the variety and the price over the benefits of being a member somewhere.
[/quote]

The funny thing is I still play most of my rounds at heritage where I used to be a member anyway, and if I played more id still be a member there.

[bmellisen]

[quote name='isaacbm' timestamp='1357288204' post='6165743']
I don't have a problem with public courses around Calgary because there are a lot of semi private ones where the conditions are as good as country clubs and the green fees are half.

I personally would rather be at a country club but I'm too cheap I guess. I was a member 2 years ago at a club that had a seasonal $3500 annual fee.
If I play on average 3 rounds per week in Calgary's short summer, I get about 70 rounds in per year. At least 25 of those are in tournaments at other courses. Then I play at least 10 rounds with buddies at different clubs or at semi private clubs where I have to pay a green fee.

So that basically means that I'll only play 35 rounds at most at my own course. That's a wopping $100 per round! I can play all kinds of other courses around here for $40-$70 where the conditions are great and the pace of play is just fine.


I know there's more to being a member than just dollar cost averaging but at this point in my life, I'll take the variety and the price over the benefits of being a member somewhere.
[/quote]

Same here(with less skill at golf involved). I am lucky enough to have a bunch of good public and semi private courses around me at great prices. For now I like the variety of playing different tracks. Plus, the good private courses around here are going to be 5k or so. If I didn't have good public courses, I would do it, but for now not worth it. As far as pace of play, most courses iplay are around 4 to 4.5 hours. The biggest difference in POP would be at private courses I have never had a 5 hour round, at public I have. Not many, but it has happened. But I also never play Saturday mornings.

[fore]

I most always play public courses. For me to dislike playing public courses would be disliking golf. The longest round in the last 2 seasons was 4.25 hours. We usually finish in less than 4 hours. I like the variety of golfers at the public courses. I've been a member at semiprivate courses and that was fine though the rounds were no faster.

I think starting early in the morning at any course will usually get you around faster.

[Geez]

I prefer to play a different track every week or two. Private, public, or semi private. I've seen slow play on private courses and fast play at a municipal 9 hole course. Actually the condition of a course is a big turn on for me. Fast greens and velvet fairways go a long way. I have played public courses that are in better shape than private. I just tell my driver to surprise me and take me somewhere new today.