Waving up on par 3. Seriously, what's the point?

[nsxguy]

I've thought of a point (for waving up) !!!

 

It's so the ill-educated ranger doesn't asked you to "catch up" on the next hole. :taunt:

[WarEagleGolf]

Waving up on a par three, more of an annoyance than anything. Everyone knows you just wait for the par 4 or 5, tee off, wait on the box, watch them tee off, then.let them go. Everyone rides out to fairway together, they hit then Play on through. Seamless play through scenario, no wait, no massive cluster hold up, and no one gets wacked with a ball.

 

Although I had some guys wave we through....and they stood right in front of me, whilst I was teeing off. About 200 out, they have faith. I don't always. I poked one out over their head...right at the next guy further up in the fairway. Guess they assumed I'd miss it. ��

[JohnnyCashForever]

You could make an argument that not waving up is actually better on a crowded course (when there is no possibility of playing through). It allows for the groups to space each other out.

[dokex]

The owner of a course is nuts if he/she imposes a wave up rule on any hole. They could be liable for any injury as a result of such an edict.

[jlbos83]

I will admit that my first thought was that it would not help. But....

A couple weeks ago, we played on a Saturday morning, in the third group or so after the mass of men's clubs. The first hole is a relatively short par 4, the second a mid length par three (though some water on the left), and the third a par five. The fourth is a somewhat driveable par 4. There are often several groups at the tee of the second, and that was true that day, I think there were three groups, including us. (Part of the problem, of course, is groups teeing off too close together on number 1, but that's a discussion for another day!) The group ahead of us said they would wave us up after they got to the green. I was skeptical, but we did it. They finsihed putting, we finished finding the green, and then did the same for the group behind us. When we got to the third tee, we were able to tee off almost immediately, and the rest of the round went reasonably smoothly. It was never fast, but the usual wait on the fourth tee wasn't there. Of course, the par five after the par three helps some. But it seemed to work out even better after the waving up.

It's not something I expect to do regualrly, but it seemed to work. I have played the course enough to know that it went better than I would have expected.

 

[SnapHooker_307]

Maybe I've been in the middle of nowhere too long, but we absolutely never would wave somebody up on the hole we are playing. We will tee off on the next hole and wait on the tee box to allow the next group to tee off and pass us, but I do not like the idea getting smoked by a ball. Instead of 2 groups by the green you just have 2 groups driving to their tee shots, seems to me it would accomplish the same thing without getting cold cocked by a golf ball.

[SnapHooker_307]

> @WarEagleGolf said:

> Waving up on a par three, more of an annoyance than anything. Everyone knows you just wait for the par 4 or 5, tee off, wait on the box, watch them tee off, then.let them go. Everyone rides out to fairway together, they hit then Play on through. Seamless play through scenario, no wait, no massive cluster hold up, and no one gets wacked with a ball.

>

>

>

> Although I had some guys wave we through....and they stood right in front of me, whilst I was teeing off. About 200 out, they have faith. I don't always. I poked one out over their head...right at the next guy further up in the fairway. Guess they assumed I'd miss it. ��

 

Whoops, didn't read this one before I posted mine. I 100% agree with you.

[chippa13]

> @SnapHooker_605 said:

> Maybe I've been in the middle of nowhere too long, but we absolutely never would wave somebody up on the hole we are playing. We will tee off on the next hole and wait on the tee box to allow the next group to tee off and pass us, but I do not like the idea getting smoked by a ball. Instead of 2 groups by the green you just have 2 groups driving to their tee shots, seems to me it would accomplish the same thing without getting cold cocked by a golf ball.

 

Cold cocked on a par 3 when waving someone up? You are allowed to pay attention to their shots and, I don't know, move if you see a ball headed your way.

[SnapHooker_307]

> @chippa13 said:

> > @SnapHooker_605 said:

> > Maybe I've been in the middle of nowhere too long, but we absolutely never would wave somebody up on the hole we are playing. We will tee off on the next hole and wait on the tee box to allow the next group to tee off and pass us, but I do not like the idea getting smoked by a ball. Instead of 2 groups by the green you just have 2 groups driving to their tee shots, seems to me it would accomplish the same thing without getting cold cocked by a golf ball.

>

> Cold cocked on a par 3 when waving someone up? You are allowed to pay attention to their shots and, I don't know, move if you see a ball headed your way.

 

Not going to risk losing that ball in the clouds. Even if you turn around that is gonna hurt. Just wait until the next tee box, tee off, let the next group tee off, and all go up to the fairway together and move on.

[BermBuster]

I had not waived any group up, nor been waived up in years. I do remember back in the 80's, it was the thing to do. Recently we got sent out in the middle of a tourney at a city course. The first par 3 we came to, long and uphill, has a waive up rule in effect. There was a 3 group backup waiting on the tee. How did this speed anything up? It was clear sailing after that, and we had 4 ladies riding our a** most of the round! I actually enjoyed watching them hit up while standing on the green, as all 4 were pretty good.

[RickK]

No where that I play has a "wave up" policy. Generally, the only time we wave another group up on a par3 is if we are letting them play thru because there is a hole open ahead of us and they are playing way faster than we are (which is very very unusual). Most times, the group playing thru will be a twosome or threesome. Rare to ever see a 4some playing faster than we play.

[mc2]

How are we feeling about waving up on Par 3's now in late 2022?

 

Would you all agree it's dead and buried as a general etiquette?

 

Exceptions: local rule in place as a call up hole, and as a method to let a faster group play through. 

[Pastit]

27 minutes ago, mc2 said:

How are we feeling about waving up on Par 3's now in late 2022?

 

Would you all agree it's dead and buried as a general etiquette?

 

Exceptions: local rule in place as a call up hole, and as a method to let a faster group play through. 

Nein. 

[szaino]

Waiving people up on a par three is something that I haven't done in probably 50 years. If it makes sense to do this to save time on a par 3, why wouldn't you do this on a par 4 when the group behind you is standing in the fairway at their balls waiting to hit onto the green ?   

 

The fact is, I don't think it saves any time because only one person can be playing a stroke at a time. So if my group is on the green, we now all have to wait for the 4 players on the tee to hit. No different than letting the 4 players on the tee wait. If we putt first we are off the next tee that much quicker. If we let the tee players hit up, we are off the next tee that much slower.

[Pastit]

1 hour ago, szaino said:

Waiving people up on a par three is something that I haven't done in probably 50 years. If it makes sense to do this to save time on a par 3, why wouldn't you do this on a par 4 when the group behind you is standing in the fairway at their balls waiting to hit onto the green ?   

 

The fact is, I don't think it saves any time because only one person can be playing a stroke at a time. So if my group is on the green, we now all have to wait for the 4 players on the tee to hit. No different than letting the 4 players on the tee wait. If we putt first we are off the next tee that much quicker. If we let the tee players hit up, we are off the next tee that much slower.

I believe we always did it. From memory, because it usually the case that even short hitters would clear more quickly through a par 3 than a par 4/5. 
 

I’ve rarely ever had to let a group ( I.e. > 1 player ) through in my lifetime unless they had priority on the day ( eg playing a comp ). So a single should get well out of the way when let through on a par 3. 

[Schulzmc]

Our course hosted the Western Junior Am this year. Some of the best young golfers in the world. We have a short par 4 that many of the players were able to reach off the tee. Waving up the previous group once all players were on the green was very helpful for pace of play.

 

BTW - I was walking scorer for a group and a player in the group we waved up hit is tee shot to six inches for a tap in eagle. A few more rolls and it would have gone in. Fun to see!

[klebs01]

We used to do it all the time at the course I grew up on. The 18th is a par three over a river and it’s not a direct walk to the green. Have to go to the left to cross the bridge and the hole goes slightly right. Made a lot of sense to hit up while the group in from is walking to the green. 
 

I still do that type of thing today, but mostly when playing through. 

[PNWGuy]

It worked pretty well in the old days because 99% of players walked.  That gave enough time to putt out by the time the following group got to the green.  It doesn't work when players ride.

[bcjim]

Haven't done it or seen it in 20y.

 

And it didn't work then.   It mostly guarantees half the group gets stagefright and hit a shank as I recall.

 

Done holes with a long walk to the green...maybe.

[sui generis]

From the referee's point of view, call ups are sometimes used on short par 4's and shorter par 5's. They keep the field moving. 😉

[Wendy123]

There's a difference between "waving up" and "waving through". Waving through can be done efficiently nearly anywhere on the course. Par three holes work well. Nothing more frustrating than thinking the slow group ahead is finally waving you through and it turns out they're only waving you up!😂

[Mr. Bean]

18 hours ago, sui generis said:

From the referee's point of view, call ups are sometimes used on short par 4's and shorter par 5's. They keep the field moving. 😉

 

And that only works if the next hole is not one of those blocking the field. But in general I do agree with that. That applies also to par3's. There is absolutely no sense to wave up a group you have to wait after you have cleared the par3 green after them.

[Wham49]

On 3/26/2014 at 2:19 PM, magix said:

This past weekend I played a round at a local municipal course where the par 3's are decently long but not overly challenging - 134yrds, 193yrds, 207yrds and 189yrds. All are straight with maybe a bunker protecting the front and no water in play. The pace of play is generally slow on weekends here in SoCal and the group ahead of us weren't getting away from us anytime soon.

 

This is my 5th year golfing and it's the first time I've ever heard of "waving up". I think it's insane and I refuse to do it. I understand it has to do with trying to keep pace of play but I believe it brings more danger to the game. On both the 193yrd and 207yrd holes, I smoked my 5 and 4 iron, respectively, and the shots landed near the back of the green where the people were waiting and I had to yell fore twice. I only conceded to tee off on these holes because (1) the group waved us up and (2) the two people my friend and I got paired with didn't mind. I was truly confused when it happened the first time and annoyed the second time.

 

Our group didn't wave up the group after us because I didn't care for it so we putted out on all the par 3's. The group behind us didn't say anything to us but one of their shots did land at the front of the green while I was lining up my putt which pissed me off. If a ball would have hit me, I honestly don't know what would have happened. The John McEnroe of golf might have shown up! :aggressive:

 

Am I wrong on this? Again, it's the first time I've heard of it and I've played a decent amount of golf. If I am wrong, then next time I'll abide by the rule and wave people up.

I think the point is as they walk up you can putt out and move on to tee off and be gone, usually doesnt work that way though. Partners in my group do it sometimes, the advantage is negotiable IMO

[ChipNRun]

One course in our area has a wave-up rule, especially on one par 3 that had a crowned green with a lot of trouble around it.

 

One point of wave up: the group already on the green can watch where the following shots land, so the others don't have to spend time looking for the ball.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Mirror-Image Par 3 Holes

 

Another suggested solution was for mirror-image par 3s,side-by-side in a bottleneck area. This was suggested maybe 20 years ago in one of the golf magazines.

 

The idea was to have two equivalent par 3 holes, side by side. If the lead group was struggling with pace of play, the following group could bypass them by playing the parallel hole.

 

Has anyone even seen a course where the mirror-image holes were actually built?

 

If so, did it help speed up play?

 

Would you be willing to include this when you eventually build your ideal golf course?

 

 Blue arrowhead indicates direction of downward flow of terrain.

[Argonne69]

20 hours ago, ChipNRun said:

One course in our area has a wave-up rule, especially on one par 3 that had a crowned green with a lot of trouble around it.

 

One point of wave up: the group already on the green can watch where the following shots land, so the others don't have to spend time looking for the ball.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Mirror-Image Par 3 Holes

 

Another suggested solution was for mirror-image par 3s,side-by-side in a bottleneck area. This was suggested maybe 20 years ago in one of the golf magazines.

 

The idea was to have two equivalent par 3 holes, side by side. If the lead group was struggling with pace of play, the following group could bypass them by playing the parallel hole.

 

Has anyone even seen a course where the mirror-image holes were actually built?

 

If so, did it help speed up play?

 

Would you be willing to include this when you eventually build your ideal golf course?

 

 Blue arrowhead indicates direction of downward flow of terrain.

 

Cog Hill #2 in Lemont, IL has a pair of bypass holes. It's the 4th hole hole. Definitely helps with PoP.

 

 

 

[sui generis]

4 hours ago, Argonne69 said:

It's the 4th hole hole.

 

How does that work? If the group finishing #3 sees players on one of the #4's, they elect to play the other one? Sounds fun. 🙂

[Argonne69]

2 hours ago, sui generis said:

 

How does that work? If the group finishing #3 sees players on one of the #4's, they elect to play the other one? Sounds fun. 🙂

 

Yup. 

 

I've played a couple of other courses that have parallel par 3 holes, but they weren't both in use at the same time. 'Probably used to allow the turf to heal after overuse.

 

[1mcozik]

Wave up and risk getting hit from errant shots while putting out/ leaving the green to the cart? Pass. 
 

I get annoyed when anyone I play with hit an approach shot while another group is within range.

[Newby]

3 hours ago, 1mcozik said:

Wave up and risk getting hit from errant shots while putting out/ leaving the green to the cart? Pass. 
 

I get annoyed when anyone I play with hit an approach shot while another group is within range.

'Waving up' surely implies that the group on the green are standing aside, paying attention and not playing.