MD/VA/DC Golfers - Ten Seconds or Less

[SullGolf]

 

My girlfriend is away for the weekend so I'm very open haha

 

This could get weird.

[Puppetmaster]

Btw, here's my favorite picture from yesterday. Different view of 16th, from the edge of the 15th fairway.

 

 

Highlights/lowlights:

• Couldn't get off the tee on the front 9
  
• Couldn't hit an iron on the front 9
  
• Couldn't make a putt on the front 9
  
• Of course I made par on my nemesis the 8th with ho-hum GIR and 2-putt, but then muck up the other 8 holes for a cool +10
  
• Birdied the par 5 11th, driver 9-iron 2-putt from the forward tees
  
• Faceplant IPA
  
• Hit yet another left handed pitch from next to a fence on 12 and even put this one inside 20 feet
  
• Birdied 14 with a solid 3W, pitch n putt
  
• Aforementioned sky-hook hybrid on 16 into the hazard for dub
  
• Thin 7-iron into the broccoli on 18 but made 8 footer for bogey
  
• 13 putts on back 9, -1 after 6 holes, but finished +2
  

[therealsneek]

My girlfriend is away for the weekend so I'm very open haha

 

This could get weird.

 

Just for the record I am not a big fan of salads... tossed or any other variety

[Boogs2]

Boogs we will carpool. 36 holes...

 

Bull run then Westfields.

 

Lol...no way....can't do back to back 18 in a day anymore. I'll do 18 and then sit my a** somewhere and go to sleep.

 

I need to get out there and play Westfields one day

 

Conditions were disappointing, sad to say. Thousands of ball marks on the greens, and as always, some fairways are divot minefields. Greens were average speed, but I'm sure the heat had something to do with them not being to cut them. Still a great design, they just still seem to struggle with maintenance. I think it is over-played. They need to consider closing the course for a day or a half day a week for upkeep.

 

My friend who lives close to Westfields has said the same thing, and this was about 2-3 years ago. Says it's pretty overpriced but definitely good to go if you can get a deal. Says the course is pretty tight too.

[FAbb]

Ole' Barney is at it again, with another content-free article.

 

http://www.golfwrx.com/387880/start-a-revolution-rounds-of-golf-should-be-no-more-than-3-hours-and-45-minutes/

[thechief16]

Boogs we will carpool. 36 holes...

 

Bull run then Westfields.

 

I'm in.

[FAbb]

Golf Talk Friday : If you could implement ONE thing to speed up the pace of play in golf, what would it be? The only caveat is that it must be feasible for courses to implement, not something that would hurt their ability to turn a profit.

[baddomes]

Jet packs

[FAbb]

Jet packs

 

I thought we were besties.

 

 

 

[SullGolf]

Thanks man, that's an interesting perspective, I never really looked at it as something that I wasnt good enough to work on - more like something I wanted to try in order to get better.

 

There are definitely reasons with my irons where this makes sense. The pin on 10 Wed was a perfect example, tucked way on the right hand side behind the bunker. If I try to hit a draw in there it's easy enough for me to miss it off the green to the right. Being able to hit a fade gives me the whole green to work with - started it at the center of the green and faded it in to ten feet. But even if I had missed, it's still on the green. I'm 80% confident in this approach with the irons and I dont think I hit an iron shot I was unhappy with in the entire round - save for the ones that flew the green.

 

The pins definitely seemed more set up for a fade than a draw the other day. Good fade pins on #2, 10, 12, 17. Those were all back/right. There were left pins too, but they were mostly front/left where it didn't matter as much.

 

I play a fade, though I'll hit a straight ball when the swing is just right. When I see a fade pin, I usually go at the center and hope my fade brings it toward the pin. When I see a draw pin, I usually go right at it and hope for the straight ball. If I hit the fade, I'm in the center of the green with a 30 foot putt. I went right at the left pin on #9 (front left), hit a fade, and had 15 feet for birdie. I'd take that any day.

 

I'm of the opinion that people can screw up no matter what. If you normally play a fade but play a draw to left pins, you can screw up either way. A fade to a draw pin can leave you a long putt. An over cooked draw to a draw pin can leave you with a nasty short sided chip shot. So play whichever you are most comfortable with and can predict the best. If you are truly comfortable with either shot, play both.

[SullGolf]

Ole' Barney is at it again, with another content-free article.

 

http://www.golfwrx.c...and-45-minutes/

 

That would be a much better article if he cut out the first 3 paragraphs. They have basically nothing to do with his point. His examples of short holes being exciting has nothing to do with pace of play. He even says that pros were putting up "others" on the short Postage Stamp hole. How slow do you think play would be with a hole like the Postage Stamp at a normal course? You'd have people who just couldn't get out of those bunkers. People putting up 10s on par3s isn't going to help pace of play, even if the hole is only 120 yards.

 

He needs an editor. His point is that people should demand 3:45 rounds, and then rally the players and management to make that happen. That could make a decent article if he actually wrote an article with that as the focus. Why the hell is his opener talking about DJ's US Open penalty? What does that have to do with anything?

[dcmidnight]

Golf Talk Friday : If you could implement ONE thing to speed up the pace of play in golf, what would it be? The only caveat is that it must be feasible for courses to implement, not something that would hurt their ability to turn a profit.

 

15 minute tee times, adjust greens fees accordingly.

 

Slower green speeds.

[thechief16]

Pre-round briefing by starter:

1. Play ready golf
   
2. Drop your cart partner at his ball, then proceed to yours
   
3. Read your putt while your playing partners are reading theirs/putting.
   
4. Take/park your cart around/behind the green
   

 

I honestly believe that 90% of slow players don't want to be slow, they just don't know how to play at pace.

 

Alternative (and I know this won't be popular, and probably breaks the edict not to restrict profit): Get rid of drink carts. There is nothing worse than sitting on the tee while the group in front of you is ordering mixed drinks/flirting with the beverage cart girl.

[FAbb]

Golf Talk Friday : If you could implement ONE thing to speed up the pace of play in golf, what would it be? The only caveat is that it must be feasible for courses to implement, not something that would hurt their ability to turn a profit.

 

15 minute tee times, adjust greens fees accordingly.

 

 

<Ignoring your eagle'esque slip-in of a second thing>

 

15 minutes might be excessive, but this. You'd probably need at least 10 minutes most places. You could up rates accordingly, or just charge high rates later into the day.

[SullGolf]

Golf Talk Friday : If you could implement ONE thing to speed up the pace of play in golf, what would it be? The only caveat is that it must be feasible for courses to implement, not something that would hurt their ability to turn a profit.

 

15 minute tee times, adjust greens fees accordingly.

 

Slower green speeds.

 

It's amazing how much of a difference 10 minute gaps make instead of 8 minutes. I get 8 minutes from a business perspective though. Over 8 packed hours, 10 minutes is 48 groups, 8 minutes is 60 groups. That's another 48 people paying each day. I can see how that could make or break a course financially. They have to raise rates 25% to make it work.

 

Pre-round briefing by starter:

1. Play ready golf
   
2. Drop your cart partner at his ball, then proceed to yours
   
3. Read your putt while your playing partners are reading theirs/putting.
   
4. Take/park your cart around/behind the green
   

 

I honestly believe that 90% of slow players don't want to be slow, they just don't know how to play at pace.

 

Alternative (and I know this won't be popular, and probably breaks the edict not to restrict profit): Get rid of drink carts. There is nothing worse than sitting on the tee while the group in front of you is ordering mixed drinks/flirting with the beverage cart girl.

 

You had me until the last paragraph. I agree that most slow players don't realize that they are slow and why they are slow. A little education and peer pressure would probably help more than anything.

[FAbb]

A real ranger can make a big difference as well. We were out at Hobbits last week, and the group in front of us was dragging Word not allowed badly. By the 4th hole, the ranger (without driving by us first) figured out they were out of position, and lit a fire under their Word not allowedes to pick it up. We basically didn't wait the rest of the day.

[dcmidnight]

Would you play your favorite course if they raised rates 30-40% but went to 15 minute tee times?

 

I feel like a smart marketing team could make this work - even if they only did it say during the weekend.

 

My wife had tried to get me to go to Primland for a couple years now. Think they are at 15 minute tee times now but it used to be 20. That's insane.

[Ocgolfrick]

Golf Talk Friday : If you could implement ONE thing to speed up the pace of play in golf, what would it be? The only caveat is that it must be feasible for courses to implement, not something that would hurt their ability to turn a profit.

Effective Rangers with power to kick you off the golf course.

 

You have a big sign at the first tee, and a warning from the starter about pace of play. If you can no longer see the group in front of you, or are behind the designated time- 1st warning. If you do not improve your pace of play- you will be moved up to where you should be on the 2nd warning. 3rd warning- you are off the course- full or partial refund.

 

Now we've all seen these sings, and we've all seen these clocks, but does anything ever get done- NO. I'm talking about creating a course atmosphere where this is taken seriously and is policy all the time. What you want is word to spread about it. I want a person who comes to say, OCGC, and then tells his friends, "Man, we got around that place in 4 hours, height of the season!" When you kick a few groups out playing slow, word spreads like wildfire. Make golf take pace of play seriously and the golfers will come- especially in OC- when you can expect to play 6+ in the height of package season at the harder courses (Bayside, Lighthouse).

[eagle1997]

no lines on the ball

forced continuous putting especially in match play

practicing on the course with people stacked up behind you will result in a collar shock

 

 

 

no idea if it could actually work in reality, but a verified sub 10 handicap index to play from blue, verified sub 4 index to play the black tees OR a verified scorecard that proves you've shot a decent score at this particular course.

 

 

seen way too many people playing the wrong tees.

 

 

i wonder how many rounds it would take me to move back to the tips if i started at the reds and had to break 74 (+2) before moving back a set. i might be at the whites for a while, and might not get off the blues for over a year.

[thechief16]

I'm curious how many people are playing the wrong the tees and what the real impact is on pace of play. When I see pace of play issues (which I don't very often anymore b/c I play times and places where it isn't an issue), it's much more attributable to bad time management than hacks playing from too far back.

[FAbb]

Would you play your favorite course if they raised rates 30-40% but went to 15 minute tee times?

 

No.

[misplacedtexan83]

It's just ready golf in my opinion.

 

So many times I see one guy hit then put his club up to get in the cart to drive 20 feet for the other guy to hit.

 

I always walk forward to my ball if I'm riding and afterwards to murmur to myself about me being an idiot.

[eagle1997]

I'm curious how many people are playing the wrong the tees and what the real impact is on pace of play. When I see pace of play issues (which I don't very often anymore b/c I play times and places where it isn't an issue), it's much more attributable to bad time management than hacks playing from too far back.

 

we should play NW together one day (on a weekend at 10 am).

 

 

i do think you're right, it's mostly screwing around/hacking it around. i think people don't know when to just PICK UP and MOVE ON.

 

so, to refine my earlier handicap card requirement... institute a triple bogey max, double bogey if there's a group directly behind you.

[GooseHook]

Golf Talk Friday : If you could implement ONE thing to speed up the pace of play in golf, what would it be? The only caveat is that it must be feasible for courses to implement, not something that would hurt their ability to turn a profit.

 

More lines on the ball. /s

 

Actually, I think you could speed up play by aligning tee boxes to the correct line of play. It would detract from architectural intent but cluld save mid and high handicaps a few trouble shots.

 

If I was designing a course for pace, I would mow rough short and take out a bunch of fairway bunkers.

 

 

[thechief16]

As I said, I rarely play public courses during prime time anymore, so I may be out of touch with what is going on out there.

 

Wife and fam out of town next weekend, so I will probably have a different perspective after that.

[SullGolf]

I'm mostly follow the "just play faster, stupid" belief. But I do buy the tough courses argument. Overall, both are just common sense when it comes down to the time it takes someone to make a single stroke.

 

Two examples:

1) Some WRXers roll out in style and we all shoot 80. We're playing behind a group all shooting 100. That's means we are hitting 80 less shots during that round. All else being equal, at 30 seconds per shot that's 40 minutes! Or less exaggerated, taking those 100 hitters to an easier course where they shoot 95, that's 20 strokes for the group, or 10 minutes. That's without even accounting for time spent searching for lost balls.

2) If each person in our WRX group shoots 75 and takes 5 seconds more than they should on each stroke, that's 75*5*4/60=25 minutes. 25 minutes because people are taking 5 seconds too long!

 

Little things add up really fast when you are doing them 70-100 times.

[FAbb]

GTF 2.0 : How fast do you really want to play a round of golf?

[dagoose383]

GTF 1.0: A ranger with power and a sign on the first tee informing golfers of the ranger's power

 

GTF 2.0: Not as fast as a Tex round, I could hardly keep up with him the other day. I think 4 hours or less is nice (for a 4-some at peak time) if I had to put a time on it. I like not feeling rushed and not having to wait very long. Afternoon/non-peak time I would want that time frame to get closer to 3 hours or less

[baddomes]

If I'm walking, I don't want to play in much less than 4 hours.

[Boogs2]

Golf Talk Friday : If you could implement ONE thing to speed up the pace of play in golf, what would it be? The only caveat is that it must be feasible for courses to implement, not something that would hurt their ability to turn a profit.

 

More lines on the ball. /s

 

Actually, I think you could speed up play by aligning tee boxes to the correct line of play. It would detract from architectural intent but cluld save mid and high handicaps a few trouble shots.

 

If I was designing a course for pace, I would mow rough short and take out a bunch of fairway bunkers.

 

This