Pace of Play - The Courses Reply

[SadTrombone]

4+25 is ridiculous. I just played a 9 hole practice round for the US Am qualifyer in 1 hour flat. I played with a caddie, just me and the members had no problem letting me through. I hit about 10 extra putts on every green too, so its not like I was really "rushing". 9 holes in an hour for a single and you're telling me that a 4 should play 18 in 4+25? No. 18 holes should take 3+30-3+45 at the most.

 

Carts are bad for pace, bring back caddies...everyone gets their own. It's good for the game, good for the caddies, good for the pace of play...just good in general.

 

-mini

[mikpga]

Here's my experience and opinion on pace of play.

 

At a PUBLIC golf course, I think 15 minutes per hole for a regulation course is an exceptable pace of play to ENFORCE.

 

My staff was trained to pay attention to pace and not gaps on the course. You have to deal with the majority of golfers, unfortunately the majority of golfers do not play in 4 hours or less. My experience with most public courses, is they simply do not ENFORCE their posted pace of play policy. Most courses do not want to risk 'offending' paying customers. My prior job, the owner was a GOLF NAZI. He wanted the course policed. We had a starter at #1, a floating ranger on the front, and a floating ranger on the back nine. I was in a position where I had to consistently stay on top of my staff on the course, to make sure that our pace was not over 4 and a half hours.

 

Through my experience, ENFORCING and explaining to our customers our expectations, we rarely saw a round that took 4 and a half hours. We typically saw 4:00 to 4:15 for an average pace. If 4:30 is too long, I would suggest finding a private club or teeing off as early as possible.

 

The other issue is whether or not the course keeps carts on the path. If that's the case, it will take much longer.

[TwoFours]

played 12 holes this weekend in 5 hours. are you serious?!?!?!?! anyone in the nyc area should stay away from Forest Park Golf Club which is a public course in queens. There were 4 groups waiting to tee off on hole number 3. And it definitely affected my game.

[SadTrombone]

The other issue is whether or not the course keeps carts on the path. If that's the case, it will take much longer.

I agree.

 

That's why I say, bring back the caddie programs! Good for the caddie, good for the course, good for you...the doctor's always telling us to get more exercise, isn't he? Let's walk and pay the 13 year old kid a few bucks to lug our bag around. We can teach him some golf, have some company and maybe impact a life along the way.

 

-mini

[bgolfing]

The other issue is whether or not the course keeps carts on the path. If that's the case, it will take much longer.

I agree.

 

That's why I say, bring back the caddie programs! Good for the caddie, good for the course, good for you...the doctor's always telling us to get more exercise, isn't he? Let's walk and pay the 13 year old kid a few bucks to lug our bag around. We can teach him some golf, have some company and maybe impact a life along the way.

 

-mini

 

Significant loss of revenue unfortunately.

 

I wonder how many groups and courses tell people to play "Ready" golf. The old tradition of furthest away or best score teeing off first should be done away with except for tournament play (even then it should be discussed). That slows everything down. It also helps your rythym.

[SadTrombone]

The other issue is whether or not the course keeps carts on the path. If that's the case, it will take much longer.

I agree.

 

That's why I say, bring back the caddie programs! Good for the caddie, good for the course, good for you...the doctor's always telling us to get more exercise, isn't he? Let's walk and pay the 13 year old kid a few bucks to lug our bag around. We can teach him some golf, have some company and maybe impact a life along the way.

 

-mini

 

Significant loss of revenue unfortunately.

 

I wonder how many groups and courses tell people to play "Ready" golf. The old tradition of furthest away or best score teeing off first should be done away with except for tournament play (even then it should be discussed). That slows everything down. It also helps your rythym.

I realize the carts are a good deal of $ for the course, but on a day when it's "cart path only", is it better to make $10 on a caddie or $0 on a person carrying their own bag or even worse......not playing at all?

 

-mini

[againstthegrain]

Last Sunday at a private club this older gentleman playing w his wife did not want to join a couple directly in front of them w the course all backed up behind them. "I don't care how long it takes, I'm retired."

[Diesel]

i don't mind a 4 hour round as long as i'm not waiting on every shot... if the pace is 4 hours, that's what it is, but i don't want to be waiting over top of 75% of my shots for a few minutes...

 

we played a tough / long course the other day and it was a few minutes under 4 hours, but it felt like we breezed right through it... didn't have to wait for anyone except a couple guys doing maintainence...

 

playing in a foursomne is obviously going to put you around that 4 hour mark unless you can hit darn near every green, and don't have to look for any balls during the round...

[Joe Schmoe]

It's simple, you can only play as fast as the slowest group in front of you. Enforce faster times earlier in the day so that you don't get backed up.

[malibu3]

I respect the fact that you enjoy taking your time on the golf course, but there is something you are not considering. If your normal foursome should ever find yourselves behind my normal foursome playing at our customary 3 1/2 hour pace, you have the option to keep up or play at your pace. If however, the situation were reversed and we found ourselves behind your group, we would NOT have an option; you would dictate our pace and that is fundamentally unfair.

 

Playing at your glacial pace would not help my game, and I would respectfully submit that walking up to your ball, quickly assessing the yardage, selecting a club, hitting your shot without 5 or 6 practice swings, and repeating the process throughout the day would help your game.

 

Finally sir, with all due respect, I hope I never find myself behind you waiting on every single shot.

 

It's the people like you that get pushy that make me nervous and then my game and pace of play slows because I am not hitting as quality of shots. In the foursome I play in, sometimes we play long sometimes we play quick just depending on how everyone is hitting it up that day. I feel like once anybody pays their money to play though, that is exactly what they have done, and nobody, NOBODY no matter how good they are has the "right" to push people around. I think that is just being a jerk, and I hope I never run into you at the course either!

Malibu3

[Joe Schmoe]

I respect the fact that you enjoy taking your time on the golf course, but there is something you are not considering. If your normal foursome should ever find yourselves behind my normal foursome playing at our customary 3 1/2 hour pace, you have the option to keep up or play at your pace. If however, the situation were reversed and we found ourselves behind your group, we would NOT have an option; you would dictate our pace and that is fundamentally unfair.

 

Playing at your glacial pace would not help my game, and I would respectfully submit that walking up to your ball, quickly assessing the yardage, selecting a club, hitting your shot without 5 or 6 practice swings, and repeating the process throughout the day would help your game.

 

Finally sir, with all due respect, I hope I never find myself behind you waiting on every single shot.

 

It's the people like you that get pushy that make me nervous and then my game and pace of play slows because I am not hitting as quality of shots. In the foursome I play in, sometimes we play long sometimes we play quick just depending on how everyone is hitting it up that day. I feel like once anybody pays their money to play though, that is exactly what they have done, and nobody, NOBODY no matter how good they are has the "right" to push people around. I think that is just being a jerk, and I hope I never run into you at the course either!

Malibu3

 

Next par 3 let them play through. When you are off the green go ahead and play your tee shot, you'll be done on the teeing ground as they are walking off the green, have them play through. Again the issue is both groups should be able to play at a comfortable pace, if they are behind you, its a lose-lose situation. If they are ahead of you its a win-win situation. why not convert a lose-lose into a win-win?

[malibu3]

Oh I definetely agree with that, and I let people play through if that is what it comes to. I am very quick to do that if I can tell a group is going to play alot quicker round or whatever. It is just the attitude that bothers me.

malibu3