Five hour rounds...

[jonnygrouville]

Popped out for a few holes yesterday afternoon. A bit chilly, a bit of a wind and it rained on me for few holes. They'd had a big Xmas tournament in the morning, so had the place to myself.

 

Hitting it okay. Not great, but not getting in any trouble, and hitting lots of greens. Was putting out because I need the practice, but didn't take any flags out. Did hit a couple of shots here and there, as I normally do when out on my own. Played off the whites, so 6,700 yards and playing long in the conditions.

 

Nothing unusual so far.

 

I teed off at half one and I walked off the last green at twenty-five minutes past three. Less than two hours for eighteen holes. (Two over too, so not that disappointed with the golf either.)

 

Feel sorry for the five hour guys...

[Nessism]

That's motoring for 18 holes. I LIKE IT!

Local course I play is slow almost all the time. Not crazy slow, just medium slow from dawn to sundown. Even the early groups rarely finish under 4 hours. Makes me crazy.

[scomac2002]

The longest round of my life happened a couple of years ago. Played at a municipal for a neighbouring town; quite challenging and generally well thought of. I had never played it before and was looking forward to it.

I left home at 7:20 or there about to pick up the second of our threesome; from there onto pick up the third who lived near the course, but didn't drive. We arrived in plenty of time for our 9:00 am tee time, but were informed that we had been overbooked and would have to wait until near 10:00 before we could tee off following their senior men's league -- this was a Monday morning.

We were paired up with a single lady who walked and carried for the front nine -- spoiler alert: she was pretty good! We finished the front nine in reasonable time, but still over 2 hours. Then it got silly. By the time we made the 18th tee, we were one of three groups waiting to hit. When we walked into the clubhouse it was 3:30! Over 5 1/2 hours from beginning to end without even stopping at the turn!

We had a beer and something to eat. By the time I had driven everyone home it was after 5:30! My wife was wondering what the hell I had been doing all day because there was no way golfing could take that long, but it was in fact a 10 hour day doing nothing more than playing 18 holes of golf!

I've never been back to that course since. Almost everyone that I have run across who has, or used to play there has a story just like mine!

[stevemcgee99]

I can stand waiting around. Totally lose my focus.

Winter in northern CA is great for golf because there's fewer people but there's no snow. Light rain is great, too. So is darkness.

[NYCgolfer17]

5+ hour rounds are the norm around my area. Only way to play under 5 is private or at very off peak time. It is what it is and I have resigned myself to the fact that the only way I am going to get under 5 hour rounds on a consistent basis is to join a CC.

[HoldenCornfield]

IMO modern course design has a lot to do with slow rounds. Courses are longer with sometimes extreme distances between greens and tees that discourage walking; lots of forced carries and artificial hazards; over-bunkering; and greens that are too large with too much undulation and speed. All of these things slow down the recreational golfer.

I really appreciate the older, simpler designs nowadays. They're also cheaper to play, generally speaking, as they lack the 'wow' factor.

[Fellaheen51]

Read many the horror stories about 5+ hour rounds. Under the circumstances, feel very fortunate that rounds here usually right around 4 hours average. My mid-week crew usually go out about 10:30'ish. Behind the early morning crowd and before the afternoon league crowd. Typically, Tuesday thru Thursday. Always can get around fairly smartly. And a 4 hour round is a pace I'm quite comfortable with. The other nice thing is that the mid-week senior rates are in effect, usually > $30 with a cart (they all like to ride). Way I venture out as a solo, I can get around in > 3+ hours. And that's including multiple shots occasionally (practice).

Of course things are slower on the weekend. Typically never play on Saturdays. Sunday afternoon with the Mrs. at a rather short local course is about 1.45 hrs. for nine, even when fairly crowded.

We've gotten to know which courses are conducive to quicker play and those are the one's we patronize. The worse offenders, those high priced public courses. The ones where everyone playing think they are one step removed from the tour, lots of shiny, blingy clubs, always playing from the tips. When they don't have the game to do it. The one time playing such a course this past summer (Buddy won a couple of free rounds in a raffle, we split the cost four ways), was a 5.5 hours slog. Group in front of us was incapable of keeping pace, didn't have close to enough game to be playing that course, constantly loosing and looking for balls. Got quite agitated about it for awhile. Then the beers we were drinking (numerous) kicked in and we didn't give a s*** any longer. Played like crap!

Edit Note: This was exactly the type of course you described in your first paragraph HC. Totally over the top for most recreational golfers. But they get a lot of play due to their reputation. Again, only played it because the four way split made it $50 per (and the bud needed some accomplices).

[jonnygrouville]

Under two hours is admittedly a bit extreme. I have admitted many times before that I am a lucky ba$tard getting to play where I do, but carrying a bag, no range finders, no long walks between greens and tees, no just-like-on-TV pre-shot routines and we don't need slow play.

Yes, enjoy the company, enjoy the shots and everyone has to look for balls every now and then, just see too many people making a chore out of something so enjoyable.

[DavePelz4]

Was down at Doral over the holidays a couple of years back. Checked in at 2:30 and headed to the golf shop around 3. No one on the red course so I went out and took a cart, which is very rare for me. The starter said I'd have a hard time finishing before dark and I told him I should be able to get at least 27 in, if not 36.

He laughed until I passed him 42 minutes later on my way to the 10th tee. BTW, didn't shoot any lights out number but did get in 36 before it got dark around 5:30.

[BIG STU]

[quote name='scomac2002' timestamp='1450727867' post='12748170']
The longest round of my life happened a couple of years ago. Played at a municipal for a neighbouring town; quite challenging and generally well thought of. I had never played it before and was looking forward to it.

I left home at 7:20 or there about to pick up the second of our threesome; from there onto pick up the third who lived near the course, but didn't drive. We arrived in plenty of time for our 9:00 am tee time, but were informed that we had been overbooked and would have to wait until near 10:00 before we could tee off following their senior men's league -- this was a Monday morning.

We were paired up with a single lady who walked and carried for the front nine -- spoiler alert: she was pretty good! We finished the front nine in reasonable time, but still over 2 hours. Then it got silly. By the time we made the 18th tee, we were one of three groups waiting to hit. When we walked into the clubhouse it was 3:30! Over 5 1/2 hours from beginning to end without even stopping at the turn!

We had a beer and something to eat. By the time I had driven everyone home it was after 5:30! My wife was wondering what the hell I had been doing all day because there was no way golfing could take that long, but it was in fact a 10 hour day doing nothing more than playing 18 holes of golf!

I've never been back to that course since. Almost everyone that I have run across who has, or used to play there has a story just like mine!
[/quote]And believe it or not in the long run a course like that will get a reputation and it will eventually kill it. there was a course in my hometown like that and I actually walked off it on the 12th hole because it had taken us over 3 1/2 hours to play at that point. Never went back again. Our crowd at the time started going to Pinehurst NC for the weekends in the summer. That course got a bad rep for slow play and maybe 4 or 5 years later it closed for good

[Wriggles]

I've been fortunate the last few years. I belong to an almost bankrupt modest club with a fraction of the members it had when I joined in 1997. Back then, the only way to avoid crowds was on weekdays between 1 and 4. Now, except for mornings, the place is empty. Weekday mornings though, I can usually jump around and play although there may be the three or four foursomes of the "chosen."

Eighteen holes walking alone in under 2 hours, carrying a minimalist kit is great. I tell myself, I could never go back to the 4-6 hour nonsense. I've played the long rounds occasionally with guys. By 12th or 13th holes, I can barely stand it.

[stevemcgee99]

If I want to stand, I'll get some government services. Or buy one of those 'hoverboards' with wheels(?).

[Guia]

Good for you. With proper course management (by the course) and being ready to play everyone should be able to play in less than 4 hours.

[jonnygrouville]

And it should be like a computer game - in normal play, if you've missed your shot at net double, your ball should vaporise and reconstitute itself on the next tee.

[NRJyzr]

[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1450824482' post='12753260']
Was down at Doral over the holidays a couple of years back. Checked in at 2:30 and headed to the golf shop around 3. No one on the red course so I went out and took a cart, which is very rare for me. The starter said I'd have a hard time finishing before dark and I told him I should be able to get at least 27 in, if not 36.

He laughed until I passed him 42 minutes later on my way to the 10th tee. BTW, didn't shoot any lights out number but did get in 36 before it got dark around 5:30.
[/quote]

Had an experience like that back in 2001. Was visiting a local course, setting up an outing with the head pro. He offered the chance to play the course gratis. Sent me out on the back nine alone with a cart. It was 1pm, a shotgun was to start at 2pm, this was the only way I could see the back nine. Finished in about 45 minutes, not rushing. Made the turn, a friend and fellow outing participant showed up as I was on #1, together we played the front nine twice in a bit under 2.5 hours.

I figured 27 holes in barely over 3 hours was pretty good, especially for what was really an exploration trip.

Wound up playing that course quite a bit over the next several years, even though it was out of my way. The head pro I mentioned is a great guy, and a fellow WRX member. No longer at that course, he's now at a course in western Wisconsin, need to make the trip over there for a visit.

A last note, in the vein of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon... the food & beverage manager from the above course took some time off for starting her family. When she decided it was time to hit the work again, she found an opening at another course, and as you've probably guessed, it's the course I've been calling home since 2008. Didn't remember her from 10 to 14 years ago, though I'm sure I talked to her at some point, but we've chatted about the small world aspect.

Amusingly, the new assistant pro (started in 2015) at my course was, for years, a student of Kevin, the above mentioned head pro.

Sorry, I'm taking this all over the map.

[DavePelz4]

[quote name='NRJyzr' timestamp='1451485683' post='12779702']
[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1450824482' post='12753260']
Was down at Doral over the holidays a couple of years back. Checked in at 2:30 and headed to the golf shop around 3. No one on the red course so I went out and took a cart, which is very rare for me. The starter said I'd have a hard time finishing before dark and I told him I should be able to get at least 27 in, if not 36.

He laughed until I passed him 42 minutes later on my way to the 10th tee. BTW, didn't shoot any lights out number but did get in 36 before it got dark around 5:30.
[/quote]

Had an experience like that back in 2001. Was visiting a local course, setting up an outing with the head pro. He offered the chance to play the course gratis. Sent me out on the back nine alone with a cart. It was 1pm, a shotgun was to start at 2pm, this was the only way I could see the back nine. Finished in about 45 minutes, not rushing. Made the turn, a friend and fellow outing participant showed up as I was on #1, together we played the front nine twice in a bit under 2.5 hours.

I figured 27 holes in barely over 3 hours was pretty good, especially for what was really an exploration trip.

Wound up playing that course quite a bit over the next several years, even though it was out of my way. The head pro I mentioned is a great guy, and a fellow WRX member. No longer at that course, he's now at a course in western Wisconsin, need to make the trip over there for a visit.

A last note, in the vein of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon... the food & beverage manager from the above course took some time off for starting her family. When she decided it was time to hit the work again, she found an opening at another course, and as you've probably guessed, it's the course I've been calling home since 2008. Didn't remember her from 10 to 14 years ago, though I'm sure I talked to her at some point, but we've chatted about the small world aspect.

Amusingly, the new assistant pro (started in 2015) at my course was, for years, a student of Kevin, the above mentioned head pro.

Sorry, I'm taking this all over the map.
[/quote]

NR is the pro in the Rice Lake area?

[300_Straight]

4-5 hour rounds are the norm on Long Island, at least at Bethpage State Park. I don't mind a 4 hour round, but 5 hours means you are waiting to shoot several times. I enjoy getting out there for 4 hours because it's time to relax & unwind (IS IT?!?!).

[billh17]

Like other guys,I dont play on week ends,and I dont have the 5 hour round problems. Most of the courses are crowded at those times and
i know it includes waits,so i am fortunate that I can choose less jammed times.
I know the long rounds are a hassle.....but you aren't going to make slow players speed it up...and you aren't going to stop the courses from over booking
and using 8 minute tee times...all they see is the greens fees. We need to get the courses,and the players working together on the times and the slow play
otherwise it is a never ending problem.

[NRJyzr]

[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1451485905' post='12779716']
[quote name='NRJyzr' timestamp='1451485683' post='12779702']
[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1450824482' post='12753260']
Was down at Doral over the holidays a couple of years back. Checked in at 2:30 and headed to the golf shop around 3. No one on the red course so I went out and took a cart, which is very rare for me. The starter said I'd have a hard time finishing before dark and I told him I should be able to get at least 27 in, if not 36.

He laughed until I passed him 42 minutes later on my way to the 10th tee. BTW, didn't shoot any lights out number but did get in 36 before it got dark around 5:30.
[/quote]

Had an experience like that back in 2001. Was visiting a local course, setting up an outing with the head pro. He offered the chance to play the course gratis. Sent me out on the back nine alone with a cart. It was 1pm, a shotgun was to start at 2pm, this was the only way I could see the back nine. Finished in about 45 minutes, not rushing. Made the turn, a friend and fellow outing participant showed up as I was on #1, together we played the front nine twice in a bit under 2.5 hours.

I figured 27 holes in barely over 3 hours was pretty good, especially for what was really an exploration trip.

Wound up playing that course quite a bit over the next several years, even though it was out of my way. The head pro I mentioned is a great guy, and a fellow WRX member. No longer at that course, he's now at a course in western Wisconsin, need to make the trip over there for a visit.

A last note, in the vein of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon... the food & beverage manager from the above course took some time off for starting her family. When she decided it was time to hit the work again, she found an opening at another course, and as you've probably guessed, it's the course I've been calling home since 2008. Didn't remember her from 10 to 14 years ago, though I'm sure I talked to her at some point, but we've chatted about the small world aspect.

Amusingly, the new assistant pro (started in 2015) at my course was, for years, a student of Kevin, the above mentioned head pro.

Sorry, I'm taking this all over the map.
[/quote]

NR is the pro in the Rice Lake area?
[/quote]


I do believe he is, yes.

[DavePelz4]

[quote name='NRJyzr' timestamp='1451496982' post='12780418']
[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1451485905' post='12779716']
[quote name='NRJyzr' timestamp='1451485683' post='12779702']
[quote name='DavePelz4' timestamp='1450824482' post='12753260']
Was down at Doral over the holidays a couple of years back. Checked in at 2:30 and headed to the golf shop around 3. No one on the red course so I went out and took a cart, which is very rare for me. The starter said I'd have a hard time finishing before dark and I told him I should be able to get at least 27 in, if not 36.

He laughed until I passed him 42 minutes later on my way to the 10th tee. BTW, didn't shoot any lights out number but did get in 36 before it got dark around 5:30.
[/quote]

Had an experience like that back in 2001. Was visiting a local course, setting up an outing with the head pro. He offered the chance to play the course gratis. Sent me out on the back nine alone with a cart. It was 1pm, a shotgun was to start at 2pm, this was the only way I could see the back nine. Finished in about 45 minutes, not rushing. Made the turn, a friend and fellow outing participant showed up as I was on #1, together we played the front nine twice in a bit under 2.5 hours.

I figured 27 holes in barely over 3 hours was pretty good, especially for what was really an exploration trip.

Wound up playing that course quite a bit over the next several years, even though it was out of my way. The head pro I mentioned is a great guy, and a fellow WRX member. No longer at that course, he's now at a course in western Wisconsin, need to make the trip over there for a visit.

A last note, in the vein of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon... the food & beverage manager from the above course took some time off for starting her family. When she decided it was time to hit the work again, she found an opening at another course, and as you've probably guessed, it's the course I've been calling home since 2008. Didn't remember her from 10 to 14 years ago, though I'm sure I talked to her at some point, but we've chatted about the small world aspect.

Amusingly, the new assistant pro (started in 2015) at my course was, for years, a student of Kevin, the above mentioned head pro.

Sorry, I'm taking this all over the map.
[/quote]

NR is the pro in the Rice Lake area?
[/quote]


I do believe he is, yes.
[/quote]

Kev is an AWESOME person!

[VNutz]

Depends on the company. I've played some 5-6 hour rounds with people that could have lasted all day for all I cared they were so much fun. Then some 3 hours rounds that couldn't finish fast enough. To me the enjoyment of the game, the course and the company trumps the clock. Sure, slow golf can be a drag at times and can knock you out of rhythm, but I enjoy being out on the course, I don't want that to go by as fast as possible.

[TimV]

Live in SoFlo so at this time of the year you are rarely ever going to get a Championship round in at 4 hours or less.

Now summer? That's a different story! :golfer:

[W C Franco]

Herbert Warren Wind wrote about slow play and blamed it on amateurs aping the behaviour of professionals whose speed of play slowed proportionally with the huge increases in prize money brought about by televised tournaments,so something of a vicious circle.

That was in 1972.

Consider also that the Open Championship and other domestic tournaments were played over three days with 36 holes played on the final day,I believe I read somewhere that Ben Hogan started his first round of two on the final day at Carnoustie at around 10.30am.

 

[Eidolon]

Maybe so on Hogan's starting time, but...it don't get dark during summer in Scotland until really late. :)

[BIG STU]

Live in SoFlo so at this time of the year you are rarely ever going to get a Championship round in at 4 hours or less.

Now summer? That's a different story! :golfer:

We are the same way here when the weather is decent. This year we have been soggy since the floods in October and now we are getting an Artic blast. April through May you will be lucky to get a tee time at all even if you are a member because they give priority to the motel packages. 2 years ago I actually went back up to Charlotte NC for a week to play because tee times were darn near impossible to get on a decent course and most of my regular group went around the Midlands of SC to play for the same reasons

[Nomad Golfer]

As Blackadder's servant Baldrick says often " I have a cunning plan "

and my cunning plan is to split the course - first 9 one day second 9 next day or later, this way it

doesn't keep me too long on the course especially if the play is slow, and I can walk 9 holes easily

which I prefer to a buggy.

[Divot License]

My wife and I tend to take between 4-5 hours for the two of us to play 18 but that's because she's only been playing for about 4 months. We play in the afternoons to avoid a busy course and pretty much let anyone who comes up behind us straight through. That being said... the past few rounds we've actually kept up with the occasional group in front of us so either some of the players at our club are very slow or she is getting faster. I'm going with the latter as her scores are dropping rapidly.

[drewmosco]

Nothing worse than slow golf .. So hard to get in a rhythm.

[mcshooter]

I blame the golf on TV, where guys won't play out of turn even if they are fifty yards apart, same thing on the tee, instead of the first guy who gets there hitting they wait for the guy with the low score on the previous hole, ready golf is not there , just watch spieth take his 8 or 10 swings and then get the towel to wipe his hands before he hits and you can see why guys follow the pros..the Europe tour are on the right path with timing ever player getting to there ball, putting names of the slow guys on a list at every tournament,

[ScooterMcTavish]

Not a problem with the pros, as they don't take three practice swings eight times a hole like some self-styled pseudo-pro amateurs. When you get around in sixty-some strokes, you have more time to futz around however you like. When you get around in 100-some strokes, just hit the damn ball, man. You're never getting to that Par 5 in two.

 

As much as I used to take pride in getting around fast (would play 9 on my lunch break, catch a quick bite, and be back in the office 1:10 from when I left), I've found walking and slowing my round to be much more pleasurable.

 

First of all, golf is supposed to be relaxing - I was treating it like a race. Certainly the time pressure added an element of urgency to my game, but I spend enough time away from the course all jacked up. Golf is supposed to be the place where I relax, not get even more strung out.

 

Secondly, I had developed a pace where I was rushing shot to shot. Nothing inherently wrong with this, but completely impractical for golfing at any other time. I was finding playing in any more than a twosome completely distracting as I couldn't just go straight up to my ball and hit it - I had to wait for others. Playing league or in a tournament? Forget it - I'd be ready to snap my clubs after a few holes. So I had developed a bad playing habit that was sucking my enjoyment of the game away when I wasn't playing a round by myself.

 

Should rounds take five hours? No, but we know in our current state of the union that courses are hard-pressed for revenues and need to book as full as they can when they can. This includes not having course marshals force groups to move up tees or let others through because they are impeding the flow on the course. But if we want shorter rounds, we need to play inferior courses! What to do?

 

Couple of suggestions I have are:

 

- If you are playing a "premium" course that will take you a long time to get around, accept this is part of the price you pay to play that course. Could they book less? Sure! And shortly after that, you won't have any congestion issues, as the course will be closed. Premium clubhouses, "professional quality" courses, and premium amenities all are expensive to operate and maintain, and so the overbooking during prime or semi-prime times will continue. If you understand and accept this before going golfing, you will enjoy your round 100% more.

 

- Remember that golf is a great form of stress relief. Enjoy your time at the course. Take along a playing companion that you enjoy spending time with so you can chat while playing or while waiting. Enjoy the pristine green-ness, and the wildlife, and the smell of fresh air. Think of all the other sh%$#y things you could be doing other than golfing. In short, find other things to enjoy about being at the course other than just hitting a ball.

 

- Understand that you cannot guess or judge the motivations, experience and lives of others on the course. Some may be learning the game. One day not long ago, you were too. Someone may be having an off day. Trust me, you have had and will again have off days too. Some may not understand etiquette, or need to be taught. Don't judge, teach. Don't judge, understand. It is amazing how agitated people become when they make judgments about others based on their actions. 95% of the time, they are wrong. Usually only 5% of the time the guy/gal is a genuine douchebag, which is usually also easy to deal with, once you know.

 

- Find your zen. If speed is your thing, find a quiet course. If challenge is your thing, find the challenging courses even if it may take a long time to get around. But if speed is your thing, avoid slow courses. Why disturb your zen? If a course is bland and boring, why waste three hours on it when two measly extra hours helps you find your zen. Understand what your zen is, and pursue it.

 

- Lastly, help the course. People hate the experience, complain to their mates, and never come back, all the time never letting the course know what had made them so unhappy. Some courses don't care. Then determine if you wish to keep supporting them. Most do care, and at least deserve the opportunity to keep or win back your business. But usually a quiet respectful conversation with a manager or pro goes a long way.