Getting really frustrated by the length of rounds.

[North Butte]

Technology exists today that would solve much of the slow play problem, but courses will never drive the development and adoption of it because it doesn't suit the outing crowd. And that appears to be where the revenue is.

 

Technology can't have any effect on a group who show up wanting to spend 5 hours clogging up the course. Unless the course owner is willing to either turn them away or ask them to leave if they play slowly, there is no technological miracle.

 

Course owners know the hard-core avid golfers will show up to play somewhere every Saturday and Sunday. So they take the money from the 5-hour crowd and figure the hard-core guys are a captive market. And they're pretty much right.

[deadsolid...shank]

Kind of like Wal-Mart. No need for them to even offer up the pretense of customer service.

 

We know we're going back.

 

And they know we're going back. No matter how irritated we get, we'll be back next week.

[North Butte]

Kind of like Wal-Mart. No need for them to even offer up the pretense of customer service.

 

We know we're going back.

 

And they know we're going back. No matter how irritated we get, we'll be back next week.

 

I usually avoid WalMart like the plague but a couple times a year there's something I need that's best purchased there. The secret is, there's one just up the road from us and it opens at 6am. Wait for a Sunday morning, pop in there around 7:00 or 7:30, do your business, and have a checkout line to yourself.

 

Hmmm, kind of like when I used to be a dewsweeper back when I played on a busy public course. Same idea I guess.

[deadsolid...shank]

I wish we could completely avoid it, and we've tried. It really is a substantial money difference from the true grocery stores though. So back we go.......but we need our weekly dose of aggravation, so it all works out. :wacko:

[golfer07840]

Sat and Sunday golf means either first off or darn close. Sadly after a long week of work thats a 4:30-5:30am reality check. Only way I would ever tee off at 10am would be at a club, period. Those mid morning times are PRIME trolling hours...BB

 

Which is why I love going off between 2 and 3. The main trolls are gone, and often I can just play with whomever I booked the time with, and very seldom am I ever held up.

[nsxguy]

Technology exists today that would solve much of the slow play problem, but courses will never drive the development and adoption of it because it doesn't suit the outing crowd. And that appears to be where the revenue is.

 

Technology can't have any effect on a group who show up wanting to spend 5 hours clogging up the course. Unless the course owner is willing to either turn them away or ask them to leave if they play slowly, there is no technological miracle.

 

Sure they can. Everyone takes a cart.

 

With GPS, if a group falls behind, it's given a warning. If they fail to close the gap within a certain time (and distance) the carts start moving forward slowly WITHOUT the players. The players have to hit and catch up to the cart. Once the gap starts closing they're given a bit more time to catch up. And so on and so on,,,,,,,,,, :D

[FourTops]

Keep in mind there are folks out there who see golf as nearly an "all day" event. They are in no rush, and likely they play sporadically, so it's a treat. And your worst enemy is the PGA Tour that shows guys discussing a shot with their caddie, walking the entire green before putting...marking every putt...and aligning the ball on every putt. There was some guy on tour last weekend who seemed to take FOREVER to hit a shot.

 

They are the role models..

[deadsolid...shank]

Technology exists today that would solve much of the slow play problem, but courses will never drive the development and adoption of it because it doesn't suit the outing crowd. And that appears to be where the revenue is.

 

Technology can't have any effect on a group who show up wanting to spend 5 hours clogging up the course. Unless the course owner is willing to either turn them away or ask them to leave if they play slowly, there is no technological miracle.

 

Sure they can. Everyone takes a cart.

 

With GPS, if a group falls behind, it's given a warning. If they fail to close the gap within a certain time (and distance) the carts start moving forward slowly WITHOUT the players. The players have to hit and catch up to the cart. Once the gap starts closing they're given a bit more time to catch up. And so on and so on,,,,,,,,,, :D

 

I love it! Watching a guy chasing his cart down the fairway. Make it stop at the next tee box, you’ve then made them skip a hole. Back in position!

[Hilltopper413]

Keep in mind there are folks out there who see golf as nearly an "all day" event. They are in no rush, and likely they play sporadically, so it's a treat. And your worst enemy is the PGA Tour that shows guys discussing a shot with their caddie, walking the entire green before putting...marking every putt...and aligning the ball on every putt. There was some guy on tour last weekend who seemed to take FOREVER to hit a shot.

 

They are the role models..

 

I agree that some tour players are trrrible examples of slow play, but marking your ball and aligning your putts is just good etiquette and routine. It takes little time and certainly helps your score. Just walking up and slapping a 6 footer without aligning seems like a great way to miss more putts.

[nsxguy]

Technology exists today that would solve much of the slow play problem, but courses will never drive the development and adoption of it because it doesn't suit the outing crowd. And that appears to be where the revenue is.

 

Technology can't have any effect on a group who show up wanting to spend 5 hours clogging up the course. Unless the course owner is willing to either turn them away or ask them to leave if they play slowly, there is no technological miracle.

 

Sure they can. Everyone takes a cart.

 

With GPS, if a group falls behind, it's given a warning. If they fail to close the gap within a certain time (and distance) the carts start moving forward slowly WITHOUT the players. The players have to hit and catch up to the cart. Once the gap starts closing they're given a bit more time to catch up. And so on and so on,,,,,,,,,, :D

 

I love it! Watching a guy chasing his cart down the fairway. Make it stop at the next tee box, you’ve then made them skip a hole. Back in position!

 

Could have other sensors on the cart that sense the golfer is getting close,,,,,,, and then the cart speeds up !!! :cheesy:

[resnor]

Played two Saturdays ago...the group in front of my group wouldn't tee off until the group in front of them was at least 300 yards out...and these guys couldn't drive the ball farther than 200 yards. On par fives, I watched them wait for greens to clear before taking their second shots, when they were at times 300 yards out. That's the kind of stuff that's causing long rounds.

It sounds like their pace-of-play was keeping up with the group in front of them, although.

 

Not at all. Waiting for a green to clear from 300+ yards is not keeping up with the group in front. They weren't ever going to be close to hitting on top of that group.

[HatsForBats]

Played two Saturdays ago...the group in front of my group wouldn't tee off until the group in front of them was at least 300 yards out...and these guys couldn't drive the ball farther than 200 yards. On par fives, I watched them wait for greens to clear before taking their second shots, when they were at times 300 yards out. That's the kind of stuff that's causing long rounds.

It sounds like their pace-of-play was keeping up with the group in front of them, although.

 

Not at all. Waiting for a green to clear from 300+ yards is not keeping up with the group in front. They weren't ever going to be close to hitting on top of that group.

 

If they are again waiting on the next hole, even if the earlier group is 300 yards out, they are keeping up. They are just changing when they wait.

[resnor]

Played two Saturdays ago...the group in front of my group wouldn't tee off until the group in front of them was at least 300 yards out...and these guys couldn't drive the ball farther than 200 yards. On par fives, I watched them wait for greens to clear before taking their second shots, when they were at times 300 yards out. That's the kind of stuff that's causing long rounds.

It sounds like their pace-of-play was keeping up with the group in front of them, although.

 

Not at all. Waiting for a green to clear from 300+ yards is not keeping up with the group in front. They weren't ever going to be close to hitting on top of that group.

 

If they are again waiting on the next hole, even if the earlier group is 300 yards out, they are keeping up. They are just changing when they wait.

 

That's the point...they would never have been waiting.

[trumb1mj1]

Welp... http://www.golfwrx.com/518320/man-beaten-with-putter-after-asking-to-play-through-foursome/

[hybrid25]

Played two Saturdays ago...the group in front of my group wouldn't tee off until the group in front of them was at least 300 yards out...and these guys couldn't drive the ball farther than 200 yards. On par fives, I watched them wait for greens to clear before taking their second shots, when they were at times 300 yards out. That's the kind of stuff that's causing long rounds.

It sounds like their pace-of-play was keeping up with the group in front of them, although.

 

Not at all. Waiting for a green to clear from 300+ yards is not keeping up with the group in front. They weren't ever going to be close to hitting on top of that group.

 

If they are again waiting on the next hole, even if the earlier group is 300 yards out, they are keeping up. They are just changing when they wait.

ty for understanding the point I was making. Also, if a ball lands short of the group in front of you, it can be startling. Again, the group that was waiting was keeping up with the group in front of them.

[resnor]

Played two Saturdays ago...the group in front of my group wouldn't tee off until the group in front of them was at least 300 yards out...and these guys couldn't drive the ball farther than 200 yards. On par fives, I watched them wait for greens to clear before taking their second shots, when they were at times 300 yards out. That's the kind of stuff that's causing long rounds.

It sounds like their pace-of-play was keeping up with the group in front of them, although.

 

Not at all. Waiting for a green to clear from 300+ yards is not keeping up with the group in front. They weren't ever going to be close to hitting on top of that group.

 

If they are again waiting on the next hole, even if the earlier group is 300 yards out, they are keeping up. They are just changing when they wait.

ty for understanding the point I was making. Also, if a ball lands short of the group in front of you, it can be startling. Again, the group that was waiting was keeping up with the group in front of them.

 

No, they weren't. Geez. Especially given that they literally couldn't hit that far. But thanks for telling me how it was.

 

Were you one of the guys in that group in front of me? LOL. I guess you're right, it makes sense to not tee off on on a 380 yard par 4 because there is a group on the green putting.

[Hilltopper413]

 

No, they weren't. Geez. Especially given that they literally couldn't hit that far. But thanks for telling me how it was.

 

Were you

one of the guys in that group in front of me? LOL. I guess you're right, it makes sense to not tee off on on a 380 yard par 4 because there is a group on the green putting.

I don’t think you are getting their point. We understand that they did not hit when they could have for whatever reason (ego, ignorance, etiquette, whatever). What they are saying is that it didn’t really matter when they hit if they were again waiting on the group in front of them on the following holes. That means even with the delay to hit they were still keeping pace because they caught up with them again on the next holes.

 

I’ve been guilty of this same thing on the course. We are waiting on a group in front of us and the conversation usually goes “I don’t think I can get there, but there’s no reason to hurry up just so we can wait again.” This meaning I don’t want to come close to the group in front when we’re just going to be waiting again on the next shot or hole. It’s common etiquette to me.

[deadsolid...shank]

 

No, they weren't. Geez. Especially given that they literally couldn't hit that far. But thanks for telling me how it was.

 

Were you

one of the guys in that group in front of me? LOL. I guess you're right, it makes sense to not tee off on on a 380 yard par 4 because there is a group on the green putting.

I don’t think you are getting their point. We understand that they did not hit when they could have for whatever reason (ego, ignorance, etiquette, whatever). What they are saying is that it didn’t really matter when they hit if they were again waiting on the group in front of them on the following holes. That means even with the delay to hit they were still keeping pace because they caught up with them again on the next holes.

 

I’ve been guilty of this same thing on the course. We are waiting on a group in front of us and the conversation usually goes “I don’t think I can get there, but there’s no reason to hurry up just so we can wait again.” This meaning I don’t want to come close to the group in front when we’re just going to be waiting again on the next shot or hole. It’s common etiquette to me.

 

Very true. You feel kind of sheepish waiting because it’s a pretty good poke. Then someone kind of takes the onus off you by saying “it doesn’t matter anyway, we’ll wait again on the next hole”. And they’re us usually right.

[BlackDiamondPar5]

 

No, they weren't. Geez. Especially given that they literally couldn't hit that far. But thanks for telling me how it was.

 

Were you

one of the guys in that group in front of me? LOL. I guess you're right, it makes sense to not tee off on on a 380 yard par 4 because there is a group on the green putting.

I don’t think you are getting their point. We understand that they did not hit when they could have for whatever reason (ego, ignorance, etiquette, whatever). What they are saying is that it didn’t really matter when they hit if they were again waiting on the group in front of them on the following holes. That means even with the delay to hit they were still keeping pace because they caught up with them again on the next holes.

 

I’ve been guilty of this same thing on the course. We are waiting on a group in front of us and the conversation usually goes “I don’t think I can get there, but there’s no reason to hurry up just so we can wait again.” This meaning I don’t want to come close to the group in front when we’re just going to be waiting again on the next shot or hole. It’s common etiquette to me.

 

Very true. You feel kind of sheepish waiting because it’s a pretty good poke. Then someone kind of takes the onus off you by saying “it doesn’t matter anyway, we’ll wait again on the next hole”. And they’re us usually right.

Plus if the group in front of you has no where to go, then there is no reason to stay on their butt if all you're going to do is wait again.

[wkuo3]

Technology exists today that would solve much of the slow play problem, but courses will never drive the development and adoption of it because it doesn't suit the outing crowd. And that appears to be where the revenue is.

 

Technology can't have any effect on a group who show up wanting to spend 5 hours clogging up the course. Unless the course owner is willing to either turn them away or ask them to leave if they play slowly, there is no technological miracle.

 

Course owners know the hard-core avid golfers will show up to play somewhere every Saturday and Sunday. So they take the money from the 5-hour crowd and figure the hard-core guys are a captive market. And they're pretty much right.

 

No They're wrong if they assume the usual golfers are "captive". I had known golfers not patronizing certain local golf courses because of the 5+ hour round.

I drive additional mileage to other golf courses for the same reason.

[jpdx]

If everyone stayed right on each other, would the pace be the same, quicker, or slower than if you didn't (assuming a full course)?

[Baitkiller]

If everyone stayed right on each other, would the pace be the same, quicker, or slower than if you didn't (assuming a full course)?

 

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/1647988-those-unruly-60-somethings-that-wont-let-you-play-through/

[caniac6]

played in an interclub match today. We were the second group off, with nobody holding up the first group, and it took almost 5 hours. The group behind us was at least 2 holes behind us. I don't know what the heck people are doing out there.

[nsxguy]

played in an interclub match today. We were the second group off, with nobody holding up the first group, and it took almost 5 hours. The group behind us was at least 2 holes behind us. I don't know what the heck people are doing out there.

 

The Ryder Cup always takes longer to play. :D

[mallrat]

Being a greenskeeper I see firsthand all too often what is slowing golf down and there is not 1 answer. I simple answer is poor play, I work at a nice high end 1/2 resort and 1/2 private course. Wednesday I went out to handwater a few spots on 1 hole. I got there at 1:15 and rolled up the hose at 1:50, during that time I saw 3 groups (well 4 kind of) 1 group was on the green when I got there, 1 on the tee box. The group on the tee box proceeded to dump 3 of 4 tee shots into the garbage, they then tried to play their balls out with only 1 being successful and that only made it 15 yards into the rough and still didn't reach the fairway. It ends up taking this 4some 25 minutes to play 1 hole. Next group on the tee box is annoyed that i'm In the fairway (granted i'm 320 our from the ladies tees) so I move the hose out of play and go stand behind a tree and watch the gentleman who kept motioning for me to hurry up HIT his tee shot off his own leg.

 

Day before a coworker and I caught a 4some on a par 3. They had just tees off and we're driving away as we pull up. Well here comes the cart girl. 22 minutes later with 1 gentleman on the green, 1 standing in the bunker (yet to hit) and the other 2 still talking to the cart girl only 50 yards off the tee I yell "can we play through", guy on the green waves us up but the guys at the cart girl yell no. So we just drive around them

 

You're more a gentleman than I lol.

 

You have quick couplers in the fairway? or just tap into a head?

 

Quick couplers are about 2-5 ft off the fairway. We can tap into heads but I never have a key and have seen 4 broken this year already and don’t feel like breaking another (but we have had 2 quick couplers broken also, 1 guy likes to kick them). Problem is you don’t know if it’s a mainline coupler or not so switching out the connector on the hose gets annoying.

[caniac6]

played in an interclub match today. We were the second group off, with nobody holding up the first group, and it took almost 5 hours. The group behind us was at least 2 holes behind us. I don't know what the heck people are doing out there.

 

The Ryder Cup always takes longer to play. :D

I think the first group was taking it seriously. My group included 3 low single digit players and a 10. We all played well, but had fun. We told the guys in front that we enjoyed watching every single shot they took, but they didn't get the sarcasm. I actually thought they didn't send us off first because we would finish way ahead of everyone, and go home.

[NPVWhiz]

Technology exists today that would solve much of the slow play problem, but courses will never drive the development and adoption of it because it doesn't suit the outing crowd. And that appears to be where the revenue is.

 

Technology can't have any effect on a group who show up wanting to spend 5 hours clogging up the course. Unless the course owner is willing to either turn them away or ask them to leave if they play slowly, there is no technological miracle.

 

Course owners know the hard-core avid golfers will show up to play somewhere every Saturday and Sunday. So they take the money from the 5-hour crowd and figure the hard-core guys are a captive market. And they're pretty much right.

 

Yeah, just like technology can't stop the guy that wants to drive 87 on the freeway? It can. And does, when the folks responsible for driving the adoption and use of the technology actually adopt and use it.

 

They hand a player in each group a chip. When your round is done you deposit that chip into a machine. You pay based on how effing long you took. You deposit the chip in 3.5 hours your group pays 40 a person for the round. You play in 4.5 you pay 65 per person. You take 5 hours, you pay a Benji. You agree to this before you get to come out and play.

 

And if that's not enough, I've got 10 other simple solutions that are tech based that would work the same way. People should pay for their time on the course just like you pay for a bowling alley lane. You want to spend 5 hours bowling? No problem. Just get your blanking wallet out. Eventually you'll price the slow morons folks out of the equation and golf will survive. Doesn't mean they don't get to play. They just get what they get. There will always be a course out there where the only option to survive is to price the 5 hour crowd at 45 a person. And I can sure as hell figure out how to avoid that place.

[wkuo3]

If everyone stayed right on each other, would the pace be the same, quicker, or slower than if you didn't (assuming a full course)?

 

Same as the traffic on the roadway.

Ever get annoyed stuck behind traffic to find out just one vehicle blocking the flow of the traffic ?

 

State Troopers will maintain the flow of the traffic and the ProShop staff should maintain the pace of play to ensure everyone will be able to enjoy the game.

The only way to make the management understand is to take your business somewhere else, unless, that's the only golf course in town. The they'd got you good.

[Munich77]

There is a reason why I get up before 5 am on Sunday to walk the dog and then play golf. I hate long rounds!

[radiman]

If everyone stayed right on each other, would the pace be the same, quicker, or slower than if you didn't (assuming a full course)?

 

Same as the traffic on the roadway.

Ever get annoyed stuck behind traffic to find out just one vehicle blocking the flow of the traffic ?

 

State Troopers will maintain the flow of the traffic and the ProShop staff should maintain the pace of play to ensure everyone will be able to enjoy the game.

The only way to make the management understand is to take your business somewhere else, unless, that's the only golf course in town. The they'd got you good.

 

Right. You can only go as fast as the slowest group ahead of you. That's the frustrating part. One oblivious group can make everyone else's round much longer than needed.