The 5 hour round

[caeye0710]

I'm lucky I guess. The two or three tracks I play here in NC, no matter what time I go off and how busy it is, we rarely have EVER gone longer than four hours. 

[Yoshifan151]

Had one of these yesterday at the local muni I work at. Combo of all the new hackers that don't understand etiquette and the tee sheet being full from 6 am - 5pm. 300+ people checked in each day the whole week, absolutely insane.

[phizzy30]

Last Saturday's round was absolutely horrific.  If any of you guys have played Industry Hills/Pacific Palms recently, yall would know what I'm talking about.  We played the Ike Course in 5 hours and 45 minutes.  It seemed like we waiting 5-10 minutes on average on every hole granted it's a tough course and where the LPGA used to play the Kia Classic if my memory serves me right.  Of all the groups I saw, they were playing from the tips and we were playing from the whites because my 4 some play bogey golf minus me and all we care about is having a blast and playing as quickly as possible.  Lots of lost balls for the other groups and they would take awhile to try and find them.  I ended up losing 2 balls that day as well.  We started at 12:30 and it was 7:45 when we headed home after dinner.  At least dinner tasted good. 

Edited April 11, 2021 by phizzy30

[juspoole11]

I rarely play on weekends any longer because of this.  Luckily, my job allows flexibility and with COVID moving me home full time, it's been easier than ever to play during the week.  If I do play over the weekends, I try to at least get in before 9am as most of the slower folks tend to want tee times a bit later.  Or I'll switch and go much later when the course is a bit emptier.   Also at times I'll pick the harder or nicer tracks that tend to be a tad pricier on the weekends to help keep the 5+ hour folks away that tend to play the more open and park type courses.

 

I'm still at a loss why it would take more than 4.5 hours ever (minus the turn).  That gives you 15 minutes on each hole and should be ample time if you use some common sense.

[Pinky5]

There are more people playing golf, and the vast majority of those suck. So they are looking for their balls on every hole. That's what slows everyone up. If people would just not go look for their ball when they hit it in the woods the rounds would go much faster.

 

But that's getting into common sense and etiquette, which pretty much no one has these days. So if you play on the weekends or in the afternoon in nice weather at a muni, be prepared to wait a lot. I don't think this is ever going to change.

[Argonne69]

It's early in the season here, and surprisingly there are very few players out during the weekday morning. I've played 7 rounds so far, and I think only one was close to four hours. Most rounds have been under three hours.

 

Sigh. I am not looking forward to the return of the crowds. I have gotten so spoiled. Even four hours feels glacial compared to these lightning rounds.

 

[Medson]

I play muni on weekends. I'd consider 5-hour round a win. 

[North Butte]

I had a weird round this weekend. The large group I play with (three foursomes) teed off behind a threesome in separate carts who somehow managed to take well over an hour to play the first four holes. When they were putting on the fourth green everyone behind them was stuck at a dead-on 5 hour pace.

 

And then something truly unprecedented happened. Those bozos got their act together and started playing at a decent pace. I don't think I've ever had a glacially slow group actually speed up rather than get slower as the round progressed. Our entire round ended up taking just a hair over 4 hours which means starting on the fifth those guys were moving along pretty well.

 

The foursome immediately behind them said after the round the slow group was playing the way-back tees and were big hitters who couldn't keep it between the tree lines. Maybe after a while they started teeing off with 5-irons or something.

[Medson]

56 minutes ago, North Butte said:

I had a weird round this weekend. The large group I play with (three foursomes) teed off behind a threesome in separate carts who somehow managed to take well over an hour to play the first four holes. When they were putting on the fourth green everyone behind them was stuck at a dead-on 5 hour pace.

 

And then something truly unprecedented happened. Those bozos got their act together and started playing at a decent pace. I don't think I've ever had a glacially slow group actually speed up rather than get slower as the round progressed. Our entire round ended up taking just a hair over 4 hours which means starting on the fifth those guys were moving along pretty well.

 

The foursome immediately behind them said after the round the slow group was playing the way-back tees and were big hitters who couldn't keep it between the tree lines. Maybe after a while they started teeing off with 5-irons or something.

I had this happened to me couple of times. The groups in front of me were slow at beginning. Then, all of sudden, a light switch seemed to flip on them. In the end, no more waiting at the tee boxes. 

[TomRUtah]

On Friday, 10 days ago, I played in a twosome.  It was slow on the non-public course, especially for a weekday.  The first 4-some let us play through after about four holes, but the next group would not let us play through because the group in front of them was part of their group.  Say what?  That round took 6.5 hours.  

[Argonne69]

3 hours ago, TomRUtah said:

On Friday, 10 days ago, I played in a twosome.  It was slow on the non-public course, especially for a weekday.  The first 4-some let us play through after about four holes, but the next group would not let us play through because the group in front of them was part of their group.  Say what?  That round took 6.5 hours.  

 

Was there a huge gap in front of the lead foursome? If so I would have skipped a hole to get ahead of the eight of them. No way on Earth am I standing around for 6+ hours. That's just insane.

 

[@_the_crook]

if we were forced to take two and a half to complete the first nine and the back was jammed, I'd hit the clubhouse for a meal and an attitude adjustment.

no way my brain would be 'in the game' at that point.

it's supposed to be fun.

 

every scorecard mentions pace. if the course cannot reasonably live up to it, ask for a raincheck.

not all players can take an entire day for a round of golf.

I believe if more of us hold venues to a decent pace of play - they will in turn, manage players more efficiently.

when was the last time you saw a ranger move a fast group ahead of a slower one?

 

 

 

[Stinger83]

Get a side bet game going on the tee box with your playing partners while you wait - you'll start to get excited about those slow groups. 

 

closest chip to the next tee marker gets a free beer 

[Argonne69]

8 hours ago, @_the_crook said:

 

when was the last time you saw a ranger move a fast group ahead of a slower one?

 

 

Never. I've also never seen a ranger move a slow group back into position after falling more than a hole behind the group ahead. It's like a unicorn I guess. We keep hearing about it, but the sad reality is that the courses would much rather p-ss off dozens of golfers behind a slow group than possibly offend the slowpokes.

 

[RayGorman]

Being a Muni guy, 5 hours can be the norm. My buddies schedules almost always mean a weekend go out. While I do have some flexibility to go out on a weekday once in awhile, it isn't that often. So we are generally limited to weekends. And we are NOT crack of dawn players anyway. Plus- many of the Muni's and Semi Private courses have "Men's Clubs" on weekends locking up tee times until about 10:30/11. 

Although, recently, they are at least trying to speed things up and 5 hour rounds are a bit rarer on most courses. But there are still some stragglers who will slow things down. Last season during the restrictions due to Covid rules, it was almost impossible to get a time if you didn't go online a week or 2 ahead. Even on a weekday. But I did find that on the odd chance of getting out as a single (most did not allow 'walkups'), times were much closer to 4 hours than 5. Mostly because of the no shows. They would book out a 4some a week ahead and if it was too windy, too hot, too cold, or whatever they just didn't show up. No consequences in cancelling so no big deal. But no 'walkups' meant plenty of openings could have been filled with paying customers. 

We can go further away to a few courses that are generally less busy but the total time would be about the same. 

Worst cases are the City courses- 6+ hour rounds are almost standard. Before Covid, you could wait over an hour as a single to get paired up, then 6 hours playing. Or, I could drive 45 minutes out to the Island, get out in 10 minutes and play in 4+ hours. Maybe the total time would be about the same, but not getting annoyed over 6 hours would be preferable and a more relaxing day.

[jacobEDGE]

I don't mind 5 hour rounds. Those are pretty standard and like 75% of what I play. It's a weird blip in the matrix when I get finish in 4-4.5 hours. It's the 5.5-6 hour rounds that start to annoy me.

[RmoorePE]

I feel like on any popular course or muni, 5 hours is becoming standard. It is mostly due to poor players just having to look for their balls a lot and hitting a lot of shots. We played behind a group of terrible players last Sunday, but I could see they were not committing any of the time wasting sins that we worry about (sitting in the cart when you should be getting ready for your turn, goofing off when they should be hitting, spending forever looking for balls, etc). They just sucked and lost the group in front of them by 2 holes. The marshal asked us if they were playing slow and we just said "They aren't playing slow, they are just playing A LOT. We don't think they should be asked to skip a hole." Eventually they caught up to the group in front of them because there was a really slow group somewhere ahead, so I'm glad they didn't get asked to skip.

 

My advice to all is stop scheduling anything after golf if you are playing on weekends (now including Fridays) on popular public or muni courses. It has become very popular, too popular to hope for sub 4 hours rounds. The average tournament round now is faster than the average weekend round.

 

We had to evolve our Friday and weekend games to match current POPs on most popular courses. 5-6 years ago we complained to the marshals, swished our tails, whined about it affecting our "rhythm", but slowly just evolved our money game to match average POP. We help each other look for balls, read our team mates putts if they are important (always play 2 man teams), BS between holes, etc. We also evolved our expectations for the timeline,  now it is breakfast, range, golf, lunch/cocktails and then home/nap. Much more relaxing but an 8-10 hour window is required.

 

Now 5 hours feels normal, and we whine about the group of old ladies playing golf cart polo behind us always getting on our tails LOL.

 

, 

[TCJ]

Although I do agree the influx of new golfers are contributing to 5+ hour rounds, I've also noticed a lot of of players with insane pre-shot routines that take forever to execute! Range finder, 3 long deliberate practice swings, 10-15 seconds wiggle over the ball, rinse & repeat. Damn it's tedious!

 

On a side note, due to some short sighted COVID related restrictions in my area, you can only purchase alcohol if seated at a table and eating a meal. Therefore you cannot purchase or consume liquor on the course for this season.

 

Maybe that will help reduce the 5 hour round, or make it that much more unbearable.

 

I can't wait to find out!

 

 

[Yoshifan151]

The real thing that sucks is that pre-Covid if you had a slow group in front, chances are you could skip to the hole in front and not have to worry about it. But now you can't really do that since every single tee time is booked. 5 hours rounds are here to stay unless the people that picked up golf during the lockdown go back to what they did before. Pretty lame.

[Medson]

And if you have a twilight tee time (usually 4 or 5 hours before sunset), you may want to properly set the expectations that you may not finish all 18. 

[RmoorePE]

2 hours ago, TCJ said:

 

 

On a side note, due to some short sighted COVID related restrictions in my area, you can only purchase alcohol if seated at a table and eating a meal. Therefore you cannot purchase or consume liquor on the course for this season.

 

 

If they also outlawed OB (own booze) then I would be forced to quit golf.

[Gsea]

1 hour ago, RmoorePE said:

If they also outlawed OB (own booze) then I would be forced to quit golf.

we'd really miss u lol

[betarhoalphadelta]

20 hours ago, @_the_crook said:

 

when was the last time you saw a ranger move a fast group ahead of a slower one?

 

 

In one way, I'm one of those who found the game [again] during COVID... I've played on and off my whole life, but the last decade was mostly "off". I at least understand etiquette and pace of play, and I can suck at golf quickly lol...

 

My first round back was up in Oregon with my father-in-law. He's a twice-a-week golfer, but we decided to play too late for him to get a time at his own club, so we were at a muni. It was a Friday morning, but it was a SLOW round. He was getting pissed off at the group in front of us, playing slow, letting their kid drive the cart [which I didn't speak up because I loved when my dad let me drive the cart lol]... It was brutal pace before we even made the turn. 

 

It was about the 8th hole when the group behind us caught us while we were waiting on the tee... The group behind us had an off-duty marshal and my FIL complained to him... 

 

Nothing happened.

 

2 hours ago, RmoorePE said:

If they also outlawed OB (own booze) then I would be forced to quit golf.

 

Most of the courses I play outlaw it. Gotta get creative. Pro tip: scout what beers they sell on course and that's what you bring in your hidden cooler so you at least COULD have bought it from them. 😉 

 

[@_the_crook]

5 minutes ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

Most of the courses I play outlaw it. Gotta get creative.

 

Flasks are simple to pack.

One group that plays early has an assortment of bourbon, rum and whiskey at the ready, plus cigars.

All fine gents.

 

[RmoorePE]

Yeah I meant if they outlawed booze sales on course, plus would not allow OB that is outrageous! 
 

Perfectly content to buy cocktails from the course. Cart girl or at the turn, whatever is available.  

[TCJ]

 

18 hours ago, RmoorePE said:

If they also outlawed OB (own booze) then I would be forced to quit golf.

 

Well, it's a good thing you don't live here, because that is exactly the case... outrageous indeed!

 

Any course I've played (in Canada at least) does not allow outside liquor onto the course. They don't typically police it very well, but that might change this year.

 

I'm surprised there hasn't been more push back from golf establishments... liquor sales has to be a pretty decent money generator, especially when they host corporate tourneys or similar which are just big drunk fests.

 

I know I've had some great times getting drunk on the course with good friends on a beautiful summers day. Guess I'll just stick to the WEED this year 😉

[kthomas]

5 hour rounds are why I largely avoid weekend golf. 

 

My wife and I usually go and walk 9 holes after work one day a week, as a regular date night, perhaps with a couple of adult pops.  9 holes is about all she wants to do, but she loves walking 9. There's usually no one on the courses 4:30 pm onwards, especially in the summer time when it's hot and the snowbirds are away. 

 

It's aggravating being stuck behind golfers for ~5 hours on a  course, especially when myself and those I golf with are pretty speedy. 

 

Slow golf has got to be one of the biggest barriers to the sport, and I imagine has been detrimental to it's growth. It's pretty insane to think that someone/some group that was golfing ~6 hours before you could completely determine the pace of your own play in a negative way. What other sport is like that?

 

[TomRUtah]

On 4/12/2021 at 8:51 PM, Argonne69 said:

 

Was there a huge gap in front of the lead foursome? If so I would have skipped a hole to get ahead of the eight of them. No way on Earth am I standing around for 6+ hours. That's just insane.

 

 

The 2nd group in front of us was not waiting on anyone in front of them.  I couldn't see beyond that.  This happened on the 14th hole.  Play had been even slower up to this point, so pace of play was more tolerable on the last five holes.  Still, 6.5 hours is simply ridiculous.  Looking back on it, I should have insisted we play thru.

[Wigs805]

Still beats not playing at all🍻

[Argonne69]

On 4/14/2021 at 4:15 PM, TomRUtah said:

 

The 2nd group in front of us was not waiting on anyone in front of them.  I couldn't see beyond that.  This happened on the 14th hole.  Play had been even slower up to this point, so pace of play was more tolerable on the last five holes.  Still, 6.5 hours is simply ridiculous.  Looking back on it, I should have insisted we play thru.

 

You must be a lot more patient than me. If the group ahead is more than a hole behind, and refuses to acknowledge my faster group behind standing around with their hands on their hips hole after hole after hole, then I'm going to simply skip a hole to get ahead of them. What are they going to do? Call the ranger and complain that a faster group played through their slower group that was more than a hole behind the pace? 

 

Yeah, skipping a hole stinks. A 5+ hour round is worse.