Industry Best Practices On Slow Play

[MofoJones]

Hey WRX’ers hope everyone is doing well!

 

I wanted to pick at some of your experiences brains on the topic of dealing with a group of golfers who are playing too slow. 

 

What are the best ways people have heard/seen courses keeping groups accountable for pace of play? 
What has been implemented and has worked? What has gone badly? Why did it not work? etc. 
 

 

Obviously you don’t want to ruin someone’s day with the awkward conversation, but also don’t want them to ruin EVERYONES day behind them. It’s a tough predicament for the course, the slow group, and everyone on the golf course behind. 
 

Hoping to pass the information on to the courses I work with and implement a strategy with the ideas that have worked for others. 

 

The courses I am speaking about are public/muni’s so not everyone are members in case that changes things. 

 

Thanks for your input,

 

MFJ

[Soloman1]

Are we getting paid for this consulting work? 🙂

 

There's the free advice, or the premium content.

 

I'm too funny.

Edited June 5, 2021 by Soloman1

[ezpz]

Don't allow fourballs and set up the course as easy as possible (no long rough, no USGA pin positions). Make people play from the appropriate teebox, preferably by HCP and not by their "driving distance" as the latter is arbitrary and depends on people actually knowing their game with some amount of accuracy and humility. Obviously you can tell people who are slow to play faster but I've never seen it have any effect.

Edited June 5, 2021 by ezpz

[The Pearl]

A large % of slow play problems could be avoided before they occur. 

 

1. Since COVID, our courses have gone to 10 minute tee times.  This has helped.

 

2. 5somes should absolutely be prohibited.  Nothing ever good comes from a 5some.

 

3. Many courses are lazy in getting people on the tee and off on time.  If a group is not ready to go or late arriving and scrambling to the tee, bump them or send them home.

 

4. Carts are becoming a huge problem in terms of slow play.  Many new golfers are not maximizing speed of play from a cart. They have never been taught to grab a few clubs, head to your ball ,etc.   Golfers are literally glued to the cart and crisscrossing all over the fairways.  Complete morons. 

 

5. The industry seems woefully behind in using technology to monitor slow play.  This should easily be done with tracking devices/monitors in the shop and ways to communicate with slow groups. 

 

6.  Education is virtually non-existent.  Ready golf and pace of play should be emphasized every few holes and before each round.  A parallel would be "safety at the gun range."

 

7.  The industry has dropped the ball on slow play.  A massive overhaul of some of the "traditions" of golf need to go relative to pace of play:  honors, farthest away plays first, using the aiming line to line up your putts, etc. 

[rogolf]

Traditions are maintained by players.  The traditions are not the problem, the players are.

Increasing the gap between tee times is always great, and statistics show that it does not significantly reduce the number of rounds completed; it just adds to everyone's enjoyment by decreasing time spent waiting.  9-10 minutes is optimum, and stick to it.  Do you want to wait an extra two minutes on the first tee or wait 5 minutes on every tee thereafter?

Cramming people onto the course from the first tee is a recipe for disaster and complaints.

Edited June 5, 2021 by rogolf

[oikos1]

It seems so few people get taught proper etiquette anymore that it may very well need to be the golf courses responsibility.  For example, if you rent a boat, many marinas require renters to watch a 5-10 minute video on safe boat operation and basic rules of the waterway.  Many gun ranges require watching a one time video on proper firearm safety and range etiquette.  I see no reason why a golf course would not require golfers to watch a one time "etiquette and pace of play" video.  One time.  5-10 minutes.  That's it.  I think a lot of slow play is just simple ignorance. 

Edited June 6, 2021 by oikos1

[ArtMBgolf]

Since there is a hole open in front of you, we are going to let the group 
behind you go through.     

[mukster]

I wrote a letter to my golf club complaining about slow play. I had played at other courses much faster. I wrote a nice letter stating that something should be done and I was happy to partake in constructive discussion.

 

Response :  ******************************crickets*******************************************

 

Having said that, play has certainly sped up. No one, however, was interested in constructive discussion. So I want to believe that my letter had some effect😅

[2bGood]

There is a good USGA study out there that found holding player back on the first, so they they were out of position when they tee off was an effective way to encourage good pace. 

 

Keeping players slightly behind got them into a rhythm of trying to catch to the groups in front - who was trying to catch up to the group in front who was trying to catch the group in front....

 

When you let people tee off from the first tee too soon and they wait to hit approach shots early in the round, they get into the opposite rhythm and start taking their times because 'they are waiting anyway'.

 

Of course if players are ignorant of trying to keep pace with the group in front none of this matters.

[Blonde Line Lizard]

Ready golf should be the standard way of playing.  I have seen a lot of time wasted with three people ready to play, only to be held up by the one person who is the farthest from the hole (who happens to be in the rough somewhere) trying to figure out how to play their shot.

 

Another problem are the Jim Furyk putters once on the green:  squat, stand, move back a few steps, squat, stand.  Then, move to the other side of the hole and repeat the process....only to miss the putt FROM 3 FEET AWAY!!!

 

 

[Warrior42111]

I think the first thing is to find the main root or roots of slow play. Each would have their own solution.

 

Is the course stacking tee times to close? This can cause gaps with reachable par 4s and going for 5s in two

Is the course set up (pin positions, US open rough) to had for the average player at said course?

Are people not playing ready golf (unless it's some event)?

Are the wrong tees being played for skill level?

Has anyone ever politely talked to the group?

Are they just plain slow and don't care?

 

[Abh159]

Some if not all of these have already been mentioned, but here are the things I've seen work at public/muni courses. Most are common sense but you'd be surprised at how many courses don't do these things.

 

- 10 minutes between tee times

 

- Absolutely no fivesomes

 

- Every golfer must have their own clubs. I've been to courses and have seen a group of 4 golfers all sharing one bag of clubs. They had to literally drive the one cart to every single person's ball between shots and took forever to play. 

 

- Every golfer has to be on the first tee at the designated tee time or else the group can't tee off. No joining a group mid-round. I've seen plenty of courses allow that "late friend" to come join his group on (insert hole) once he finally arrives and this always slows things down. 

 

- Have a Starter (or any course employee) on #1 tee to make sure people tee off ON TIME and not too late or too early. Too late is self explanatory, but most people don't realize teeing off too early is just as big of an issue. You need to give the group in front a small window or else you're constantly going to be waiting on them. 

 

- Have another Starter on #9 green to monitor progress. If a group has fallen behind they don't need to stop in the clubhouse at the turn for food and beers. They need to get going to #10 tee ASAP.

[Quasimoto]

On 6/7/2021 at 9:10 AM, Blonde Line Lizard said:

Ready golf should be the standard way of playing.  I have seen a lot of time wasted with three people ready to play, only to be held up by the one person who is the farthest from the hole (who happens to be in the rough somewhere) trying to figure out how to play their shot.

 

Another problem are the Jim Furyk putters once on the green:  squat, stand, move back a few steps, squat, stand.  Then, move to the other side of the hole and repeat the process....only to miss the putt FROM 3 FEET AWAY!!!

 

 

Do you know what is even worse to watch?

 

4 players, 3 carts, and 1 massive bong heading away from the 4th tee, the bong billowing smoke. By the time they get to the green - par 5 - they are very stoned. One of the group spends 3 minutes walking to the hole and back before putting, approximately 30-35 feet.

Squats down behind the ball studying the line for more than a minute. Gets behind the ball to putt and takes at least a dozen practice strokes. Finally putts and the ball rolls 7 feet! Nothing we could do but laugh watching this spectacle.

 

On the 6th hole the Marshall got them to pick up and move on to the 7th. After that they went along fairly well.