Is it acceptable to play slow if you are scratch?

[larrybud]

18 hours ago, madchens said:

This thread is a perfect example of how each golfers views differ on what is "on pace", "slow play", "deliberate vs fast", etc. I have yet to, in-person or online, see someone state that they are the slow player. I think nobody feels like they are slow.

 

 

This is partly the fault of management. Get an official "pace of play" time on your scorecards and then you will have an objective measure of what is appropriate. For the groups who are slow, you have something to push them with. For the groups who think they should be able to play in 3 hours, you have an actual measure of EXPECTED time to play the course.

 

I did this with my golf league because of slowness last year. I had guys ready to quit the league because of some groups. Official PoP is posted, 2:15 for 9 holes. I gave an extra 5 minutes to hand in their card. So you have to be 2:20, OR within 15 min of the group in front of you. If your foursome is outside that, you get a warning. 2 warnings in a row and you get put at the back of the tee sheet the following week.

We've had a couple of warnings, but no penalties (this is where 2:30+ was COMMON last year, some 2:45!). I also had one guy b!tch and moan about a "slow" group in front of them, and I told him to keep quiet, as the group in front of them was within our PoP rules.

[larrybud]

2 hours ago, tboh said:

Just a few random comments frm a not scratch

- 4 hours rounds seem sooooo unnecessarily long to me

 

That's because you're trying to use some arbitrary measurement to judge every single course.

[madchens]

2 minutes ago, larrybud said:

 

This is partly the fault of management. Get an official "pace of play" time on your scorecards and then you will have an objective measure of what is appropriate. For the groups who are slow, you have something to push them with. For the groups who think they should be able to play in 3 hours, you have an actual measure of EXPECTED time to play the course.

 

I did this with my golf league because of slowness last year. I had guys ready to quit the league because of some groups. Official PoP is posted, 2:15 for 9 holes. I gave an extra 5 minutes to hand in their card. So you have to be 2:20, OR within 15 min of the group in front of you. If your foursome is outside that, you get a warning. 2 warnings in a row and you get put at the back of the tee sheet the following week.

We've had a couple of warnings, but no penalties (this is where 2:30+ was COMMON last year, some 2:45!). I also had one guy b!tch and moan about a "slow" group in front of them, and I told him to keep quiet, as the group in front of them was within our PoP rules.

I agree with you here but I see this with many courses in my area "Suggested pace of play is 4:30". In my opinion, they have set the mark too high (that is just my opinion and I know others want to just have a leisurely walk and hit balls in between).

 

My biggest issue isn't necessarily that they set it high, but if a group has a hole or a hole and a half open in front of them, and the group behind them is being held up they should let the group through. I think this sometimes gets lost in this particular discussion. Just because the pace is suggested at 4:30 doesn't mean all groups have to aim for that suggestion. I have played a lot of rounds, where I sat on every tee box and every fairway with 3 groups on the hole all day and we finished in 4:30. How has that become the standard?  My ultimate goal, when I play and my idea of pace, is to keep my group on pace with the group in front of me and if we fall behind I suggest we let the group behind us play through at the first/easiest opportunity.

 

Perhaps you were suggesting an actual official pace vs the aforementioned suggested. I'd be happy to see that at the courses in my area but they would actually have to enforce it which seems pretty unlikely. I think it is easier to do so in something like an organized golf league. You are right, this is a fault of management.

 

At this point, I am so exhausted with how long it takes that I am booking the first tee time in the morning at a local course and strongly considering joining a private club.

 

I appreciate that a lot of people do not want to be rushed or play with jack rabbits. For me, I do not want golf to take almost an entire day (7-8 hours with driving, warm up, playing, and driving home) of an already too short weekend. I simply want to play in 3 hours and head home. Before I started booking the first tee time of the day, I wondered if I would feel rushed, because I presumed the first group off would be people wanting to get through quickly. I found that 2:45-3:00 is a great pace for me and gives me time to get to my ball, analyze the shot, and pull the trigger. Same for on and around the greens, I never feel rushed at that pace.

[tboh]

7 minutes ago, larrybud said:

That's because you're trying to use some arbitrary measurement to judge every single course.

Agree w the underlying meaning ... each course & each round is different

 

I arbitrarily want to play thru all the slower players

[larrybud]

51 minutes ago, madchens said:

My biggest issue isn't necessarily that they set it high, but if a group has a hole or a hole and a half open in front of them, and the group behind them is being held up they should let the group through. I think this sometimes gets lost in this particular discussion. Just because the pace is suggested at 4:30 doesn't mean all groups have to aim for that suggestion. I have played a lot of rounds, where I sat on every tee box and every fairway with 3 groups on the hole all day and we finished in 4:30. How has that become the standard?  My ultimate goal, when I play and my idea of pace, is to keep my group on pace with the group in front of me and if we fall behind I suggest we let the group behind us play through at the first/easiest opportunity.

The Pace of Play is an actual rating system, just like the course rating and slope. It eliminates all "feeling" discussions, that's the point. It should also be intertwined with proper tee time spacing, because regardless of the pace of play rating, if tee times are too close together you WILL wait on many shots.

USGA has been doing some good studies (which have already been done by Bill Yates). See this:

https://www.usga.org/content/dam/usga/images/pace of play/usgas-gps-data-collection.pdf

"Cycle Time" is the average time it took to finish between groups, which in their data, was 9.1 minutes. Well, guess what happens when you have tee times < 9 minutes? 

Want to add an average of 15 minutes to each group? Increase green speeds from 9 to 10.5 on the stimp.

 

[smashdn]

On 7/2/2021 at 10:02 AM, nsxguy said:

 

Sorry, a player can't be deliberate and fast. They are opposites.

 

 

No.  You can be very fast to your ball and have a deliberate routine that is also not slow.  That was my point about and what I witnessed at Tour events.  When you watch on TV they switch to the player in the fairway having the caddy chat and deliberations.  It might take a minute or two.  That makes them look slow.  What you don't see is them absolutely shagging arse off the tee box and down the fairway.  Those guys are moving.  Bordering on power walking.  

 

On 7/20/2021 at 1:35 PM, Nevek said:

Maybe to continue to topic, what would you say is an acceptable pace for putting?

One topic that I really struggle with is that many high handicappers are frustrating fast when it comes to putting; no practice swing or no reading greens.

 

 

Can't comment on what the pace should be but I will say this bit, if all amateurs had a better understanding of what their chances of holing a putt from a given distance and what the actual goal for a putt from that distance should be they would be far faster.  For instance, outside of 12-15 feet for most ams, there is no sense in an agonizing line-up and practice stroke routine.  Tour average from 12 is like 30% make percentage.  Your goal should be to get that 12 foot putt and putts longer within tap in distance.  That doesn't require plumb bobbing and precise alignment of your mark on the ball.  Probably doesn't even require squatting to read it.  Get a rough bead and fair speed and you can lag putts to tap in range with regularity.

 

On 8/2/2021 at 10:37 AM, MountainKing said:

 

100%, most of the better players I play with and see, the ball is in the air before you can blink, on the greens they're ready to hit their putt as soon as you throw your mark down or tap out on your putt. 

 

I agree with this.  Good players don't agonize over clubs and what shots to hit.  They grab the stick and go.

 

On 8/2/2021 at 10:37 AM, MountainKing said:

It's been mentioned a few times here, but one of the big components to pace, that seemingly has gotten lost in the last few years, is keeping up with the group in front of you.  Everybody seems to look at the time the course indicates and view that as bible.  That time is the max time you should be taking, the group in front of you should be the pace you're keeping up with.  I don't get why it's a hard concept, a 4 some of any level golfer should be capable of playing a round in 3:30 without rushing.   

 

I don't agree with this however in all respects.  In a private setting the faster groups should go out first and so on through the next fastest.  Each successively slower group is the pace setter but a slower group behind cannot catch the ones in front.  The pace and flow of the groups through the course is maintained and no one is rushed but also no waiting either.

 

14 hours ago, rogolf said:

"Pace of play suggested by the course" was introduced with the intent to reduce the pace of play.  Now it is used as a means to justify slower play.  If the suggested pace of play is 4:15 and a group finishes within that time, but are 30 minutes behind the group immediately in front of them, they think that they are okay.  It was a strategic error by the clubs - they should have set the expected pace lower, maybe at 3:45.

 

Agree to an extent.  The "pace of play par" is sort of like regular par, it is a good time, but it would be nice to be below that time.  The course that set the "pace of play" theoretically did so based upon data of how long it should take to play factoring in average player abilities, green-to-tee drives/walks, difficulty, hole layouts (does a par three follow a par five?), etc.  The pace of play is what it is.

 

What I think you are getting at is that the pace of play isn't the goal necessarily, it is more the baseline.  And that there are/should be groups capable of playing faster.  Golfers should recognize if there is a group that is playing faster than theirs, and there is space ahead of them, they should let that faster group play through, for the betterment of everyone.  They won't be waiting on you and you won't feel rushed.

 

Bill Yates discovered when golfers complain about "pace of play" what they are really complaining about is a lack of flow.  You can play fast and in a time around 3:30 but it still be a log jam where you are waiting to hit.  Waiting is the bugaboo.  With proper flow you can get in a rhythm and not wait.  There are many components to having good flow on the course.  Some under the control of the golfer, some under the control of the course, some sort of out of anyone's control that you can only hope to minimize. 

 

1 hour ago, larrybud said:

 

This is partly the fault of management. Get an official "pace of play" time on your scorecards and then you will have an objective measure of what is appropriate. For the groups who are slow, you have something to push them with. For the groups who think they should be able to play in 3 hours, you have an actual measure of EXPECTED time to play the course.

 

Good example of using PoP as the baseline.  If the course is not 100% clear in front of you there is always the risk that you will be slowed down.

 

If you are a ranger in that scenario and you are really on your game you recognize the fast group is coming up on a slower group, have a convo with the speed demons that you are going up to the group in front to give them the heads up that, while they are playing plenty fast, there is a faster group that will be playing through.  Help to organize on what hole and when it should occur so as to minimize disruption for both groups.

 

I cut off the rest of your quote but when I played in a league they did the same thing.  The fastest groups were sent out on shotgun start to the farthest ahead holes.  Subsequently slower groups followed.  The "rabbits" in the front had several holes buffer to go run.  The slower players/groups were not holding up the rabbits because each group was slower behind them.  You knew there was a real PoP issue when the rabbits caught the back end of the league.

[larrybud]

1 minute ago, smashdn said:

Bill Yates discovered when golfers complain about "pace of play" what they are really complaining about is a lack of flow.  You can play fast and in a time around 3:30 but it still be a log jam where you are waiting to hit.  Waiting is the bugaboo.  With proper flow you can get in a rhythm and not wait.  There are many components to having good flow on the course.  Some under the control of the golfer, some under the control of the course, some sort of out of anyone's control that you can only hope to minimize

 

Absolutely, which is why it's called "pace" of play and not "time" of play. I know I've played 4 hour rounds which "felt" slow, and 4:30 rounds which "felt" fast, all due to the amount of waiting, and due to the difficulty of the course. My local muni , where holes are on top of each other, you can walk/drive directly to your ball, might "feel" slow at 4 hours, but my local resort course where everything is huge, and large distances between green to tee, you have to park the cart some distances from the green, etc might "feel" fast at 4:30. 

This is why course setup, layout, and routing is so important, and why expectations of the player are so important.

[smashdn]

And why tempering/setting those expectations are important as well.

[nsxguy]

2 hours ago, smashdn said:

 

No.  You can be very fast to your ball and have a deliberate routine that is also not slow.  That was my point about and what I witnessed at Tour events.  When you watch on TV they switch to the player in the fairway having the caddy chat and deliberations.  It might take a minute or two.  That makes them look slow.  What you don't see is them absolutely shagging arse off the tee box and down the fairway.  Those guys are moving.  Bordering on power walking.than theirs, and there is space ahead of them, they should let that faster group play through, for the betterment of everyone.  They won't be waiting on you and you won't feel rushed.

 

Then perhaps you might've explained it that way.

 

deliberate -

engage in long and careful consideration.

"she deliberated over the menu"

 

As for power walking we must be watching different players. The only time I see them hustling off the tee is when they're falling behind.

[nsxguy]

7 hours ago, caniac6 said:

We usually have a group that has 4 tee times on Tuesday and Thursday. This was the lead off group that day. One of the guys was a new guy in our group, and another was his buddy that is not part of our group. Those two were the ones that slowed the foursome. Another guy in the foursome, that is a fast player, was complaining as well. We don’t have rangers. I believe the guy responsible for putting the foursomes together will no longer put that new guy in the first group, and because of the slow play, and another behavior issue, his buddy will not be back with our group. As far as the why should it be less question, I hope you are not the guy driving 55 in the left lane just because it’s the acceptable speed limit.

 

Nope. I'm the guy tailgating you frustrated by your NOT moving over.

 

False equivalency though. If it's 1 lane you're out of luck. If it's multiple lanes you can give him the lights or get up close and hopefully he'll see you in the rear view mirror and move over.

 

As a last resort you can, carefully of course, pass him on the right.

 

Golf is a 1 lane road. That said, I'll pull over to let you pass IF there's somewhere for you to go.

 

But for the most part, on the golf course, it's live and let live.

Edited August 3, 2021 by nsxguy

[smashdn]

On 6/28/2021 at 11:27 AM, smashdn said:

You can have a solid pre-shot routine and not be slow.

You can have a solid pre-shot routine and it not consist of five practice swings.

You can be deliberate in your shot decision making process and not be a slow player.

I will even say you can be slow over the ball and not be a slow player.

 

Read some of the Rotella stuff and he advocates for basically not thinking about golf when it is not time to think about golf.  Give your mind a break and get to your ball quickly.  Then start thinking about what you are going to do.  That might make you look slow but if you aren't wasting time hunting the bushes and briars for wayward pellets you will be playing pretty darned fast.  Why rush the important part of golf when there is nowhere to go on the course?

 

I think the pros get torched at times for being slow but they are doing what I described above.  They wait for the "signal" to start the routine.  The signal might be the group ahead clearing the green or their playing partner hitting their shot.  If they start into the routine too soon they may have to hit the pause button before actually hitting the shot, and thus the routine is no longer routine.  I get why they do it the way they do.  I also see where the average tv viewer thinks they are super slow players when they don't see how fast they make it around the course.  I tried to keep up with a group one time at an event.  I couldn't do it.  They move fast when it is time to move on down the fairway.  

 

So for your Sunday foursome, all they see is the routine and emulate that.  But they are also searching for balls, chatting up the beer cart girl, futzing over head covers and gloves and riding to and from one another's ball.  They aren't moving fast at all.  And so they also are not playing fast.

 

 

TLDR

• Get your butt to the ball and get ready to hit
• When the coast is clear, do your routine and hit
• Keep your routine short but keep it routine

 

7 minutes ago, nsxguy said:

 

Then perhaps you might've explained it that way.

 

deliberate -

engage in long and careful consideration.

"she deliberated over the menu"

 

Dang.  I thought I did a pretty good job.

 

You have quoted the verb form not the adjective form.

 

"done consciously and intentionally.

"a deliberate attempt to provoke conflict""

 

Adjective would be the correct form.  As in "a deliberate routine" not to deliberate as in "let's deliberate the semantics."

 

7 minutes ago, nsxguy said:

As for power walking we must be watching different players. The only time I see them hustling off the tee is when they're falling behind.

 

I see it regularly.  Threesome on the tee.  Before the last guy's ball has landed the players and caddies have ventured off down the mown path while last guy is still holding his finish.  He watches the drive land then hustles to his caddy with his driver and they follow.

 

Are pros still slow?  Yeah they play slow overall.  5 and 6 hour rounds.  But they take forever over the ball.  They get to their ball quick and then they do all the chatting and pontification once they are there to it.  Most of us playing on the weekends can have the club picked and the wind figured out walking or riding to our ball.  They also spend a bunch of time on greens.  Rarely do I see pros lining up putts at the same time.  No reason a weekend foursome can't though.

[Fairway14]

On 7/25/2021 at 1:41 PM, ThinkingPlus said:

You should always let faster groups play through unless you are waiting on groups in front.

Yes, this is proper etiquette for 100 years. Sadly, pro-shop staff and course marshalls don't want to deal with slow play or complaints about slow play, so they enacted a "pace of play policy" . For example 4:15 or 4:30, which is an hour too long. So several groups or more are held up because one group of poorly mannered  people believe they have "the right" to do so.  And the course employees like  it because they don't have to do any work.

It used to be that a group with an entire hole open ahead of them , and two groups waiting behind them, were told to step aside. If they did not want

to let groups play thru they were told to pick up their golf balls and get back in position directly behind the group ahead of them. This worked well for 100 years and should still be course policy today. 

[nsxguy]

1 hour ago, smashdn said:

 

 

Dang.  I thought I did a pretty good job.

 

You have quoted the verb form not the adjective form.

 

"done consciously and intentionally.

"a deliberate attempt to provoke conflict""

 

Adjective would be the correct form.  As in "a deliberate routine" not to deliberate as in "let's deliberate the semantics."

 

A fellow project manager at my office some 25 years ago wrote on my whiteboard. "Don't give instruction that can be understood. Give instructions that CAN'T be MISunderstood"

 

She was right.

[Fairway14]

8 hours ago, tboh said:

Just a few random comments frm a not scratch

- 4 hours rounds seem sooooo unnecessarily long to me

- Letting others play thru carries a bad stigma ... you can play on-pace & still hold people up

 

You are absolutely correct that 4 hours for a round  of golf is too long. Depending on the layout of the golf course, a foursome should take between 3 hours and 3:30 to play 18 holes.

If a group has an open hole ahead and group(s) pressing from behind, they can pick up their golf balls and get back into position directly behind the group ahead of them. Or, they can stand aside and let the group (s) behind them play thru. So, there are two options available.

[rogolf]

If the golf course expected time is 4:15 and the first group out plays in 4:15, any following group has very little chance of finishing in 4:15 or less, at least until there is about a 30-45 minute gap in the tee sheet.

[bladehunter]

On 8/3/2021 at 5:28 PM, nsxguy said:

 

A fellow project manager at my office some 25 years ago wrote on my whiteboard. "Don't give instruction that can be understood. Give instructions that CAN'T be MISunderstood"

 

She was right.

Sometimes it’s hard to think on that low of a level to try to guess at what they will misunderstand.    I’m told by my wife constantly that I’m a horrible teacher.   My instruction usually go like this ...

 

go to A and pickup XY and Z bring it to B.    Apparently I’m supposed to also mention to check the fuel level in the car , to signal each turn , and be sure to secure XY and Z for a safe ride.    These things are obvious to me , and in my opinion if I need to include that many details for the task , you’re probably not qualified to preform it to begin with.  Critical thinking is a lost art , in other words. We’ve raised a bunch of assembly line workers , they only understand their small part. They can’t see the whole picture on their  own and make a determination..... unless their hands are held.  😜 drives me nuts.  By the time I explain it all I could just do it myself. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by bladehunter

[tboh]

Played last eve ... we were last 4ball to go off

 

Our 4th was late bc of work issue ended up delaying by 30 mins (so 40 min buffer)

 

Caught group in front on 14 tee

 

Just ready golf

Gambling drinking bullshitting

Shop game comp 

Blah blah blah

 

They were on "their" pace

They dint let us thru

We finished in about 320

 

No point ... just beotching

[MountainKing]

On 8/3/2021 at 12:18 PM, smashdn said:

 

No.  You can be very fast to your ball and have a deliberate routine that is also not slow.  That was my point about and what I witnessed at Tour events.  When you watch on TV they switch to the player in the fairway having the caddy chat and deliberations.  It might take a minute or two.  That makes them look slow.  What you don't see is them absolutely shagging arse off the tee box and down the fairway.  Those guys are moving.  Bordering on power walking.  

 

 

 

They are slow, they can hustle all they want between shots, but it often takes them 4 to upwards of 5 hours to play 18 holes as a twosome.  

[MountainKing]

On 8/3/2021 at 4:54 PM, Fairway14 said:

 

You are absolutely correct that 4 hours for a round  of golf is too long. Depending on the layout of the golf course, a foursome should take between 3 hours and 3:30 to play 18 holes.

If a group has an open hole ahead and group(s) pressing from behind, they can pick up their golf balls and get back into position directly behind the group ahead of them. Or, they can stand aside and let the group (s) behind them play thru. So, there are two options available.

 

Careful, you're going to be accused of pushing a speed golf agenda. 

[smashdn]

27 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

 

They are slow, they can hustle all they want between shots, but it often takes them 4 to upwards of 5 hours to play 18 holes as a twosome.  

 

That is what I said in the part of my response that you chose not to include in the quote.

[MountainKing]

16 minutes ago, smashdn said:

 

That is what I said in the part of my response that you chose not to include in the quote.

-----------------------

  On 7/2/2021 at 10:02 AM, nsxguy said:

 

Sorry, a player can't be deliberate and fast. They are opposites.

 

 

No.  You can be very fast to your ball and have a deliberate routine that is also not slow.  That was my point about and what I witnessed at Tour events.  When you watch on TV they switch to the player in the fairway having the caddy chat and deliberations.  It might take a minute or two.  That makes them look slow.  What you don't see is them absolutely shagging arse off the tee box and down the fairway.  Those guys are moving.  Bordering on power walking.  

---------------------------

 

I'm missing something - you're using a tour pro as an example as somebody who can be deliberate and fast?  The guys are tour can be some of the slowest golfers on earth (outside of guys like Pat Perez and Brooks).  They don't look slow, they are slow.  

[smashdn]

So, like I was saying.  The ones I followed get to their ball very quickly then are very deliberate (adj.) with their routine and club selection process.  Not often does the camera catch them just walking down the fairway (US coverage anyway).  But when you see it in person those guys are not wasting time walking.

 

I am using the tour player as an example that you can still have your pre-shot routine (will also saying that most of those guy's routine's and club selection process is too slow) so long as you move your butt out there on the course.  In other words, you don't have to rush the important parts of the round, provided you aren't wasting time doing other stuff.  Chatting the beer cart girl, not being ready to hit when it is your turn, waiting to do your plumb bob ritual on the green, searching the woods for wayward pellets, doubling back because you left your wedge, etc.

 

To make it more clear for pros:

Walking from green to tee - Fast

Walking to ball - Fast

Club Selection, wind, Earth's gravitational impact, etc. - Glacially slow

Pre-shot routine  - Slow

Overall - Slow

 

My overall point and the answer to the OP is no, being slow is not acceptable if you are scratch, and that even if your excuse is "my swing coach said I have to follow my routine and not swing till I am 100% in the zone," you can still do that and be a fast enough player if you also are not dragging butt doing everything else.

 

12 minutes ago, MountainKing said:

--------------------------

 

I'm missing something - you're using a tour pro as an example as somebody who can be deliberate and fast?  The guys are tour can be some of the slowest golfers on earth (outside of guys like Pat Perez and Brooks).  They don't look slow, they are slow.  

 

On 8/3/2021 at 2:51 PM, smashdn said:

Are pros still slow?  Yeah they play slow overall.  5 and 6 hour rounds.  But they take forever over the ball.  They get to their ball quick and then they do all the chatting and pontification once they are there to it.  Most of us playing on the weekends can have the club picked and the wind figured out walking or riding to our ball.  They also spend a bunch of time on greens.  Rarely do I see pros lining up putts at the same time.  No reason a weekend foursome can't though.

Edited August 5, 2021 by smashdn

[oikos1]

I'm amazed this thread is pushing six pages. 

[nitram]

Slow players irregardless of handicap are in the same category as sandbaggers. If it takes you more than 30 seconds from the time you pull the club to hitting the shot (unless something interrupts your routine) you are a golf sloth, and should not be tolerated by others. Anyone who takes five practice swings before a shot should be compelled to clean carts, sand all divots, and fix all pitch marks on the course post tournament. The golf course is not the practice range when you're playing with a group.

[Imp]

Played with with a mid single digit capper on Saturday that once he knows distance (either checking himself or asking someone nearby that may have it), pulls club, hits ball, no practice, no waffle, nothing. Once the club goes near the ball, the backswing starts for contact. No delay. Everything with a purpose. I was envious at his confidence.

[denkea]

I used to play with a guy (2 hdcp) that was never ready to hit.  Always slow.  I decided to time him on one shot.  He was the last to hit to the green and when it was his time to hit I started the clock.  It took him 1 minute and 45 seconds to hit.  I might have chewed a steel shaft in half by the time he hit.  Needless to say we didn't play too often together.  

[PoolPond]

No. In fact, I expect a scratch to be a tad quicker than a 15. Time spent being indecisive does not equate to shooting low scores. 

[rjp1969]

On 6/28/2021 at 12:27 PM, smashdn said:

 

 

I think the pros get torched at times for being slow but they are doing what I described above.  They wait for the "signal" to start the routine.  The signal might be the group ahead clearing the green or their playing partner hitting their shot.  If they start into the routine too soon they may have to hit the pause button before actually hitting the shot, and thus the routine is no longer routine. 

 

 

TLDR

• Get your butt to the ball and get ready to hit
• When the coast is clear, do your routine and hit
• Keep your routine short but keep it routine

 

This!  I have always been a relatively quick golfer, and my game would go to he** on a slow day (which happens often on weekends if we didn't have a very early tee time).  I'm not sure fi it was Rotella, but I saw this advice a couple of years ago and started to implement it.  I will have my yardages, wind etc. planned out so I know which club I plan to use, but I won't pull the club out of the bag until I am ready to go right into my pre-shot routine.

 

Until it is time, I'll do my best not to think about the shot, worry about the shot, etc.  Having music has helped me in these slow rounds a lot.  Watching people lean on their 3-woods waiting for a green to clear always remind me of the old plan, which was waiting with the club in hand getting annoyed, even when It was clear that it was going to happen all day.

 

Having a 'go' signal has been very beneficial to my game.

[MtlJeff]

On 8/5/2021 at 9:15 PM, oikos1 said:

I'm amazed this thread is pushing six pages. 

 

Too many slow posters on WRX

 

me and my buddies could have finished this thread in 2-3 pages tops

[Imp]

4 hours ago, MtlJeff said:

 

Too many slow posters on WRX

 

me and my buddies could have finished this thread in 2-3 pages tops

It only took me 5 seconds to type this. *sigh*