Pace of play

[roll - gybe]

2:45-3 is a average pace for me.. anything 4+ is slow.

 

 

Yeah, but this thread involves more of the interaction between players. You can't really play 2:45 rounds when you are in a match with other people or when there are other people on the course.

 

I think it is bad advice to tell someone that they are slow if they knock you off 3:15 pace. It isn't reality.

I think the OP is looking for some constructive ways to evaluate his pace of play and perhaps avoid little things that can create stigmas.

 

Of course, I would love to play my rounds at that speed!!!

[Johnny]

2:45-3 is a average pace for me.. anything 4+ is slow.

 

 

Yeah, but this thread involves more of the interaction between players. You can't really play 2:45 rounds when you are in a match with other people or when there are other people on the course.

 

I think it is bad advice to tell someone that they are slow if they knock you off 3:15 pace. It isn't reality.

I think the OP is looking for some constructive ways to evaluate his pace of play and perhaps avoid little things that can create stigmas.

 

Of course, I would love to play my rounds at that speed!!!

 

Read it again.. I said 4+ is slow.. not anywhere lower. I just played last thursday and the course was crowded and we played in 4 hours and it felt fine. Normally my foursome can get around in 3h and if we drop our "slow" guy we can get around in 2:15-2:30. Plenty of talking..plenty of looking for balls, plenty of good scores and sometimes bad.

 

I dont think it's that hard to play faster, just be ready to go. If you use a cart and need to leave it, take multiple clubs with you. Play percentages, course mgmt, dont always do that further out BS, help watch others wayward shots, rake the others bunker, fix their ballmarks etc,etc.

[cave]

Was your club out of your bag when it became your turn?

 

If not then you are too slow. If yes then I wouldn't think twice about it.

[roll - gybe]

2:45-3 is a average pace for me.. anything 4+ is slow.

 

 

Yeah, but this thread involves more of the interaction between players. You can't really play 2:45 rounds when you are in a match with other people or when there are other people on the course.

 

I think it is bad advice to tell someone that they are slow if they knock you off 3:15 pace. It isn't reality.

I think the OP is looking for some constructive ways to evaluate his pace of play and perhaps avoid little things that can create stigmas.

 

Of course, I would love to play my rounds at that speed!!!

 

Read it again.. I said 4+ is slow.. not anywhere lower. I just played last thursday and the course was crowded and we played in 4 hours and it felt fine. Normally my foursome can get around in 3h and if we drop our "slow" guy we can get around in 2:15-2:30. Plenty of talking..plenty of looking for balls, plenty of good scores and sometimes bad.

 

I dont think it's that hard to play faster, just be ready to go. If you use a cart and need to leave it, take multiple clubs with you. Play percentages, course mgmt, dont always do that further out BS, help watch others wayward shots, rake the others bunker, fix their ballmarks etc,etc.

 

Gotcha - I agree with you. I misunderstood your tone previously.

 

Your point about taking multiple clubs from the cart is perfect. That amounts to a serious amount of time!

 

I will add 2 more -

1- If a player has played a provisional and declares his ball lost, this is not an opportunity to go into the woods and look for freebies. I bring this up, because the player playing the provisional is speeding up play. Don't cancel out his effort. It also is not helpful to try to find his ball after a few short minutes, he has played the provisional and is probably ready to go.

 

2-If a member of your 4-some asks for faster play or ready golf, don't do it for just one shot. Catch up to the group in front of you.

 

If you are guilty of number 2, you have a serious speed of play problem. Your attention span has to be longer than 2 minutes to be a courteous golfer.

[RichB]

I will add 2 more -

1- If a player has played a provisional and declares his ball lost, this is not an opportunity to go into the woods and look for freebies. I bring this up, because the player playing the provisional is speeding up play. Don't cancel out his effort. It also is not helpful to try to find his ball after a few short minutes, he has played the provisional and is probably ready to go.

 

2-If a member of your 4-some asks for faster play or ready golf, don't do it for just one shot. Catch up to the group in front of you.

 

If you are guilty of number 2, you have a serious speed of play problem. Your attention span has to be longer than 2 minutes to be a courteous golfer.

 

Ah, the provisional ball. Something I'm finding very few people realize...

A couple of years ago the USGA modified the provisional rule.

If you know, great. For those who don't.....

 

If your provisional ball *could be* (or is) short of where your original ball is...

you may *continue your provisional* (just announce as you would a provisional)...

play your next shot with your, now continued, provisional...on your way to look

for your original. Do this as needed until you reach where you believe your

original to be.

 

Example: I hit a good ball...long, but a little too much draw. It *might* be OB.

I hit a provisional, just in case. Well, in my frustration, I pop it up...middle of the

fairway, but at least 50 yards short of my original ball. I go to my provisional,

CONTINUE my provisional, hit it to wherever, let's say just short of the green,

and THEN go look to see if my original is OB. Proceed as normal when I find the original.

If IN, I'm hitting two, if out, I'm hitting 5 from just short of the green.

 

Definitely helps speed things up not having to go back to hit your provisional.

 

There is NO penalty if you find your original is actually behind the provisional,

that you continued, if it was an *honest* error...you were fairly confident it was

beyond your provisional, in your best judgment. (not the USGA wording, too lazy

to look it up) :pardon:

[larrybud]

If you play 18 holes in more than 4 hours then you're a slow player and should go through a mandatory remedial course before playing in the future.

So if the design the golf course adds 20-30 minutes to the round of the golf (by distance between green and next tee), you still hold to that 4 hour timeline? How about when it's cart path only?

 

Absolute time in determining if someone is slow is ridiculous. I played a course Saturday where the time between the 9th hole and the 10th was a good 7 minutes, driving in a cart, not to mention the couple of minutes stopping at the turn.

 

It's like determining who's a better golfer when two guys each shot 80 on different courses. Without more information (course rating/slope, weather conditions), 80 is a fairly arbitrary number.

 

Should the time required for two par 3's, one 140 yards, flat, no bunkers, no other hazards, be the same as a 215 yard par 3, OB left, bunker in front, tough sloping green?

 

It's called "pace of play", not "time of play" for a reason.

[Buzzkill]

If you play 18 holes in more than 4 hours then you're a slow player and should go through a mandatory remedial course before playing in the future.

So if the design the golf course adds 20-30 minutes to the round of the golf (by distance between green and next tee), you still hold to that 4 hour timeline? How about when it's cart path only?

 

Absolute time in determining if someone is slow is ridiculous. I played a course Saturday where the time between the 9th hole and the 10th was a good 7 minutes, driving in a cart, not to mention the couple of minutes stopping at the turn.

 

It's like determining who's a better golfer when two guys each shot 80 on different courses. Without more information (course rating/slope, weather conditions), 80 is a fairly arbitrary number.

 

Should the time required for two par 3's, one 140 yards, flat, no bunkers, no other hazards, be the same as a 215 yard par 3, OB left, bunker in front, tough sloping green?

 

It's called "pace of play", not "time of play" for a reason.

 

 

 

I played a "cart only" course in Sevierville TN which was a 7.5 mile track and we played it all the time in 4 hours with different skill levels. The course had time markers throughout saying you should be at this point at a certain time which I'm sure the course you mentioned probably had those signs too. Yet people still can't stay on track even when prodded. 4 hour rounds aren't difficult if you play ready golf but then again some people are just slower then others and that's their nature and nothing is going to change that.

[mshills]

If you play 18 holes in more than 4 hours then you're a slow player and should go through a mandatory remedial course before playing in the future.

So if the design the golf course adds 20-30 minutes to the round of the golf (by distance between green and next tee), you still hold to that 4 hour timeline? How about when it's cart path only?

 

Absolute time in determining if someone is slow is ridiculous. I played a course Saturday where the time between the 9th hole and the 10th was a good 7 minutes, driving in a cart, not to mention the couple of minutes stopping at the turn.

 

It's like determining who's a better golfer when two guys each shot 80 on different courses. Without more information (course rating/slope, weather conditions), 80 is a fairly arbitrary number.

 

Should the time required for two par 3's, one 140 yards, flat, no bunkers, no other hazards, be the same as a 215 yard par 3, OB left, bunker in front, tough sloping green?

 

It's called "pace of play", not "time of play" for a reason.

 

 

Absolutely correct, well said. "Time of play" is only a guideline. "Pace of play" is what is important. Keep up with the group in front of you and you'll never, ever have a problem with your pace of play.

 

A course in the Midwest that opened in the 1920s, was not designed with real estate sales in mind, and has few major elevation changes will naturally play much faster than a golf course in Scottsdale that might have more than 500 yards from green to next tee. You can't compare the time to play the two courses, you just can't.

 

That said, a good guideline is if you can play 18 holes solo, walking either with a push cart or carry bag in 3 hours flat, you are almost certainly not slow. If you do this in 2 hours 45 minutes you are DEFINITELY not slow.

 

A lot of it is just paying attention:

 

- Get your ball and tee in your hand as you're going from the green to the next tee. You should never have to rummage in your bag when it's your turn to hit in search of a tee, this drives me crazy.

 

- If you start a conversation, joke, or story after putting out, either finish it or just stop before you get to the next tee box. I hate when a guy just HAS to finish his story to you when the other two in your group are standing on the tee box with arms folded and toes tapping...

 

- Do as much putt-reading as you can as you walk up towards the green. You can tell a lot about a green from a few paces away, especially if the green is elevated a bit. Do more reading as you go to mark and clean your ball. Unobtrusively read the putt while others are reading their putts. If your ball is in a position where you can do so, you can continue to look at your putt even while others are putting.

 

- There's no reason to stand still as a stone until it's your turn to putt and then realize "oh brother, I've got to clean my ball now, and I'd better read this putt!" But it happens all the time...

 

- Don't plumb-bob. Seriously. I'd bet that 95% of players who do this and think it is helping them have no clue what they are doing and are just wasting time.

 

- Get the rake before you go into a bunker. Leave it right where you entered said bunker so you don't have to walk around the freaking thing to fetch the rake after playing your shot.

[atlanta golfer]

We played Sat in 4:45 which I thought was slow, since we never had to wait. Granted, it was a tournament, but still..... Lots of very high very thick grass and I think someone or other in our group lost a ball about 5 times. So if someone takes the full 5 minutes to look, that is 25 minutes right there. Then once, someone had to go back and hit again, because they did not use a provisisional. That is another 5 minutes. Then there were probably a handful of times when someone told a story and had to finish on the tee box or the green. Another 20 minutes lost.

 

Add all that up, and that is the difference between a standard 4 hours and what happened. And all scores were in the 80's or very low 90's so the level of play was not terrible, certainly above average on this difficult course.