Golf!!!2!

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Really? I'm seeing quite a bit of snow still on the ground.

Spoke a little early! They closed tomorrow but now I hope for Sunday mornings tee time to happen…

[MacDaddy77]

Also have a tee time sunday, 330 pm so hopefully it goes

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

Also have a tee time sunday, 330 pm so hopefully it goes

Buy colored golf balls as a back up plan?

[jayswin]

Well I spoke with someone today and apparently Banff Springs went back on their plan and will be offering no discount code this year.

[Dion]

Braved the cool temps and got a round in this afternoon with my buddies. Hard to play well when your hands are cold as well as your body. Have times for Saturday and Sunday also.

Thankfully my course in Nanton escaped all the snow that hit the Calgary area and is in excellent shape.

[Slava]

Are you guys totally open? We're not set to open until the 2nd with the recent weather.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Slava

Are you guys totally open? We're not set to open until the 2nd with the recent weather.

We're totaly open with no traces of snow on the course. However the cool weather is keeping our course from being fully booked. Mostly members playing right now with the odd green fee bookings.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by jayswin

Super long rounds from what I've heard more than a few times. That's one thing I just can't contend with. I can set aside 4-4.5 hours plus driving time. It's weird and probably psychological due to sitting on holes, but when I creep up over 5 hours and had a 25-35min drive each way I get to the point where I regret giving up the day for golf....as it starts to feel like you literally gave up the day for golf.

Slow play is the biggest problem facing golf, IMO. And there are a lot of reasons for it, but beginners playing difficult courses, and people wanting to play from longer tees than they should, are the main culprits I think.

But the other reason is that courses/marshals won't police the problem.

I was in the midst of a 5 1/2 hour game one day and I was chatting with the marshal about it. He was telling me about a couple groups that were really slow, but that they should be finished and off the course soon, so things should get better.

I asked if they did anything to speed the people up, and he said 'it wasn't their job to piss people off'.

I replied with 'but by not pissing them off, you are instead choosing to piss off everyone else for the rest of the day'.

He stared at me like I was from outer space, like my point made no sense to him whatsoever.

As long as courses and marshals think that forcing people to play on time is offensive, golf will be a torture.

And it really isn't that hard to police. At one course where I used to be a member, you were fined if you were 1 minute over 4 hours. And if it continued to happen, the punishment got more significant. In 10 years at that course, I played one game that took more than 4 hours (and it was 4:10).

I play a lot at Banff now, and games being more than 4 1/2 hours is a regular occurrence - more often than not. And they appear to have no appetite to do anything about it.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Slow play is the biggest problem facing golf, IMO. And there are a lot of reasons for it, but beginners playing difficult courses, and people wanting to play from longer tees than they should, are the main culprits I think.

But the other reason is that courses/marshals won't police the problem.

I was in the midst of a 5 1/2 hour game one day and I was chatting with the marshal about it. He was telling me about a couple groups that were really slow, but that they should be finished and off the course soon, so things should get better.

I asked if they did anything to speed the people up, and he said 'it wasn't their job to piss people off'.

I replied with 'but by not pissing them off, you are instead choosing to piss off everyone else for the rest of the day'.

He stared at me like I was from outer space, like my point made no sense to him whatsoever.

As long as courses and marshals think that forcing people to play on time is offensive, golf will be a torture.

And it really isn't that hard to police. At one course where I used to be a member, you were fined if you were 1 minute over 4 hours. And if it continued to happen, the punishment got more significant. In 10 years at that course, I played one game that took more than 4 hours (and it was 4:10).

I play a lot at Banff now, and games being more than 4 1/2 hours is a regular occurrence - more often than not. And they appear to have no appetite to do anything about it.

For "tourist" courses like Banff Springs where people are paying $200 to $250 for a round I have very little expectation that the round will be any quicker than 4.5 hours. At the quickest it will be 4.75 to 5 because people will want to take in the scenario and get a bunch of pictures on the course.

[Weitz]

It’s not just wrong tees and difficult courses. It’s mostly people don’t know how to play ready golf. Only one person hits at a time. No one does their “pre shot routine” until it’s their turn to shoot or putt. People who have a minute or 2 pre shot routine are bad in their own sense. People looking for balls for too long. People trying to fish balls.

[bossy22]

Elbow Springs is the worst for slow play. When there are Marshalls out on the course, they refuse to do anything about the culprits. It seems to attract a lot of beginners. A couple of times we would catch up at the next tee box to the group in front of us.

[Weitz]

Are there any courses where the marshals do anything? I’ve noticed unless you’re a member they aren’t going to enforce anything.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Are there any courses where the marshals do anything? I’ve noticed unless you’re a member they aren’t going to enforce anything.

Kananaskis has had a good crew that always seemed to keep things moving along pretty quickly. Mickelson National seemed to have good Marshall's that were doing a good job.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Are there any courses where the marshals do anything? I’ve noticed unless you’re a member they aren’t going to enforce anything.

My course in Nanton used to have marshalls that were given free rounds for every day they marshalled. For the most part they were bloody useless as they spent their time hunting for lost balls and chatting with golfers. Most did not want to cause or get into confrontations with golfers over the rules or pace of play.

The other problem was that green fee players would sometimes get quite vocal and hostile with the marshalls and in some cases they would get banned from the course or the RCMP would get called. "We paid our money and can take as long as we want" would be the responses.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Kananaskis has had a good crew that always seemed to keep things moving along pretty quickly. Mickelson National seemed to have good Marshall's that were doing a good job.

Kananaskis? Always 4.5 hours or longer there. I think we played a 5.5 hour round last year.

[Lubicon]

Tee time intervals play into it as well. 8 minutes is just asking for things to back up. 10 minutes is ideal IMHO.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Kananaskis? Always 4.5 hours or longer there. I think we played a 5.5 hour round last year.

I only played one game there last year, so small sample size, but it was 5+

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Tee time intervals play into it as well. 8 minutes is just asking for things to back up. 10 minutes is ideal IMHO.

I used to believe this but almost all the tracks that I play in Scottsdale run at 10 minutes, and things are just as slow. A slow group slows everything behind them, no matter what the tee spacing is.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Dion

My course in Nanton used to have marshalls that were given free rounds for every day they marshalled. For the most part they were bloody useless as they spent their time hunting for lost balls and chatting with golfers. Most did not want to cause or get into confrontations with golfers over the rules or pace of play.

The other problem was that green fee players would sometimes get quite vocal and hostile with the marshalls and in some cases they would get banned from the course or the RCMP would get called. "We paid our money and can take as long as we want" would be the responses.

This is a very common retort. And the way to end it is for courses to make clear what the rules are: you have 4 hours to play, and action will be taken if you cannot

Saw a sign somewhere once that said: With your green fees, you are renting the course for 4 hours, you didn't buy it.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Kananaskis? Always 4.5 hours or longer there. I think we played a 5.5 hour round last year.

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that the pace of play at Kananaskis is right around 4.5 hours. Most of my rounds out there have been on time but sometimes it can get slow if there is a couple groups that are out there for a boys weekend or stag party or whatever.