Golf!!!2!

[GioforPM]

I've had a 5 hour round at Kananaskis (Kidd IIRC). Basically no marshalls and a group ahead just lollygagging. Only a threesome, too.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I also think enforcement of tee boxes would be very beneficial. I don't care how good you think you are or if you think it makes you a bitch to hit from the whites (or reds even), you should only play from the blues or the tips if your handicap corresponds with that tee box. Feel like a decent amount of rounds get derailed because 20+ handicappers feel the need to play from tees not suited to their level.

[Roughneck]

Had a 6+ hour round at Jasper once. They had a frost delay (in July) so the tee sheet was a mess by the time we got there, but the multiple Grizzly bear delays probably did more. If there's a reason and place to have a 6 hour round, that was it.



Tee times are definitely the biggest contributor. The difference between 8 minute gaps and 10 minute gaps is huge for pace of play, but for the club that's a six-figure difference in potential revenue a month. If the tee times are still full, they don't really care how long the rounds take.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I've had a 5 hour round at Kananaskis (Kidd IIRC). Basically no marhsalls and a group ahead just lollygagging. Only a threesome, too.

The Marshalls will specifically tell you they don’t enforce pace there.

[Senator Clay Davis]

What, that special ball marker for finishing on time isn't incentive enough?

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by Slava

I think the solution for faster rounds is more time between tee times (which also means less tee times). Courses aren’t likely to take that approach because it means less revenue, but it gives everyone time to play.

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Yeah let’s not pretend this is all the fault of golfers or marshals or whatever.

Tee times being so condensed is probably the biggest contributor. When you’re on someone’s ass and someone is on your from the first tee box I’m not sure how pace of play is supposed to solve that for the next 17 holes.

The problem is there is no way to hold these people accountable for their slow play. The pervasive attitude is "oh I paid my $150 so I'll take all the time I want."

My club alternates between 8 and 9 minute tee times and there are zero issues with pace of play. I had one round over 4 hours this year and it was in the Club Championship (it was 4:18). Everyone gets a TagMarshal, if you're slow you get a warning, if you're slow multiple times you get a fine.

Biggest reason for going private is to avoid the weekend warriors out there playing 5 hour rounds and telling the marshall to #### off.

[malcolmk14]

9 minutes is more than enough IMO

2 minutes for a foursome to tee off
3 minutes to walk to your balls
2 minutes to hit you second shots (arguably it should take even less time than that)
2 minutes to walk to the green

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

9 minutes is more than enough IMO

2 minutes for a foursome to tee off
3 minutes to walk to your balls
2 minutes to hit you second shots (arguably it should take even less time than that)
2 minutes to walk to the green

In theory sure. In reality most people aren’t good at golf and have to look for balls or hit many shots.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

9 minutes is more than enough IMO

2 minutes for a foursome to tee off
3 minutes to walk to your balls
2 minutes to hit you second shots (arguably it should take even less time than that)
2 minutes to walk to the green

That’s just not a reasonable standard to hold people of different skill levels to.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Weitz

In theory sure. In reality most people aren’t good at golf and have to look for balls or hit many shots.

Even pros aren't that good.
There's no planet on which golf plays out like that.

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

That’s just not a reasonable standard to hold people of different skill levels to.

Played with people from +7 to 30 handicaps and rarely have issues.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

9 minutes is more than enough IMO

2 minutes for a foursome to tee off
3 minutes to walk to your balls
2 minutes to hit you second shots (arguably it should take even less time than that)
2 minutes to walk to the green

Ya this is correct. You probably almost gave too much time on the tee box. That is 40 seconds a golfer to hit a tee shot after the first person hits. If you don’t have your glove on and a tee in your hand when the first guy is hitting you are part of the problem. You also do not need the last two minutes. If people are playing from the right tees they should be able to tee off within 30-45 seconds of the last person hitting their approach shot. If the opening hole is a 400 yard par 4 and you hit the ball 250 you can probably go once the group is walking by the 150 marker, that ain’t going to be the tee shot you go DeChambeau and hit a 350 yard bomb.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

The problem is there is no way to hold these people accountable for their slow play. The pervasive attitude is "oh I paid my $150 so I'll take all the time I want."

My club alternates between 8 and 9 minute tee times and there are zero issues with pace of play. I had one round over 4 hours this year and it was in the Club Championship (it was 4:18). Everyone gets a TagMarshal, if you're slow you get a warning, if you're slow multiple times you get a fine.

Biggest reason for going private is to avoid the weekend warriors out there playing 5 hour rounds and telling the marshall to #### off.

We had an incident a few years back where a weekend warrior got hostile with the marshall and the group they were holding up. One of them tried to start a fight and made threats against the group behind and the marshall. RCMP was called and the idiot ended up spending a night in jail.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Played with people from +7 to 30 handicaps and rarely have issues.

Yeah? How many 30 handicaps are regularly on the green in 2?

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Yeah? How many 30 handicaps are regularly on the green in 2?

May not be on the green in 2 but certainly out of range of the tee in 9 minutes in most cases.

13 minutes a hole plus 11 minutes at the halfway house is 4:10. I don’t think it’s unrealistic for a foursome of any skill to be greenside in 9 minutes.

Maybe I’m out to lunch, I’ll time my group next time I’m out.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

May not be on the green in 2 but certainly out of range of the tee in 9 minutes in most cases.

13 minutes a hole plus 11 minutes at the halfway house is 4:10. I don’t think it’s unrealistic for a foursome of any skill to be greenside in 9 minutes.

Maybe I’m out to lunch, I’ll time my group next time I’m out.

The thing you are sort of missing is that at public courses you get people out who are there to socialize and have a good time. Not just to golf. Which is what you are describing, which is what happens at private courses.

Just adds some time to a round.

In saying all that, I’ve played 52 rounds this year with no membership so at a lot of courses and I would say 90% of them are between 4 hours and 4:15.

[Roughneck]

The course itself matters a lot to these expectations as well. Big difference between a 6500 yard course and a 7200 yard course. How quickly can people move on the first hole, etc.

And of course there’s always the guy who can hit it into that groups even if he probably won’t. If he hits now he definitely will, if he waits for them to move on he definitely won’t. How can we account for this? Because he is not only going to wait, but he’s going to hit it onto the next fairway and have to wait for those guys to hit before he can get to his ball.

[Senator Clay Davis]

All of this just comes back to the courses don't care about this cause the tee sheets are always full and as I mentioned previously we don't have a lot of capacity anymore relative to the population so our options are probably decreasing relative to availability. City courses remain a highly desired tee time because it's one of the few, maybe only options, to play a par 72 on a weekend for under $100.00 with a cart. And maybe, speaking of City courses, going to the scooter approach instead of carts is the future (why City courses got these is a bit of a huh...). When two guys in the same cart are like 100 yards between each other (straight, left, whatever), that obviously adds a bit more time. And everybody can't walk, so maybe a motorized, individual option will help.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Weitz

The Marshalls will specifically tell you they don’t enforce pace there.

They used to make a big deal of it there.

[Derek Sutton]

I’ve called in to the pro shop while in the course twice this year about slow play. One time two threesomes decided they would join up on hole 5, just unacceptable, and the other time two couples who were just awful, swinging and missing several times with the men playing from the back tees, just dumb. Theres now way they were breaking 120 from the back tees. And the time they spent lining up putts then missing by a mile. So they might be terrible, and they might be slow but if nobody tells them they need to keep up with the group in front of them, they might never know that’s part of the responsibility.

I don’t care how good/ bad of a golfer you are, just be ready, keep movin, WATCH where your ball goes and keep up. “Play good, play fast. Play poor, play faster”.