Slow Play

TIPS TO AVOID SLOW PLAY AT GOLF

Slow play is caused by a general lack of awaremess of what�s happening on the course and ones responsibility to other players. Good common sense is all that is required but lots of people lose this on a golf course

1. adopt ready golf � the honour is not always necessary in most games � only really meaningful in matchplay Therefore, if someone�s ready to play and it�s your honour and you�re not, invite them to play their shot .

2. Mark you card after you�ve played your tee shot or while someone else is playing their tee shot on the next hole - at no other time e.g. on the green or before playing tee shot if no one is playing.

3. be conscious of your place on the course and keeping up with play
4. don�t chat approaching your ball when you could be working out club selection , distance. etc. In general be ready to play your shot when it�s your turn to play.
5. walk briskly from the green and between shots
6. keep a tally of your score at all time � don�t start to count the shots when asked by the marker
7. If you have a pre shot routine longer than 15 seconds you should review it � it will probably benefit your game as well
8. Always leave bags and loose clubs at the exit route to next tee
9. Check from time to time if your group is falling behind or if you holding anyone up
10. If your ball is nearest to the hole and someone has just played out of a bunker � offer to rake it for them so they can take their shot - think �team� not indivudual
11. If you�re first to hole out then pick up the flagstick and be ready to replace it when last putt is made
12. If in a fourball and 2 balls are lost in different areas split into two pairs and search for both balls at same time.
13. If possible watch each players ball and try and get a marker on where it landed.
14. Start to Read you putt when you�re approaching the green or when other people are putting, not when it�s your turn to play.

Remember if you�re not doing the above things then you�re depriving other members of your group and indeed the whole course of a fair share of time if they�re trying to keep up

Dan,

Slow play full stop annoys me, if it's in my group then I'll do / say something to get us back on track. If it's the group in front & it continues for a while then again I'll say / do something to gee them on.

I posted this recently to another slow play topic but it fits here too.

I have read this and many threads on slow play and to be honest my opinion has really been - don't worry about it, you are out on the course in the fresh air - just relax and enjoy playing at a slower pace for once. Well yesterday I came across a truly slow player and I finally understand your frustrations!

We were playing in the final Yorkshire Order of Merit competition of the season (by we I mean I was caddying for my husband). It is a scratch competition covering 36 holes and obviously it's for the best amateur players in Yorkshire. My husband being a 2.5 handicapper went out earlier with other higher handicappers. The lowest plus handicappers always go out last as the expectation is that is where the top of the leader board action will be. As expected our group of 3 played well enough but not well enough to trouble the leader board. But one of our group was the slowest player I have ever come across. He really was beyond belief. He had a caddy and they spent at least 1 minute before each shot discussing every nuance of the shot and conditions with the caddy finishing up each time saying 'commit to it'. Then followed a very slow deliberate pre shot routine which involved many full practice swings and several efforts to practice the one piece takeaway. Now a minute may not sound much but they didn't start their routine until it was their turn to play and those minutes really started to make a difference to our position in the field. The players behind started to bunch up and by the end of the first round we had a half hour gap ahead of us. Half an hour!!!!! We mentioned this to the Pro and Captain and at the start of the second round we were told that our gap in the first round was too big and we must keep up with play. The only 2 people who didn't appear to be listening to this was - yep - the slow one and his caddy. It was worse in the second round and we ended up taking 5.5 hours. It was the most frustrating, exhausting round of golf of my life. To add to the frustration the slow player put in the best score (but not good enough to be contending) and we also got drenched on the final 2 holes when with normal pace of play we would have been in the club house. My husband mentioned a few times that we were getting further behind but his comments were ignored. It turned out that his caddy was a EuroPro tour golfer - not sure if that amount of time is allowed on the Pro tours - surely there they would get penalised for slow play? Being an amateur tournament there was no-one to police it and I think they deliberately took advantage of that. Of course it impacted everyone else who was behind us. We had 2 2 balls in the following 2 groups who actually joined together in a 4 ball but they still caught us and were waiting. My husband and the other quicker chap wanted to let them through but the slower player again just ignored the entire conversation. So all the other players were held up by 1 player - how selfish.

Since writing the above we found out that the heavy rain caused the course to flood so the whole second round was discounted! It was also noted that if play had been at the normal pace then all groups would have completed before the course flooded and the second rounds would then have all counted.

Grrrr - so he not only caused immense frustration to us and everyone behind us - he single-handedly caused the entire second round to be cancelled.

some very good points there i feel, i usually take great care to avoid slow play but often get frustrated when i let people through that take so long on the tee the group behind them catches up, then you offer to let those through as well, turns out the second group through are even worse then me then im stuck behind slow players because i was trying to speed things up. im all for letting people through but i think it has to be done tactically. The number of times ive had to let people through and then got stiff or cold from all the waiting really damages my game, and i need all the help i can get with the little game i do have lol

i hate slow play full stop doesn t matter if its in my group or the groups in front its wrong. golf is a very time consuming game as it is without further hold ups as other players don t understand the etiquette of the game

I agree with everything that has been said about slow play, to the extent that I wind myself up when I have to wait all the time. On Sunday I did this and was 3 down after 3 ! On the 4 th tee I resigned myself to a long round and began to relax and subsequently played much better. There were 15 4 balls in row in the pouring rain, it's not right but somewhere along the line the round will get nearer 5 hours than it should ! The only person that it affects is me when I let it get to me, so I need to disagree with it but accept that it is the reality of big society/comp golf.

Same here Tim, sometimes you just have to accept it and move on. Sunday was a good example of this and I found myself rushing my shots. When the course is clogged and the weather is bad, there is no point in getting upset!

Tim, I wasn't having a dig at you because we knew you weren't holding us up, apart from when you legged it back down the 15th!.

I don't accept that because there's lot of players out there you should accept it s going to be slow. In my monthly medals the tee times start from 7.30am up until 2.30 & the most I've ever seen it stack up is by 10mins. Ok there 3 balls but its stroke play & off the back tees so it evens it self out. On average the round takes about 3hrs 45mins.

I think it's down to people not observing the points I made above, especially not being ready to play when it's there turn.

I think if we just accept it, it will never get any better.

I agree with John.why should 5 hr rounds be acceptable? If everyone played at a consistent pace it shouldn't take longer than 4 hrs to get round I honestly believe that slow play will kill the game especially society games where it can get ridiculous

Great post John I may stick this up somewhere more permanent if you don't mind ?

Post away. Hope it helps in whatever way possible.

I said it was a great post.

Now with it's own permanent location:

http://www.golfshake.com/improve/view/4860/Tips_to_Stop_Slow_Play_in_Golf.html