Slow play or just learning the game ?

I have read with great interest many posts on here about this subject. Having taken up golf about a year ago at the age of 53 i am still waiting to break 100 and dispach many wayward shots from the tee. I dont get to play as often as I would wish and so making progress is slower than I would like.

It doesn't matter how many times I get to the practice range, there is nothing like being on the course to learn the game.

It will obviously take me longer than an experienced player to play a given hole as it may take me 6 or 7 shots to get there (at times even more). On the course where I play people are usually very polite and understanding and I let many other golfers "play through". There is only one occassion I can recall when a guy was rude (tutting and sighing etc.)

It's a bit like learning to drive a car in some respects. most of us have had to do it and so tend to show learner drivers more consideration than normal. After all, the only place to learn how to drive is on the road.

So next time theres someone ahead of you who may be holding you up a little, try and think on that he or she may be trying to learn this game that brings so much pleasure to us all. Nobody was born with the ability to play golf. Its something that we have all had to learn and some people still are

I am afraid that those of us who have played this game for a long time do not have the patience to wait for a beginner to go through a convoluted pre shot routine on every shot. You may feel that you have this right to make the enjoyment of everyone elses game dependent on how you play the game, but in reality there really is no need to play poor golf at a snails pace. I know from personal experience that I am quite capable of playing crap golf faster than anyone playing good golf. Why, you may ask, for the simple reason that I  do not spend time rooted to the spot looking at the ball before deciding on swinging. I am also ready to play when it is my turn.

I don't walk anymore because of health problems but when I did, up until I was 62, I used to open my legs when walking and carrying, not doing the now recognised amble that is prevelant on  courses today.

Slow play has destroyed this game and is the fault of TV showing the Pros playing.

Ability has very little to do with the speed of play.

Phil, if you do not have all the things I pointed out, then perhaps you can explain to me what in actual fact makes your game so slow to cause offence to those behind you,

So you think my comments were offensive. Have you thought to yourself how offensive your attitude to slow play is to those of us who do make an effort to move around the course in a respectable time.

I walked and carried three rounds in one day at Camberley Heath G.C. with two of my friends ad we had time to eat between all of those rounds.

I am not the slightly bit interested if you take offence at what I have said, as the facts speak for themselves. You have admitted to being a slsow player and I responded to that. This is a forum and not a love in.

If I were stuck behind you I doubt we would have got one round in.

John I know that slow play is a personal bug bear of yours and I'm not a lover of it either.  However Phil made some very valid points and openly stated he lets "many other golfers play through", showing he has a good understanding of the etiquette required to play this game.  Whilst you are entitled to your opinion, there was no need for a personal attack which I know you will say your posts weren't but they certainly read that way to me too.

Not everyone is blessed with your ability and the fact that you have been playing this game for so many years means that you don't even have to think about your shot anymore as it is so ingrained.  For those lesser golfers amongst us if we don't think about the shot the round will take even longer as we will get it wrong more often.  4 hours is considered a respectable time for a four-ball to play 18 holes on most courses and while you may have been able to play quicker in the past, that doesn't mean that everyone should do so.  As Phil said, it will always take longer to take 110 shots than 75. 

I ask that you appreciate that not everyone has your ability and therefore may not do things in quite the way you did in your youth. 

I agree with Jonny P in the comment that slow play is seldom to do with the ability of the golfer. I believe its lack of awareness and knowledge. Awareness of other golfers behind you, and knowledge of the rules and etiquette.

Phil, it sounds like you're doing the right thing, and getting around in under 4 hours is great. Where I'm currently a member it takes over 5 hours to get around on any given day and I've had enough of it to the point where I shall look elsewhere for next season. I love golf but I don't want to spend 5 hours on the course. Playing 1 shot every 4 minutes is unacceptable.

Paul

Chris, whilst it is admirable that Phil lets players through, this alone can cause problems for those being invited through. I hate it myself, as I feel obligated to speed up even more, thus putting pressure on myself and my fellow partners. All would be unnecessary if everyone adopted a quicker approach to this game.

The speed of my play has nothing at all to do with how many strokes I take, as you know I can be just as wild as anyone else.

To have a fourball play a round in three hours means that the walking speed of 3 miles per hour (This is the average) over a distance of 7600 yards(Allowance for green to tees) with each player averaging 90 shots (360 for the fourball) would mean each shot not taking more than 12 seconds. This is ample time for this to be done in my honest opinion. After all at my club in Somerset everyone was able to achieve a fourball in three hours without a trolley, electric trolley or, unheard of then, the buggy.

When I have a day's golf I like to play 36 holes, not be out for 4 to five hours for just one round.

Chris, I have no problem with anyone disagreeing with anything I may say, on this forum. After all that is what a forum is for, an exchange of views.

I don't know how long you have been playing golf, if you are even a member of a club, private or pay and play, but the game of golf, as I know it, has changed dramatically over the last twenty five years because of the growth in Corporate facilities, some of which have gone by the board and been snapped up by the likes of Crown Golf.

Prior to this explosion in the number of new courses built the game was played at either a private members club or a municipal facility.

Private members clubs were notoriously difficult to get membership at, especially for a new player to the game as the minimum requirement was a 24 handicap, and at many clubs even this handicap would not have been sufficient. The we come to the question of, do we know you,  do you have two current members who can recommend you, or, if from a different part of the country, a letter of introduction from your previous club. After all of this came the dreaded interview before the committee with only one black ball and you were unsuccessful in gaining membership.

This might all seem rather odd to those of you who are new to the game, but it was the way things were done and for this, a member at one of these clubs enjoyed a nice and relaxed atmosphere as everyone was obliged to adhere to the club rules. The club, on its part ensured that the crazy situation we see today of 2 balls and 3/4 balls  all mixed up together on the course did not arise, with strict tee times allotted for the different groups and usually from either the 1st or the 10th.

Slow play never existed at any of the clubs I was lucky enough to be a member of.

A 2 ball would expect to go round in no more than 2 hours 15 minutes, and a 4 ball no longer than 3 hours.

I might add that even at the public courses I used to play at when I first started, the pace of play was always very brisk.

Well, Phil, you are rather like me in one respect and that is you do not appear to hold a grudge.

Of course there have been many changes in all things throughout time but that does not mean to say that all change is for the better,  even if your magic carpet is able to dodge all the traffic jams that I seem to constantly have to negotiate.

The now slow play on golf courses being one of them. Unless you have experienced this game in a serene and calm atmosphere at one of the better private clubs then I would say that you have certainly missed out on a truly wonderful experience.

I sincerely hope that your game improves to your satisfaction and that you have many years of enjoyment playing it.

Jonny P, not having been a professional player I cannot offer any contribution as to how long a round used to take. Don't forget that the tour was not even established in this country when I could play the game. If it were then I would probably have turned professional myself, but there was no money in the game in the late fifties and early sixties. I would be grateful if you could point me in the direction of the information of five and six hours rounds as I don't believe it for one moment.

Even today the pros don't take that time and we have crowd control and TV to cater for

Perhaps you will let me know when the actual tour did establish itself.