Do golfers stick to the rules when searching for a lost ball?

Slow play - I hate it. Growing up in Scotland, we were "encouraged" to get round 18 holes in a two-ball in three hours and three-and-a-half hours in a fourball. And do you know what? We managed it.

We managed it without feeling like we were rushing. We managed it because slower groups would wave us through. We managed it because we knew the rules of golf and we followed them. And we managed it because we kept an eye on the ball when it flew into the rough - and always hit a provisional if said rough was juicy. 

It also has to be said that the rough tended to be thick so we would waste little time looking for our ball. If we hadn’t found it within a couple of minutes we would give up and head for our provisional - which always finished up slap bang in the middle of the fairway. It’s funny that, isn’t it? I have always thought that when we buy a box of balls we should ask for "12 provisionals" because we would never lose those.

Back in those days you got five minutes to look for a golf ball. Human nature being what it is, many club golfers would take a lot longer than that. A LOT longer. And yet still we always got round in comfortably less than four hours.

Things have changed. Boy, have they changed.

Now, I accept that I am never going to complete 18 holes in less than four hours. It is commonplace for me and my buddies to be out there for upwards of five hours. 

What Has Made Rounds of Golf Slower?

There are two reasons for this.

The first is that the days of waving through quicker golfers seem to have gone forever. I was brought up to believe that you should always keep an eye on the group playing immediately behind you. If they were obviously quicker you would wave them through at the first available opportunity. Now, it seems that most golfers are utterly oblivious to what is going on around them.

I am not just talking about my golf club either. I experience the same pain wherever I play. Do these golfers not understand etiquette? Do they really have no consideration for other course users? The craziest thing of all is that these same individuals are likely to be the loudest when it comes to bleating about pace of play.

All of the above is bad enough but is as nothing when it comes to the second reason for slow play - looking for lost golf balls.

Really, do not get me started on looking for lost balls. 

Read the rules - you get THREE MINUTES to look for a ball. The clock starts ticking from the moment you get to the point where you believe the ball landed. 

Why Don't More Golfers Hit Provisionals?

So there are several issues here. Let’s start with the reluctance of so many club golfers to hit a provisional. Why? I have lost count of the number of times I have asked a playing partner: "Do you want to hit a provisional?"

"No, we will easily be able to find that Derek."

You then give them a second chance. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely!"

And nine times out of 10, what do you think happens? They can’t find the ball and have to traipse back to the tee to hit another drive. Worse than that, they tend to rush so are out of breath and either smack the next ball into the trees as well or completely duff it. And then have to come all the way back down the fairway for another club because that’s where they left their bag.

I played in a team friendly match last year. After a few holes my playing partner hit his ball into the rough. As we started looking for golf ball, one of our opponents pulled out his mobile phone with a flourish and set three minutes on his timer. This was a friendly and I have to say that I thought it was a pretty extreme gesture. But do you know what? He was absolutely within his rights. And I am here to tell you that three minutes passes very quickly.

That brings me to my next point. Three minutes passes very quickly. Three minutes is not five minutes. Nor is it 10 minutes. The rules of golf clearly state that you have three minutes to find a golf ball - and not a second more. And that brings me to another point - how many times have you heard somebody say: "Here it is", after that time has been and gone. And how often have you seen players walk up to that ball and hit it? They are breaking the rules. They are cheating! It may sound harsh but that does not make it any less true.

So come on boys and girls, let’s resolve to hit provisionals and to restrict our search time to 180 seconds and let’s see if that helps to speed things up.