Speeding up a round

Addictedtogolf

One thing that really annoys me is slow golf and as a golf event organiser I see it all the time.

How can we speed up a round of golf so that everyone gets finished in 4 hours.?

There must be a way to guarantee a fourball getting around on time and not just one group but when an event has 30-40 fourballs.

Any ideas on how to get this done but not penalise the wrong golfers stuck with slow guys or behind others?

PARlance

Play a 9 hole comp?

Addictedtogolf

ajcurry123 wrote: »

Play a 9 hole comp?

Not really a solution is it?

nbar12

ajcurry123 wrote: »

Play a 9 hole comp?

Quite possibly the worst solution ever.

Why don't you warn players of slow play before they start their round. 1 shot penalties if they are found of slow play. Maybe try and offer an incentive for each group that plays a round in 4 hours or less?

mike12

U need to get a fast group out first and have a marshal keeping every group up with play. Depending on the format 4 hours for 4ball is a good pace. I would recommend playing ready to go golf forget about the honour system and who ever is ready to hit just goes nothing worse than having 3 guys ready to go and have them waiting on the guy who's honour it is.
Mike

PARlance

Addictedtogolf wrote: »

One thing that really annoys me is slow golf and as a golf event organiser I see it all the time.

How can we speed up a round of golf so that everyone gets finished in 4 hours.?

There must be a way to guarantee a fourball getting around on time and not just one group but when an event has 30-40 fourballs.

Any ideas on how to get this done but not penalise the wrong golfers stuck with slow guys or behind others?

Addictedtogolf wrote: »

Not really a solution is it?

Was it a really a question?
You're a golf event organiser, you should be well experienced with golf, it seems more like a rant than a question.
Barring something extreme, like playing a 9 hole comp (said in Jest) or chasing people around with stopwatches and wild dogs, I don't think there's any way to guarantee 40 fourballs all getting around in 4 hours each.

As an event organiser I would imagine that warning about slow play and marshaling would be par of the course.

Assuming 160 players (40 fourballs) @ an average of 90 shots per round.
You're looking at having to monitor 14,400 shots over the event if you're thinking of going down the line of penalising slow play.
All shots by every player would have to be monitored to make it a fair system.

dak

Shorten the course .. play off the ladies tees ! :)And Seriously for team competitions 2 ball better ball so that all don't have to hole out ! For singles its a different matter .. you would need a rule change to maybe allow a bigger hole on the green .. might speed up putting !

Or insist all players use buggies.. thats probaly more realistic !

Addictedtogolf

We have a lot in Asian and India golfers in our events and they can take anything up to 6hours plus for a round.

Put European and Irish guys in the middle of that and you can imagine the problems.

Thats why I put this post up to see if anyone had any ideas.
Not a rant at all.

One rule we had in 2012 was if a four ball loses a hole to the fourball in front of them then all 4 pick up there balls and walk that hole without playing it but if you have 2 fast and 2 slow 2 ball teams together then you are punishing one 2ball that is not slow in a group.

ajcurry123 wrote: »

Was it a really a question?
You're a golf event organiser, you should be well experienced with golf, it seems more like a rant than a question.
Barring something extreme, like playing a 9 hole comp (said in Jest) or chasing people around with stopwatches and wild dogs, I don't think there's any way to guarantee 40 fourballs all getting around in 4 hours each.

As an event organiser I would imagine that warning about slow play and marshaling would be par of the course.

Assuming 160 players (40 fourballs) @ an average of 90 shots per round.
You're looking at having to monitor 14,400 shots over the event if you're thinking of going down the line of penalising slow play.
All shots by every player would have to be monitored to make it a fair system.

dak

You could also order a load of free rule books form the R&A ( Postage to Ireland is about €20 for 50 rule books ) and hand them out high lighting slow play penalties.

alxmorgan

Addictedtogolf wrote: »

We have a lot in Asian and India golfers in our events and they can take anything up to 6hours plus for a round.

Any idea why they are so slow ?
Might help us in coming up with a solution

General ideas:
* Ready golf as outlined above
* don't play stroke (obvious one but no harm saying it)
* Have a 10 or 12 min gap between groups. Putting out too close together starts on wrong foot

PARlance

Addictedtogolf wrote: »

Thats why I put this post up to see if anyone had any ideas.
Not a rant at all.

Ok, well I've no major ideas but one thing that may slightly improve things, and I think this is a fairly common problem but one that doesn't get much airtime.

The slow fourball in front often gets the full brunt of the abuse for causing delays, but very rarely is attention drawn to, say, the average paced group behind them not doing enough to push through.
( I'm not talking about waving clubs and shouting here. )
Far too often, the average paced four ball behind will "hang back" too much. Taking an extra practice putt on the last green, having a bit of a chat etc.

From my experience, there's a lot of people with the "Ah sure, we're not playing that fast ourselves" attitude.

mike12

Get the Irish groups out first then the Asians behind. No hard in handing out a page with the cards that gives a few tips to speed up the round eg. leaving bags on the right side of the green, be ready to hit when it is your turn, pick up when u cannot score, always hit a provisional or even make it a rule for the classic that you are not allowed to go back if you have not hit a provisional.
I have gotten caught behind a group of Asians before on a links course and they are just out there to enjoy there day a lot of them can't break 120 so they are going to be slow u just have to keep them moving.
Can we ask what the classic is.
Mike

dnjoyce

Difficult to enforce anything without either becoming very costly or unfairly blanket penalising some fast golfers because of their slow playing partners.
The starter could hand out a timer that starts at zero when the group begins. If it isn't returned within 4 1/2 hours (or within 10 mins of the group in front) then everyone in the group is penalised a shot or the group score gets docked by "x".

irish bloke

mike12 wrote: »

Get the Irish groups out first then the Asians behind.

And what about the next unrelated group(s) of people behind them, have them suffer??

Give them your rules and penalize them if they do not adhere to them.

The_Architect

Slow play is caused as much by course design & setup as anything else.

Choosing a quicker flowing course on the right set of tees is crucial if you have that freedom.

Su Campu

The_Architect wrote: »

Slow play is caused as much by course design & setup as anything else.

Choosing a quicker flowing course on the right set of tees is crucial if you have that freedom.

No it's not, most people can get around in the proper time, it's just some who can't/won't. Same course for everyone.

Glenski

One of the things for me that slows up play is playing in sequence:
Winner of the previous hole tee off first
Furthest from the hole to hit first.
Who's ever ready to tee off - get up and tee off!
If your ready to hit your shot regardless of location to other players - hit your shot.
Obviously the group have to agree to this and are aware who's hitting.
We've found found it saves approx 2mins per hole x 18 holes = 36 mins shaved off a round of golf.

bustercherry

Su Campu wrote: »

No it's not, most people can get around in the proper time, it's just some who can't/won't. Same course for everyone.

B0ll0x. Your telling me a high handicapper won't be slower round the European Club off the VERY back tees, than a scratch player?

bustercherry

Glenski wrote: »

One of the things for me that slows up play is playing in sequence:
Winner of the previous hole tee off first
Furthest from the hole to hit first.
Who's ever ready to tee off - get up and tee off!
If your ready to hit your shot regardless of location to other players - hit your shot.
Obviously the group have to agree to this and are aware who's hitting.
We've found found it saves approx 2mins per hole x 18 holes = 36 mins shaved off a round of golf.

If there is no group in front of you that's great, otherwise it's pointless as all you can do is keep up with the group in front.

GreeBo

bustercherry wrote: »

Glenski wrote: »

One of the things for me that slows up play is playing in sequence:
Winner of the previous hole tee off first
Furthest from the hole to hit first.
Who's ever ready to tee off - get up and tee off!
If your ready to hit your shot regardless of location to other players - hit your shot.
Obviously the group have to agree to this and are aware who's hitting.
We've found found it saves approx 2mins per hole x 18 holes = 36 mins shaved off a round of golf.

If there is no group in front of you that's great, otherwise it's pointless as all you can do is keep up with the group in front.

I think the point is that if everyone does it then everyone saves 36mins. Whatever group is not doing it will have to let everyone else though.

mike12

bustercherry wrote: »

B0ll0x. Your telling me a high handicapper won't be slower round the European Club off the VERY back tees, than a scratch player?

He should be quicker as he won't have to putt on any hole:).

bustercherry

mike12 wrote: »

He should be quicker as he won't have to putt on any hole:).

Haha, only true if it's not stokes though

Su Campu

bustercherry wrote: »

B0ll0x. Your telling me a high handicapper won't be slower round the European Club off the VERY back tees, than a scratch player?

The Architect was talking about course design, not playing high handicappers off the blues. Of course that would take longer. :rolleyes:

billy3sheets

Some simple tips which could be posted on all tees
Always play a provisional if in any doubt that you won't find your ball.

1. Max time allowed to find your ball is 3 mins
2. Max 1 practice swing only.
3. Before putting, park your bag at the edge of the green nearest the next tee.

Alrite Chief

Max 1 practice swing only hahahahahaha gas man.

ForeRight

Why is everyone in such a rush to get home to their brain terrorists?

Enjoy the walk, the chat, the fresh air and don't worry about lads taking 3 seconds to line up a putt, taking a practice swing etc etc.

Unless its blatant time wasting looking for balls on everyboke ihave no issue and I can never understand the whining from lads who only want to get off the course as soon as getting onto it.

There has always been slow players. Better off just accepting itand playing through when the opportunity arises. If not getting called through ring the pro shop

Su Campu

ForeRight wrote: »

Why is everyone in such a rush to get home to their brain terrorists?

Enjoy the walk, the chat, the fresh air and don't worry about lads taking 3 seconds to line up a putt, taking a practice swing etc etc.

Unless its blatant time wasting looking for balls on every hole I have no issue and I can never understand the whining from lads who only want to get off the course as soon as getting onto it.

There has always been slow players. Better off just accepting itand playing through when the opportunity arises. If not getting called through ring the pro shop

The problem is when you're stuck with these slow players in your own group!

ForeRight

Su Campu wrote: »

ForeRight wrote: »

Why is everyone in such a rush to get home to their brain terrorists?

Enjoy the walk, the chat, the fresh air and don't worry about lads taking 3 seconds to line up a putt, taking a practice swing etc etc.

Unless its blatant time wasting looking for balls on every hole I have no issue and I can never understand the whining from lads who only want to get off the course as soon as getting onto it.

There has always been slow players. Better off just accepting itand playing through when the opportunity arises. If not getting called through ring the pro shop

The problem is when you're stuck with these slow players in your own group!

Still nothing you can do. Worry about your own game and just make sure you never play with them again

GreeBo

Su Campu wrote: »

The problem is when you're stuck with these slow players in your own group!

Then take that opportunity to try to speed them up. These problems get worse when people dont realise why they are slow or what they can do about it....educate them.

TheDoc

ForeRight wrote: »

Why is everyone in such a rush to get home to their brain terrorists?

Enjoy the walk, the chat, the fresh air and don't worry about lads taking 3 seconds to line up a putt, taking a practice swing etc etc.

Unless its blatant time wasting looking for balls on everyboke ihave no issue and I can never understand the whining from lads who only want to get off the course as soon as getting onto it.

There has always been slow players. Better off just accepting itand playing through when the opportunity arises. If not getting called through ring the pro shop

I have to say, I'm kinda with you here.

Slow play doesn't annoy me, in the slightest. The Junior cup was held in my place this summer, so guys of low handicaps, who averaged 6 hours to play their rounds. And these the créme of Dublins golfers from their respective clubs.

Golf is typically a 4 hour game, so I don't see what the rush is. If you have an early afternoon engagement, then you really shouldn't be golfing in the morning, simples.

Yes some slow golf of course is annoying, I know the group I'm normaly with freak out over slow play, but it doesn't bother me in the slightest, of course if things are getting out of hand, I'll just have a word and ask to play through.

But it seems to be a very, very common wide trait this year that the game is getting slower. That's coming from alot of people in my club, here and friends who play other courses like Donabate, Beaverstown and St.Annes.

From my understanding, the GUI sent letters to all club outlining they needed to be playing more stroke competitions. Typically we would only ever play strokes for majors and medals. So seemingly the GUI have made it a requirement that clubs reach a certain quota for strokes and also of their back stakes.

That is what I was told anyway, why I enquired about the increase in stroke comps and the increase in time its taking. A stroke comp in our place is bordering on 4hrs 45mins on average, regardless of the time you go out.
I'm noticing stableford getting worse too.

I'd nearly be in favour of removing fourballs and having 3balls be the max. The medals are three balls are relatively pacey.

alxmorgan

TheDoc wrote: »

Golf is typically a 4 hour game, so I don't see what the rush is. If you have an early afternoon engagement, then you really shouldn't be golfing in the morning, simples.

I don't agree with this. I have 2 under 2 so I ALWAYS have an afternoon engagement but I don't see that that should disqualify me from a Sunday morning comp.

4 hour game ? No probs.
5 + hour game = big problem
Thankfully not too much of an issue where I play but if it was it would drive me spare
And I'm not one for rushing around a course. I take my time - I enjoy a chat and the walk but I don't dawdle and I'm ready to go when needed. It ain't that hard

The_Architect

Su Campu wrote: »

No it's not, most people can get around in the proper time, it's just some who can't/won't. Same course for everyone.

There are multiple design and maintenance elements that affect the speed a course plays. That's not to say they are the only factors.

But there are most certainly fast courses and slow courses regardless of who is playing.

coddlesangers

For me, slow play is one of the most inconsiderate things someone can do on the golf course. I think mostly it's caused by people being completely unaware of the small things - like leaving your bag close to the exit to the next tee when you approach the green, and being ready to play as soon as you are up. But recently a new thing that has come into it - everyone using strokesavers and GPS has added a brand new way to slow the game down. Take a look, pick a stick, grip it and rip it..:D

newport2

alxmorgan wrote: »

I don't agree with this. I have 2 under 2 so I ALWAYS have an afternoon engagement but I don't see that that should disqualify me from a Sunday morning comp.

4 hour game ? No probs.
5 + hour game = big problem
Thankfully not too much of an issue where I play but if it was it would drive me spare
And I'm not one for rushing around a course. I take my time - I enjoy a chat and the walk but I don't dawdle and I'm ready to go when needed. It ain't that hard

Agree. I've played a lot in the evenings this summer and the group ahead can determine whether you finish your round or not. If I book a round 4 hours before it gets dark I expect to be able to finish it.

That's not being impatient or being in a rush, it's the difference between getting a round of golf in and not.