Slow play is killing golf

It would be great if Sky or someone else started a time per shot stat

Probably not in the interest of PGA to have all the evidence

There has been a commotion before and it just eventually went away

My respect for Brooks Koepka is growing

patob wrote: »

This needs to be taken seriously at all levels of the game. Most US pros afraid to say boo to De Chambeau for his latest carry on.
Time for the US PGA to act with shot penalties.
Slow play is one of the main reasons I gave up my membership a few years ago. Anyone bothered about this issue here?

My main problem with golf. Pros taking so long encourages everyone else to.

Do pros not have someone from the tour with them for the round. Give him a stop watch and let him time them. Its an easy fix.

LuckyGent88 wrote: »

From PGA tour twitter feed just now: We're exploring adjustments to our current pace-of-play policy.

LOL

Just came to post that. This could be fun now

Ward J. Littell wrote: »

Tiger is actually regarded as being one of the quicker players on tour.

More a figure of speak than anything.

They’d hammer a journeyman as no back lash but they do someone like woods they’d be afraid of it.

The twitter drama over slow play continues. Now it’s Phil saying green books don’t slow play down at all. Says they are needed to speed up play.

Luke Donald disagreed and we have another little spat on our hands. This time Eddie Pepperal tried to play peacekeeper

GreeBo wrote: »

They should let them all use range finders and immediately it would be faster.
I honestly dont see the difference between lasering it and pacing it out (other than lasering it being far quicker of course)

I agree, the distance they are from the hole is a matter of fact, how they find out the distance shouldn't matter.

Would speeding up the play mean more camera crews required though to see every shot?

I think slow play in local clubs isn't that much of an issue. some of the issue I think is that lads have gone around in 3 or 3.5 hours for a 3 ball and they expect to go around at this pace every week. I know someone who if you ask him how did he get on he will tell you how long it took him before he tells you the score. Obsessed with going around as fast as possible. My club has a lot of older members and they just cant do this pace.

I have been away from golf the last few years and only recently took it back up, I can see both sides of the argument but I thinks it has been blown completely out of proportion as far as us armatures are concerned, first off I don't see the problem with a 4 ball taking 3 and a half to 4 hours to complete a round, I always allow 4 or 4 and a half hours to play if I don't have that amount of time to spare I dont play, I'm not a slow player but it's reality that perhaps a group in frount is slow or maybe a member of our group, I'm guessing the Average club golfers are shooting 80 or 90 strokes a round and we're not as consistent off the tee etc etc, for me there is nothing worse than the feeling of being rushed the whole way around, but on the other hand alot of the pros are just really taking the piss there is no need for alot of the over analysis they carry on with

GreeBo wrote: »

They should let them all use range finders and immediately it would be faster.
I honestly dont see the difference between lasering it and pacing it out (other than lasering it being far quicker of course)

I'd agree with this, as long as its all done within the stipulated time. You'd still have guys lasering every hump and hollow they can see and/or walking to a spot where they can see everything.

I mean, I know yardages are important (obviously) and I'm not saying go back to playing by sight & feel, but when Bryson had to pace out a 70 yard shot the other day because that area of the course didn't have markings, there's something seriously wrong IMO. If one of the top players in the world can't hit a short shot like that based on what he sees, maybe he needs to look at himself rather than find reasons why he's not slow.

etxp wrote: »

I'm not saying people shouldn't be letting other groups through, im just saying people have an unrealistic time in what they should be going around in. If you are out on a Sunday at peak times you should be expecting to get around in 3/3.5 hours.

However I did notice recently that the captains prize was taking 4.5 hours for 3 balls and that is slow.

I don't think that 3 hours Is realistic for a three or four ball, that's and average of 10 mins per hole?

copperhead wrote: »

I don't think that 3 hours Is realistic for a three or four ball, that's and average of 10 mins per hole?

It's not far off though per hole, 12 mins is 3.40 pace with 14 mins over 4.10.

The pace of a course gets slower the later in the day it is as long as u are keeping up with the group in front u can't really do much else.
For me letting people thru usually delays things further I think there should be more pressure for people to catch up.

If as a 4ball u save 15 seconds each a hole u bring the time down by 18 mins.
Most courses 4 hours should be max for a 4ball, u have some courses that it's not possible with walks and length of the course.

copperhead wrote: »

I don't think that 3 hours Is realistic for a three or four ball, that's and average of 10 mins per hole?

sorry that was a typo, it was meant to say shouldn't

slave1 wrote: »

I played a 3ball in 2hrs 55mins on Sunday, we started 35minutes behind the 3ball in front and caught them on 14.
Previous week was a 2 ball in 2hrs 40mins
Both days were comp rounds

Would it be usual that it's not a full time sheet on a Sunday?

Even still that's an extremely quick round, the course must be short/setup to be quick ie, all the cabbage cut - no real hazards?

Simply wouldn't be possible of my track, best I've seen this year was 3hrs 40 minutes. We have water or out of bounds on most holes.

AdamD wrote: »

3 hrs 40 is not quick for a 3 ball.

It is in our club were the average 3 ball would be 4 hrs.

Dtoffee wrote: »

Is this the future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhFLF3G-ebg

The Irish chap (who won it) putting one handed whilst holding his bag was brilliant. Just looked so nonchalant.

For pace of play isn't really how quick the round is it's how the flow of the round is.

I have had 4 hour rounds that felt like torture waiting on every shot and 4 hour rounds that have flown by.

It can often be as simple as players hanging around a green or leaving bags the wrong side so we are on the fairway waiting to play.
Or the sheep, 4 guys all walk together go to player A's ball watch him hit go to player Bs ball watch him hit rather than everyone head to their own ball and get ready to play.

They maybe keeping up but they are delaying the players behind them playing shots.

mike12 wrote: »

For pace of play isn't really how quick the round is it's how the flow of the round is.

I have had 4 hour rounds that felt like torture waiting on every shot and 4 hour rounds that have flown by.

It can often be as simple as players hanging around a green or leaving bags the wrong side so we are on the fairway waiting to play.
Or the sheep, 4 guys all walk together go to player A's ball watch him hit go to player Bs ball watch him hit rather than everyone head to their own ball and get ready to play.

They maybe keeping up but they are delaying the players behind them playing shots.

Definitely agree with this. It certainly doesn't take anything extreme to keep the pace moving. Its the little things like leaving bags the wrong side, marking cards on the green and basically not being ready when its your turn that all add up. I'd even suggest that "ready golf", which is great and I love it, isn't always necessary to keep things moving. For sure it helps but there are plenty of even simpler things if someone isn't a fan.

Russman wrote: »

No, its not a form of road rage. Just because someone wants to be as slow as they like, all the other players shouldn't just have to suck it up because that's just the way it is.
Letting the field determine the pace is essentially letting the slowest players determine the pace.
No one is sensibly advocating what often gets termed "running" around the golf course, but there should absolutely be an acceptable pace for a round of golf without annoying both the speed merchants and the "I paid my fees and I'll take as long as I want" brigade. I'd suggest, and I'm being pretty generous here I think, that under 4 hours should be attainable on most golf courses that we'd play. In a lot of cases I'd even go with well under 4 hours.

I'm not advocating people taking the piss, I'm making allowances for older members and beginners, and those who play at a decent pace albeit slower than the guy who's wife has him on the leash and clock.

It is a form of road rage, as you said people shouldn't be getting annoyed, it stems from entitlement and ownership, not getting their own way and a lack of control. They'd sooner get angry, do some sugarbowling, and blow their round (and then blame everyone else for their childish indiscipline).

Bryson is slow, its bloody obvious when you watch him. People making excuses for him is exactly why there's slow play, if you don't see a problem with it you're probably slow yourself.

GreeBo wrote: »

If he takes 50 second on every shot but can play a round of golf in 2.5 hours on his own, then he is not slow.

He hits 70 shots in a round, if he takes 2 minutes every shot then thats still only 2 hours 20 minutes...professional rounds are up at 5 hours, so whats happening for the other 2 hours 40 minutes?
If its taking someone nearly 3 hours to just walk a golf course they need to hurry the hell up.

Speeding up the already fastest bit doesnt buy you anything, you need to make the slowest bit faster.

This is why everyone who knows what slow golf actually means talks about things like "being ready to play", "leaving your stuff in the correct location", "ready golf" and rarely talks about the guy who takes a minute to actually hit the ball. Sure it can be annoying, but if 40s of that minute are happening while someone else is hitting, who cares?

Brooks Koepka has made it pretty clear that those 40 seconds aren't happening when someone else is hitting and that's a major part of the issue.

AdamD wrote: »

Brooks Koepka has made it pretty clear that those 40 seconds aren't happening when someone else is hitting and that's a major part of the issue.

And Bryson has made it clear that its other who are doing the 2.5 hours of walking and he ends up waiting for them...

Miley Byrne wrote: »

I presume that fella began the timer when Bryson's 40 second allowance would have begun. Otherwise it would be pointless. And his results proved what most of us know anyway without ever actually timing him: that Bryson is slow. Anyone who draws any other conclusion has their head in the sand.

You are missing my point though.
Time spent hitting the ball is a fraction of the overall round time, even if you are taking 1 minute per shot.
It's far better to speed up the slow bit (the non hitting bit) than to shave 10 seconds off the hitting time.

If Byron goes from 60s/shot to 30s/shot you save a whopping 35 minutes per round.
It's still taking them over 4 hours to play...so why not tackle that?



/btw I'm being Devils Advocate here, but I do think he has a point.
No point in taking 10s /shot and then sauntering down the fairway.