Slow Play again

BoardsMember

Does it change behaviour or solve for slow play? It's one thing knowing who the culprits are, it's another removing slow play as an issue.

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122472078#Comment_122472078

You sound like myself! In the past 5 years I have become a wizard with a low 4 iron from under the timber, I nearly use it a much as the putter!

One hole I played on Monday is almost laughable, it’s a 510 yard dog leg left par 5. It generally had a short run out to the turn, 190 straight from the tee will put you in the woods. But the trees protecting the dog leg are now monsters in height and width, so going over them is a complete non-runner, and trying to cut in around them is also ruled out, unless you have a savage low hook in your armour. So most play 8/9 off the tee as the 140 mark is at the turn, you can’t risk over hitting it as the trees at the far side have come in on top of the fairway so you could be blocked out! Its definitely one of the few part 5’s I’ve played where I hit 9 iron from the tee!

blue note

I've scanned through this thread. I really like the idea of the clock showing what time you should have started at throughout the round. And it probably would help a few people. But mostly, people just blame others in their group. Or the group in front that held them up that one time. But it could help some people.

Whoever said shooting 70 or 90 doesn't make a difference is plainly wrong. It certainly does. One of the big differences between someone shooting 90 compared to 70 is looking for balls. And that really takes time. But even the extra walking from being offline, additional shots to line up, etc. It's all time that adds up. I play with two guys who's probably average over 100 shots per round. There are holes you could be looking for 3 or 4 balls on. And even when you're not you can be walking across and back on the fairway, over the green and back to the front again. An auld fella who shoots 100 but is straight and taps the ball down the fairway until he reaches the green is fast. Someone who is just massively inconsistent with where they hit the ball is not. And it's not their fault. They'd be faster if they were better. Getting better is bloody hard.

The course set ups are a big problem too. I always say, I love water, because there's no looking for balls in it. If a ball goes into knee high grass - sure you might as well have a gawk. Same if it's in a forest or a bush. But water - everyone accepts it's gone.

And I'm not sure I like the name and shame approach. In fact, I don't like it. A lot of people can't help being slow. If it's through ability or age, there's not much they can do about it. Even those who just can't stop chatting or are away with the fairies and never doing those things that can speed up a round. While I'd love them to change, sometimes that's just who they are. We all have a friend who gets caught up in a conversation and forgets where they were supposed to be walking to or who no matter what, waits until they're supposed to leave before they start getting ready. We need to accept that these people play golf too. Now I'm not saying we can't give out about them or get annoyed by them or even talk about how to change them. We'll go mad if we don't. But we also need to accept that slow people play golf.

IrishOwl...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122469863#Comment_122469863

100% this! I played 2 rounds the weekend just gone with some mates from home, and it was brought up several times how tricky both courses were playing due to over growth. Obviously the name of the game is to avoid the trouble but it was really bad on some holes. 90% of the holes played over the 2 days, at least one person was looking for a ball. It was nearly becoming a slog by the end of it.

I would consider our group decent too, handicap ranges from 3.7 to 11 between the 4 of us. But we found it very difficult to keep either round below 4 and half hours.

newport2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122474727#Comment_122474727

Agreed. And taking a lot of shots, having to look for balls or someone physically only able to walk slowly are not things that I would categorize as "slow play". If someone takes 105 shots and has to look for balls, then that's just golf.

I would judge whether someone is a slow player by how long on average they take to play a typical shot, not by the total time of all their shots combined.

ShivasIrons

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122479998#Comment_122479998

Not judging slow play by the total amount of time to play a round is rather bizarre.

newport2

I'm talking about slow play at a player level, not a group. It's difficult to judge an individual golfer by total time for the round, as there is obviously 2-4 players involved.

All I meant was that if someone who takes 75 shots, never looking for balls, takes as long as someone who takes 100 shots, regularly in trouble, to complete a round, I might consider the former a slow player, but not necessarily the latter. They both have taken the same total time, but the former took much longer to take each of his shots. As he probably would on a bad day shooting 90, slowing things down considerably.

I wouldn't judge someone a slow golfer just because they take more shots. That can't be avoided, aside from picking up when out of the hole. It's the time taken for each shot that is the deciding factor and the only thing an individual golfer has control over.

If you just judge slow play by the total amount of time to play a round, then anyone playing with a slow golfer or two is guilty of slow play.

Ivefoundgod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122485970#Comment_122485970

"I wouldn't judge someone a slow golfer just because they take more shots. That can't be avoided, aside from picking up when out of the hole. It's the time taken for each shot that is the deciding factor and the only thing an individual golfer has control over."

I'd questions this part a little. Length of time taken to hit a shot is far from the only factor impacting a players pace of play. Some players are more deliberate than others but make up for it by being ready to go when its their turn and other basic common sense things like leaving the bag where it should be en route to next tee, playing ready golf etc. Its when you add not being ready to a slow pre-shot routine that things get bad IMO, regardless of skill level.

As someone else already said, IMO the number 1 cause of slow play is people looking for golf balls far beyond the 3 minute limit and players not hitting provisionals. In a stableford comp theres really no excuse for spending the full 3 minutes a lot of the time. If you hit into knee high cabbage you really need to have the mindset walking down to it that the ball is lost. I'd only give a very quick look in the exact area I think it would be in those cases, 99% of the time you aren't going to find it so quick look and move on to the provisional, shouldn't take more than 30 seconds and shouldn't involve your playing partners. Really the 3 minute limit should only be used where theres a reasonable expectation to find the ball. Unfortunately you have lads who find a ball in the middle of the thick stuff once a year that take the mind sight that they'll find every ball in that situation.

newport2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122510122#Comment_122510122

Wouldn't disagree with anything you said there. While time taken for each shot is a large factor, what you do between shots obviously has a big impact too, like you say. My point was I wouldn't judge somebody slow solely on the basis they take more shots.

BoardsMember

Spare a thought for the Ladies Open, rounds taking up to 7 hours. Leona McGuire arriving on oar 3 11th, there were 5 groups waiting, it took over an hour for her to play it.

charlieIRL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122535373#Comment_122535373

That is an absolute joke, why are they not penalised for slow play?