Slow play at your home club

Do people want to see changes to course design and set up to speed up the rounds? As golfgrafix said it's not as simple as making the course easier, but I'd hazard a guess the majority of things that would speed up play would make it easier. Do people actually want to see fairways widened, hazards removed, greens slower, etc?

My impression is that people don't want to answer the question. We want the speed of rounds 20 / 30 years ago, but not the courses. So we talk about bags being left on the wrong sides of the greens and extra practice swings instead of attributing any of the blame to the course and course set up.

I would like to see three balls become the norm though. They're significantly faster and to me more sociable. You end up talking as a group of three instead of two twos.

We all understand course design and the impact . And , you should avoid joing these clubs.

But don't underestimate slow walkers and groups taking 2 mins extra on a green on any course.

Just one player alone can be a min too slow on shots and in particular greens...

Thread is about home courses...some groups are losing a hole by the 4th...this is not course design...

4 balls are a disaster, I wouldn't join a club if it was 4 balls every sat/sun morning.

We're always 3 balls, unless there is a team event on that is either a 2 man or 4 man team

Are the rounds noticeably quicker because of it, or does it not have as much of an effect as you'd think?

Over a 8 hour period you will get 32 less players out. At weekends this is critical. If you are willing to pay a higher sub or round fee for 3 ball, that’s fair enough. Remember, this will have a knock on affect on all club income like pro shop etc. for most clubs it’s not an option.

shot gun starts are not workable either, it puts pressure on the pro shop and other facilities in a very short window and most clubs do t have big enough facilities to manage that situation twice a day or afford to staff it in that manner. Even the car park would be an issue. Plus it’s not the best utilization of the course as a asset.

course design is more about having the fairway at 30 wide in the landing zone for the average golfer which is 16 hcp in Ireland. You can keep in narrow for the low guys further up. Faster greens tend to improve scores once pins not on slopes.

someone else mentioned fringes at end of fairways, this is a real issue for older and lady golfers and is basically a extra shot for them.

also tee carries, far to long on some holes, a good example is a lot of the new courses in the last 30 years.

scoring format is another issue. We play far to many stroke comps which are actually a rare comp in the UK clubs. Championship tees should be twice a year and not once a month.

finally, education and respect and some manners by certain players would help.

Whether playing from forward tees or from the tips ,the greatest factor on pace of play will be course maintenance/set up.

Large areas of heavy rough/ long grass. Trees with low branches and heavy under growth. US open style set ups. Most of us are hackers. Resort style set up with minimal rough(easy find your ball) take a swipe move on = quicker pace of play.

Played last weekend with large society with shorter hitting playing partners . Did not effect pace , they were able to play 2nd shots to green while group ahead were putting . We were always in place to play when required, Balls were easily found unless they arrived in destinations where they deserved to go missing.

Slow players will always be slow. How they are dealt with. Avoid avoid.

3 balls are the dream for me. Unfortunately we're 4 balls at our club.

It was 3 balls for a period during Covid (can't remember the reason for it, probably because someone's dog suggested it would help eliminate the virus) and the pace of play was fantastic. 3.5 hour rounds were then norm. Played many in just over 3.

Far better from a social point of view as well imo. A 3 ball will generally join in on the same conversation throughout the round while I often find that 4 balls split into two 2's for a chunk of the round.

Slow play isn't a huge issue at our place though. The benefits of a country club where everyone knows everyone and people aren't shy to let it be known.

Every club has them….

We call them ‘The Men’s Shed Group’

I don’t blame any club for not tackling these dudes, folk in voluntary positions would be mad to involve themselves in that stuff when there are so many fond of ‘lawyering up’ and being as obstinate as burros if ‘censured’ for anything.

If I am behind a ‘Men’s Shed ‘ four ball and one could cover the four of them with a child’s blanket from tee one to tee eighteen,I just offer it up.

Some people just play golf to talk…… once you accept that it’s easier.

I have to agree with you on this, there tends to be an obsession around slow play, some warranted, mostly not. If you're playing golf on a Sat/Sun morn then you have to allow 4hrs for a round. Give the rat race nature of modern life, spending 4hrs walking in the fresh air isn't the worst thing in the world. As long as golfers aren't doing silly crap that causes undue delays, everyone needs to chill and accept that golf is a large time commitment.

Noone thinks they are the slow group.

course setup is the biggest contributor to slow play. Easy to find a ball means no wasting time looking for them.

New handicap system doesn't help either with the crazy upper limits.

Was playing with 2 ladies a couple of weeks ago. The card I was marking had 22 shots for 9 holes. And my course sets a neutral slope for the Winter.

Thought it was funny when she remarked that she had "extra" shots on only 4 holes, meaning she only had 3 strokes on 4 of the holes, instead of the 2 on all the rest.

When a quad on a hole can still get you a point its going to slow things down every day out on the course

As a time poor 30-something, slow play is my number 1 barrier to joining a golf club again. I would want to be the first on the time sheet every weekend and know that isn't feasible in most clubs. I also couldn't stomach a 4-ball every weekend either.

I have played lots of golf with all sorts of people and for me, the biggest issues with slow play are the incessant talkers (go find you ball and get ready), the dawdler (go get the flag if you have putted first, if you have putted second go get your bag and maybe head on to the next tee if it suits) and the high-handicapper who takes out a Rangefinder, takes 15 practice swings or 5 minutes reading a putt after hitting his provisional after 3 minutes looking for the first ball.

Everybody can have a bad hole or two but I think once you lose a full hole to the group in front, its time to pull over and let the next group on or make it up over a hole or two.

I get that clubs can't all afford to pay for course rangers but could they not offer the 5-day members a discount if they do course ranger for 1/2 a day every month or something? I know its getting in to logistics but even still, some clubs offer discounts for people to repair the fairways.

I get the "everybody should calm down" mantra, but it does surprise me that clubs are so unwilling to deal with repeat offenders. If they aren't willing to take a bit of criticism then go somewhere else, no?

Awareness on the golf course is something which is sadly lacking in a lot of clubs.

If you tee off on the first and because there is no one behind, dawdle along merrily you should be able to spot another group getting close and speed up.

The “Jaysus.. where did they spring from” shouldn’t happen.

Dont get me going about talkers….

Yeah awareness is badly lacking.

Do clubs ever do any "pace of play" talks, etc about how to speed up a round? I get that every group can have a bad hole but they should be able to catch up to the group in front or that's where a course ranger comes in.

To me, much of that lack of awareness is what causes the slow play.

I don't mind a chat every now and then but incessant talking while not even starting to think about the next shot bugs the sht out of me. I use the gap between shots to think about yardage, hazards, etc because when I get to the ball, I can have the shot planned.

Another big one - a bad tee shot and a guy who is more interested in cursing and swearing and swinging his club around than trying to keep an eye on anything (e.g. a tree, a yardage marker, whatever) which might help him find it when they get up there.

A friend of mine told me of a 25 handicapper taking out his range finder to see how far he was to the pin.....seriously. Get a GPS watch and come back with the range finder when you are in single digits or low teens.