Slow play at your home club

It was the searching for balls in bushes that made me think you had the name wrong. Not to worry

If you were to tell me the round will take up to 4hrs 30, every time........and that was considered the norm, I just don't think I'd play there that much at all if that pace was considered acceptable.

Maybe on a course the likes of K club or Killeen Castle or something, where there can be long walks between greens and next tee. Yeah maybe ok then. Still though, I'd find that time a bit tiring.

I just think 4 30 is an awful long time to be spending out on a course. Maybe I'm just conditioned to shorter courses.Yeah I probably am actually.

I'm thinking back in the days playing junior / senior scratch cups, 36 holes. Regardless of course ye wouldn't wanna be greater than 4 hours coz ye gotta do it again in the afternoon.

Don't think scratch cups hold the monopoly on acceptable, or bearable, pace to be honest. OK it's been years for me but I played lots fado fado and pace varied. Some were ok, a few were excruciatingly slow.

I don't know how you would describe the average golfer. Age 50 15hcp is that average? I've no clue.

Would I expect a 50 year old off 15hcp to comfortably play an average golf course 18 holes singles in 3 ball format by 4 hours? Yes.

I take your point. For a 4 Ball.

You're right they don't comfortably get around in 4 hours, they get around comfortably in less.

How?

A course of that length would easily be navigated in less than 4 hours in a fourball of 50 year old 15 handicappers.

I would say 4 hours is fairly comfortable on a course like that. My course is similar distance. Our course design is pretty good for flowing rounds.

I'm not long home from our weekend comp. 15 holes, 4 ball, just under 3hrs 20, 3 HCs in the teens and one older gent with 30+ HC.

By my maths, we would have been bang on 4hrs for 18 and we were waiting behind the group in front a few times more than usual.

4 hours around our place would be pretty standard, I would say most rounds fall between 3hr 40 to 4hr 10. Anything 4hr 20 or above would be rare and really noticeable as a slow(er than normal) round.

Would have never have put a time on something like that, but whenever the silence gets uncomfortable, that's a few seconds too long.

You'll need to be more specific on when the silence happens.

Common sense lads, common sense, if fact if you do a ‘deep dive’ into slow play I suggest lack of common sense, contributes a lot to it.

eg not ready on the tee, bad equipment placing, deciding clubs to use, insisting on repairing every pitch mark on every green…..etc etc

Absolutely 100% agreed. If everyone repaired their pitch mark or at least 1-2 if they can't see theirs, greens would be in great nick everywhere. Common sense and can be done in a few seconds.