Written by Scott Dunford
Pace of play can be good, bad or down-right ugly, and we all know when the pace of play is good: you go to the next tee and the players in front of you are out of reach or not on the hole at all. You can maintain your rhythm, tempo and concentration so much better when not pushed from behind or held up. It’s wonderful when that happens. But the bad news is that it’s not always the case.
When it’s bad, you’re forced to wait anywhere from three to five minutes on every hole. That wait can seem like 10 sometimes more than three to five minutes. If you’re lucky, that will be a consistent wait time, but it’s rarely consistent. There’s always that one hole that seems to clog up; you round the corner and your blood pressure starts to go up. There are two or three groups waiting to tee it up and before you know it, that ugly turns into a five or six hour round!
So what can you do to help speed up play for yourself or your group? Here are a few tips that I’ve learned from being a Marshal for the past eight years on various golf courses. Most courses look for a four hour round while some, like Wolf Creek in Mesquite, aspire to a five hour round due to difficulty and distance between holes. Ideally, we want to feel as though the course is our personal retreat, designed to challenge and reward us without the drama of slow play.
Let’s Speed It Up!
Tip One: Be ready to hit when it’s your turn to play your shot. Have your club choice selected before you step up to the tee or your next shot. On the green, study your line while others set up or make their putts. Then when it’s your turn you’re ready to execute that well thought out stroke.
Tip Two: Take a couple of clubs or an extra ball out to the fairway if it’s cart path only. It’s so frustrating when you watch players in front of you go back and forth from where they think they hit the ball to get another club or find out their ball is lost.
Tip Three: After you’ve finished a hole don’t discuss or score your teams shots next to the green you just finished. Move to the next tee so that the players behind you won’t have to wait until you clear the green side area.
Tip Four: Promote fewer practice swings. One or two is sufficient. More than that is irritating to your team members and those behind you. It won’t help your game either. Set up for the shot, make a free flowing practice swing, focus on the tempo, commit to the shot and pull the trigger! Do it the same way every time and your game will improve. Too much time over a shot limits your ability to maintain focus. Laser in and execute.
Tip Five: Play ready golf when it’s busy. That means you can hit when ready without the standard order of play based on who shot a lower score on the previous hole.
So, you and your teammates are doing all the right things to maintain a good pace but the duffs ahead of you don’t have a clue. It’s inevitable that you’re going to face a five even a six hour round once in a while during a busy day or peak season. Here are a few tips and side games that will help you maintain your focus and tempo when you’re stuck behind a Tortoise.
It’s Slow, Complain or Stay Focused?
Tip One: Play the “Bump And Run” game in between the red, white and blue tee markers. Use the club you plan to hit on the hole and match your skills with your team members bumping the ball from the blue tee markers to the white tee markers and so on. Put a small wager on the game for a drink or 25 cents just to keep everyone interested. You won’t have as many complaints about slow play and you’ll maintain your focus when it’s your turn to hit your shot.
Tip Two: If it’s backed up on a par 3, start the ball rolling by waving the next group up after your group is safely on the green. Hopefully you’ll have started a trend that will continue long after you’ve moved on.
Tip Three: If you’re stuck behind two groups waiting to tee off, clean your clubs, get a drink, and socialize with the other guys waiting there while being mindful of those teeing it up. Who knows, you may make a new friend and it’s a whole lot better than bitching about slow play all day. That negative banter will infect everyone and make for not only a long day but give you another excuse why you missed that shot! Relax, breath, enjoy the scenery and stay positive. Let the marshal deal with those slow players. They’re doing their best to motivate pace of play but sometimes it’s out of their control. If slow play persists with a specific group after two or three warnings, they’re asked to skip the next hole. Skipping a hole when you’re paying over a $100 for golf isn’t a popular choice but is a solution that’s warranted and required at times.
Slow play happens most often in tournaments and large groups of players who labor over every putt and club selection. They’ve watched too many pros on TV fidget, wiggle, and pace back and forth over putts. A bad example for pace of play but something the PGA/LPGA are keeping a close eye on and we as amateurs should as well. Many times players are required to play tees they’re game is not suited for. If you’re the group leader, set up your tournament for fun for everyone. Allow for the high handicapper, ladies, and senior players the flexibility to hit from their appropriate tees. Help your team mates maintain a good pace by addressing issues early with a gentle reminder before everyone hits their first ball. It can be a touchy subject and make for an awkward day if delivered with a heavy hand on the golf course.
Golf is meant to be fun and it’s not much fun waiting five minutes or more on every tee box. If all of us did our part to maintain pace of play the world would be a better place and so would our day on the golf course. When it’s out of our control, we need to control our emotions so that it won’t adversely affect our game and our own fun factor. I hope these tips have helped. If you know someone who is slow or who loves to bitch about slow play, share this article with them. Like many of the writers in the Independent, this is my opinion. If you have ideas you’d like to share, my online article each month allows for your comments at the end of every story. Go to: HYPERLINK “http://www.suindependent.com” www.suindependent.com Click CULTURE/GOLF. I’d love to hear from you about this subject and any other subject you feel would be of interest to our readers. See you on the links.
