[Stoniaanapy]

Something BigLefty said got me thinking about slow players. We all know that people of all levels can be slow - the newbies are just as bad as the guys who think they're putting for the green jacket on every hole. Knowing that though - I do think a higher handicapper (and I'm one of them) is slower than a low handicapper. We hit the ball more frequently so of course it takes us longer. I don't think it's an issue if you have a mix of golfers in a 4-some, but if you have 4 high handicappers - I don't care how fast they move - they're definitely slower.

[WenPyclenoWex]

Something BigLefty said got me thinking about slow players. We all know that people of all levels can be slow - the newbies are just as bad as the guys who think they're putting for the green jacket on every hole. Knowing that though - I do think a higher handicapper (and I'm one of them) is slower than a low handicapper. We hit the ball more frequently so of course it takes us longer. I don't think it's an issue if you have a mix of golfers in a 4-some, but if you have 4 high handicappers - I don't care how fast they move - they're definitely slower.

The ones I played behind today for 4 holes sure as heck were slow. 90 minutes for 4 holes.

[pBiRXp8u]

Play also gets slower as the day goes on. One bad group or two can clog up a course. It's even worse if you get a large group that takes up a whole block of tee times (makes playing through all but impossible). People who play early usually want to get done at a reasonable time. If you show up after nine or ten o'clock, you should probably expect it to slow up some, especially if it's the first good weekend after a stretch of rain or cold or extreme heat. I try to play after 3 on weekends, it's usually not as bad then. You also get the twilight rates.

[iH1wMOhE]

I NEVER want to be "that" golfer. I play faster than I should. I always try not to look behind me when I play, if I see other players coming up, I have a tendency to speed up my play.....even if they are not close to me. This really throws me off. What I started doing on Friday, since I walk all the time, I just let the riders play through even if they are all over the place. I'd rather them be all over the place in front of me than behind me.

As long as I'm right behind the group in front of me then players behind me are irrelevant. If you can't see the players ahead of you, then you should be nervous.

[pBiRXp8u]

+1 fourputt. People behind me don't bother me because I know that my group is not the reason they are there. If by chance we are the reason, we'll send them through. I find that most people don't like people behind them waiting, even if it's not the group's fault.

[deermealec]

When it comes to golf, slow play is just like the weather. It is what it is, and is a part of the game sometimes. You just have to play in it the best way you can. You will never get rid of it, and for the most part I think slow players don't care that they are slow. Heck, some of them don't even know that they are playing slow.

Slow players do serve a purpose. They help keep green fees low.

[grosqueneen]

When it comes to golf, slow play is just like the weather. It is what it is, and is a part of the game sometimes. You just have to play in it the best way you can. You will never get rid of it, and for the most part I think slow players don't care that they are slow. Heck, some of them don't even know that they are playing slow.

I agree.

It's like being stuck in traffic, you can get as mad as you want and scream as loudly as you can, but the traffic's still there and now your throat is sore.

When I get on the first tee of one of my "regular" courses, I can usually tell just from looking around whether it's going to be a slow day or not and I try to get my mind into the "pace" right from there. If I tee off expecting things to be fast and they're not, then frustration sets in. But if I scan the course and decide that it's going to be slow and I accept that from the very first tee shot, I end up playing better because I'm not thinking about the pace.

Golf is a recreational activity, not a race. To be perfectly honest, I don't mind slow days because they just keep me in the golf environment longer. I usually get to a course an hour early to go to the range, then I play my round and then I go back to the range afterward to either work out kinks or ingrain good habits. I'm there for the day anyway so if a round takes a half-hour longer, it's of little consequence.

No one likes slow play, but I honestly don't see why everyone wants to rush through a round of golf in the first place. Nobody is going to say on their deathbed that they wished they'd spent less time on the golf course.


-JP

[en-druzhba]

Today, I played with three strangers. When we teed off, there was a group in the fairway in front of us, but they cleared quickly. By the third hole, we had caught up with a threesome of guys who had to be late 70's to early 80's. They let the twosome in front of us through, but we were stuck behind them until they finally gave up on 12. By that time, my round was ruined. I just cannot wait that long between shots. It would take these guys longer to actually walk off the green than it did for me to walk the entire length of the fairway and back. Several times, I thought they were mannequins left on the green just to infuriate me.

[xsVfF9Em]

What about the ding dongs that must put their score on the card before they walk off?How hard is it to move off and do the card on the next tee box? Or the group on the final hole must shake hands/hug each other before moving off? Pisses me off

[en-druzhba]

What about the ding dongs that must put their score on the card before they walk off?How hard is it to move off and do the card on the next tee box? Or the group on the final hole must shake hands/hug each other before moving off? Pisses me off

I love that almost as much as the guy who gets to his cart right beside the green and takes 5 minutes cleaning and rearranging his clubs before he finally sits down and drives off. Numbskulls.

[Alkassyinhisk]

I love that almost as much as the guy who gets to his cart right beside the green and takes 5 minutes cleaning and rearranging his clubs before he finally sits down and drives off. Numbskulls.

Ya, slow play is one thing. But being completely oblivious to others is what bothers me.

In addition to BigLefty's and C-Tech's examples, I can't stand when there are two riders in a cart, they drive to the first ball, one guy gets out and hits while the other just sits there, then the first guy comes back, puts away his club, gets in the cart, then they drive 10 yards!!! to the second guy's ball....

[F1grandprix]

What about the ding dongs that must put their score on the card before they walk off?How hard is it to move off and do the card on the next tee box? Or the group on the final hole must shake hands/hug each other before moving off? Pisses me off

That happened to us the other day, we were stuck behind a slow group that had several open holes in front of them and a pile up behind them. One of them would stop 2 steps off the green to write the scores down on every hole. On a shortish par three I waited for them to clear out and even waited on "scorecard guy" as well. I hit my shot and pulled it badly. I yelled "FORE" and it hit about 20 yards BEHIND them bounced a few times then rolled about 10 yards.

The closest it ever got to them was about 20 feet once it finally stopped rolling and "scorecard guy" waited until we pulled up to lecture me about giving them a chance to get off the green. So I apologized(even though I felt I didn't need to), reminded him we yelled "FORE", and then mentioned it never threatened hitting any of them. So then he tells me how I "am not good enough to be hitting when people are near a hole"... WTF?? SERIOUSLY??? I then reminded him he is on a golf course and this type of thing will happen from time to time and if he was on the next tee box hitting his shot and not holding up play he wouldn't be in range....

Now normally I would have just ignored his comments, but I wasn't about to listen to a lecture from a guy whose group held up play causing everyone to have a 5 hour round. Plus it was the only time it happened, it would be different if I had hit in to them before that.

[Stoniaanapy]

I played recently and the starter told my friend, another woman and me - that it was a group of women in front of us that were causing the play to be so slow. He went on and on about how women can be. So I looked at my friend and asked if perhaps he was blind and didn't realize he was talking to two women. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, her thought was that we didn't look nervous like new golfers do, but I think he was just trying to send a message because he lumped all women together. In all fairness - he was right - the women in front of us were very slow, but we're not.

[nvmrfgopyy]

Two foursomes on the course this afternoon, and we were right behind these painfully slow guys. They were older, and in their defense, at least one of them was playing with rental clubs that were almost as old as he was. We finally just drove around 'em.

[en-druzhba]

I really, really like slow play. I always hope the round lasts 7 ot 8 hours. I am always disappointed when there aren't bunches of really slow, inconsiderate players keeping things down to a snail's pace.

[nvmrfgopyy]

I really, really like slow play. I always hope the round lasts 7 ot 8 hours. I am always disappointed when there aren't bunches of really slow, inconsiderate players keeping things down to a snail's pace.

Where is C-Tech and what have you done with him?

[drgshmcm]

To the original poster, yes I would agree "sometimes".

Lower handicappers, or at least myself and my dad and brother, tend to spend the walk/drive/whatever thinking about our next shot, get to our ball, practice swing if we want to, address, hit, go on etc. I would like to add though that we might hit more fairways/longer ball's but we still might get the same score cause we miss our putts, hit OB etc ! Bogey's, Double B's, and Octo's et al know no handicap index..............

However when I shot a heckuva lot higher I prided myself in playing with the pace of play dictated by my group and the group ahead. If I noticed I was dragging behind I picked up my ball, marked a "nought" symbol on my hole and walked to the next one/waited on green or with others etc.

I will also add that playing in junior team golf and in HS team's tends to make one efficient at "ready golf" since you and thus your team can get penalized for slow play.

[grosqueneen]

I really, really like slow play. I always hope the round lasts 7 ot 8 hours. I am always disappointed when there aren't bunches of really slow, inconsiderate players keeping things down to a snail's pace.

I take it the peyote harvest was early this year?


-JP

[topbonusescod]

i d-i-s-l-i-k-e s-l-o-w p-l-a-y v-e-r-y m-u-c-h...