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What to do during a slow round?

sandwedge

Well-Known Member
Oct 19, 2006
790
0
During a slow round I usually get stupid drunk, talk on my cell phone, hit into the group in front of me, and throw rocks at wild geese.:D
 

JEFF4i

She lives!
Supporting Member
Jul 3, 2006
13,545
95
Relax. If you know you are going to have to wait, maybe stretch a little. Pull out the scorecard/range book and find out your strategy for the hole. Busy yourself essentially.

Main thing, don't let it bother you.
 

Fourputt

Littleton, Colorado
Sep 5, 2006
973
0
I am not a fan of golf courses that have blind shot holes. To me, they just do not make sense for recreational golfers. Odds are that you are going to hit into someone you didn't know was there, or your ball will take a kick the wrong way and either you'll spend time looking for it or you'll never find it.

For high end courses that have forecaddies, or for the pros who have galleries to help them find balls (and move boulders), then OK.

That said, I think long hitters have an extra responsibility to watch out for players in front of them. I have had people hit into me, and I could look back down the fairway and see them! WTF? The first ball I usually ignore, the 2nd gets stepped on, the 3rd gets knocked into the woods.

Seems to me that this course was probably designed before the era of the 300 yard drive... The holes were laid out that way because you were supposed to be laying up to the corner of the dogleg. (not saying it's good or bad, but it just sounds like that kind of a course) You can't blame the course for the proliferation of hot balls and drivers.

But I DO blame the player who takes such a chance on a crowded course, especially when he KNOWS that there are slower players ahead of him. No sympathy for him here. I know I'd have stopped to have a little chat with him. :real angry:
 

cypressperch

Well-Known Member
Jun 24, 2006
681
3
Toledo Bend Lake, Louisiana
Country
United States United States
I am glad for those of you who

have found pleasant things to occupy yourselves with during SLOW ROUNDS. I think I have tried most of them at one time or another. Beer seems to work best. But seriously, there is no excuse for rounds as slow as some people play. Golf courses that tolerate the idiotic pace that many play because they have taken their money and do not want to make waves, or whatever the excuse or reason, will some day regret it. I have played courses that insure that the pace will not be slow. Slow play etiquette rules are posted all over the place. They put it boldly on every score card. There are times posted at numerous places on the course to inform you if you are keeping up as you should. But why am I writing this since I should know after fifty years of playing that it is probably hopeless. For every Lee Trevino that comes along putting his name firmly against SLOW PLAY, there is a Jim Furyk that invents new ways to take more time. Even Phil has a lot of people doing that thing around the cup, and he remains popular. True, they do their thing for a living, but that crap spreads all over the place. The truth is that it does not do any good to take that long in the first place. Slow play some times come from the meticulous deliberation that many thirty handicap players take hopefully to lower their scores. If they would just look at the situation, step up to the ball, address it, and make as smooth a pass through the ball as they can, their scores would fall like magic. But alas, we must all be like Burn Hard Longer! Actually, he has improved a lot, as did Sergio when he stopped milking his grips 19 times before every shot.

Cypressperch once said, "If you are a golfer, you are my friend. If you are a slow playing golfer, you are my mortal enemy." As you notice, I am not putting a happy, smiley face after that statement.
icon8.gif



The one thing that no one has any business doing even if the group ahead is headed for a six-hour round, is to purposely hit into them. I was playing a dog-leg right that went down abruptly to the right at the dog-leg point. It did not take but a minute or two to find my ball, and then I set up to hit a seven iron towards the green. As I came into the ball, I had a strange sensation in my hair just before making contact with the ball, then stranger still, I made contact with a second ball when my clubhead was about three feet or so past impact. My playing partner asked, "What the hell did you just do?" I did not know. What had happened was a guy had hit a monster drive off the tee, and it was his ball that came through my hair and then made contact with my seven iron! The course should have had a flag for this blind spot, but the guy hitting the drive ASSUMED no one was within range. This was a college golfer who could crush the heck out of it, which meant someone could always be in range on such blind shots. That goodness I stayed behind the ball on that shot!! I have been hit by a golf ball a time or two, and it can be incredibly painful. My own brother got me on the side of the knee with a thinned drive. The bruise had the dimple pattern of the ball. His bruise had no such dimple pattern.
There have been cases where being struck by a golf ball has resulted in death. I'll put up with a six-hour round, but I would hate to end up six feet under because some fool just had to hit a shot NOW.

If you happen to be new at golf, talk to your pro and other experienced golfers about things that you can do to play at a reasonable pace. I recently played with a guy who addressed an imaginary ball and took a practice swing two times before every shot, whether it was a putt or a drive. He shot close to a hundred, and that meant around fifty extra minutes added to our round. He refused to play READY GOLF saying that he only wanted to hit if it were his turn, and if it were his turn, he wanted to hit then. His ball might have been ten or twelve feet off my line, but he would walk over and mark his ball even after I had addressed my ball and was about to putt. He did lots of stuff that took up an awful lot of time. I prefer to play with golfers who shoot about the same scores as I do (somewhere in the seventies), but I would far rather play with a guy shooting a hundred that kept the game moving than to play with someone who scored well but took forever to finish the round.

How many times have you looked foward to playing a round, gone out and got warmed up, started out just fine (maybe even great), only to have play grind to almost a halt. Rigor mortis sets in. There goes the rhythm, the feel, the timing. Every shot is made from a cold start. Forget the great score. Watch the birds and squirrels. Chip and Pitch. Have a beer. (notice the price for the beer? Perhaps that explains why slow play is tolerated.).

People are pushing hard to "grow the game." I am totally in favor of that, but there is danger ahead. The golf course building boom continues, but for how long? Someday may come when all courses will be crowded, and if we do not do a better job of educating folks about slow play, we will need ambulances at courses because of the strokes (medical term) and violence that will accompany the six-hour rounds.

Sincerely, Cypressperch
 

JEFF4i

She lives!
Supporting Member
Jul 3, 2006
13,545
95
Oh, on the topic of women. My mum plays faster than most people I know.

And like Doc, I've been behind a few school groups before, but generally let it slide. I know what it was like.

When it is a dead stop though, I hate that. Like my post almost a year ago on those old bags that were so rude. :(
 

artfulgolfer

Well-Known Member
Jan 8, 2007
80
0
Thanks Cypressperch, although everyone seems to have found clever ways to make slow rounds tolerable and even constructive, I'd rather see everyone learn to just pick a target and swing the damn club. I am planning to get a hacky sack though since things will probably never change ;).
 

Sandpiper3

Golf Course Designer
Aug 9, 2006
5,058
2
I am planning to get a hacky sack though since things will probably never change .

YES!!! Thats awesome!

I can honestly say I LIKE slow golf:). So many ppl get annoyed by it, thats when i get an advantage cause i like to just chill and rest after each hole. I almost always go and sit down on whichever bench after the hole just to markup scores and such, keeps me more relaxed and keeps energy instead of standing the whole time.

I got slow rounds down:), now I just have to get the golf part down;)
 

artfulgolfer

Well-Known Member
Jan 8, 2007
80
0
I can't say I "like" slow rounds, but like sandpiper, I've learned to play well playing slow. I learned the hard way though. I was playing with a friend as a twosome and got behind a slow foursome on the 4th hole. My friend is very impatient and I let his attitude effect mine. We became pretty irritable as we waited over every shot. On the 7th we walked up to the teebox while the group was still teeing off. We knew there was only one other group ahead of them because we saw the teesheet in the pro shop before the round... So we asked if we could play through. They said no and took off in their carts, then proceeded to look for a lost ball for 5 minutes. We were livid. I finished the long round with a 92. But I decided after the round to NEVER let the slow play and inconsideration of others ruin my round again. That was the last time I shot a round in the 90's - over 1 year ago. Might as well learn to enjoy playing slow.
 

Pa Jayhawk

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2005
7,196
62
Country
United States United States
Had to dig this thread up after todays round and seriously vent for one of the first times on this forum.

Played a round today with my wife and the course paired us up with an older gentleman and his wife. Started the first hole and the other lady mentioned it was her first time out this year. We thought it may make for a rough day when the first few holes she would hit her driver off the tee and play what I would guess was a 6i the rest of the hole all the way to the green. Although as I mentioned earlier in the thread, she likely played as fast as anyone else on the course. I would not even want to guess what she shot during the round, but we had a wonderful time. Over the course of the round we found out they were celebrating the 45th anniversary, which they had celebrated their honeymoon at the same resort. They were wonderful company and had great stories about the area over the course of the round while we waited at each tee box for the group in front of us. Such great company that my wife and I shot one of our better rounds of the year.

We get to 16 which is a par 3. Get done with the hole and for the first time of the day we see a ranger. He came by from behind us when we are walking off the green and tells us we really need to pick up the pace, and that there is a hole and a half empty in front of us. I got completely PO'ed at this comment, and likely the first time I got PO'ed on a golf course in a couple years. The last time was a similar incident with a ranger that told us we were behind the pace while we were waiting for a par 3 to clear, while the group in front of us stood on the green. I told him not only did we have to wait for the green to clear but pointed at the group in front of us who was only about 200 yards out in the middle of the fairway on the next par 5 and asked what the heck he was talking about being a hole and a half behind. He proceeded to say that he would talk to them, as he obviously did not take the time to even look prior to making the comment. I then told him it seemed like a waste of time since they only had 1 hole to go and we were not really waiting that much, nor did the group behind us ever really wait for us. We completed the round in about 4 hours and 10 minutes, and it made for a wonderful day with exception to this idiot that obviously had some kind of axe to grind. Ended up shanking my tee shot on the next hole and had one of my only double bogies of the round.

I guess the point here is simple. You want to play fast and don't have the time to smell the roses, take up another sport. Personally I will take the couple celebrating their 45th anniversary and realizes they may not be the best of golfer but still has a good time and can keep up with the group in front.

Personally I had to bite my tongue when we got done with the round, as this is likely the course we play the second most next to our home club and are on a friendly first name basis with the guy who runs the course. Who personally knows how both my wife and I and the other group play and paired us up because he knew it would make for a great day.

For any perspective rangers out there that have a problem with women on a golf course and just assume they are responsible for slow play, take this as a lesson. I can assure you if we ever hear something like this from the same guy again he will be looking for a new job or we will not go back to our home away from home. Some people need to understand the real purpose that many frequent a golf course or at least take the time to know what they are talking about. If 4:10 is to much time to give for a couple celebrating their 45th anniversary, then I need to find a new sport. My wife and I likely could have made the same round in about 2 hours the way we played today had we gone out 20 minutes earlier, but at the expense of missing out on a fine round.

Sorry for the Rant. :)

edit 1 - Should mention, as with many courses in this area and with this one, as it is a resort area 5 1/2 rounds are quite common.
 

cypressperch

Well-Known Member
Jun 24, 2006
681
3
Toledo Bend Lake, Louisiana
Country
United States United States
Eighteen holes in four hours

and ten minutes is not slow at all. I think you are right that that guy "had an axe to grind." Sounds like the kind of guy that likes to exercise the tremendous amount of power given to marshalls. At my course, it is just the opposite with marshalls primarily running their carts all over the place saying "hello" to everyone, taking breaks (after the customary 'pre-break'), constantly eating, and NEVER doing anything about slow play that does occurs on occasion.

Four hours and ten minutes is exactly the time it took our foursome to play at a course at Hot Springs Village a few weeks ago. That pace was close to perfect.

Cypressperch
 

Pa Jayhawk

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2005
7,196
62
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United States United States
This was a big part of the Catch-22 and the reason I chose to bite my tongue at the end and not say anything. Granted, I was really PO'ed and felt he was out of line, after thinking more about it on 17 and 18, I realized that this was one of the few rangers I have seen that will even make a comment. Granted, he made an error in judgment in not even looking to see that we would have to wait on the upcoming hole and just assumed there were 2 holes empty in front of us.

Although he did seem to realize the error when I pointed it out, and I kinda felt that the courses in this area probably need more rangers that would actually say something. As I mentioned, 5 1/2 hour rounds are not uncommon and most of the course do employ rangers.

... and again, my initial thought when we stepped on the first hole, until I saw otherwise was that this was going to make for a long day. So I guess I couldn't really say I should expect more from him outside of checking out the situation prior to opening his mouth and inserting foot. Although based on the day I seriously doubt the people behind us even complained, as I really only noticed them having to wait for us to clear the green on a couple occasion, and the time was negligible.
 

Pa Jayhawk

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2005
7,196
62
Country
United States United States
This brings up the other interesting topic that I never quite knew how to handle, nor did it really ever reach that point (Yet). My wife and I commonly sign up as a twosome and are paired with two others from the course. Although it has only happened a couple times that I can remember, where we were certainly the slow group on the course and maybe even a couple holes behind and we were just waiting for a ranger to say something, it brings up an interesting question I never really knew how to approach. The course paired us up with the other twosome, yet from a course perspective the rangers usually have no clue to this and view you as a foursome. One of the times we just let a group or two play through, another we realized we would have been a revolving door and my wife and I didn't want to make it a 9 hour round.

This is very delicate in the sense that I can honestly say I am consciouses enough to know I will likely never be the cause to falling two holes behind, as I even pick my ball up when things go really south on a hole, and have even at times picked up my ball when I was not doing real terrible just hoping they may take it as a hint that there is a time to realize the options when you are slower than the rest of your group. Usually didn't help though.

Interesting on how to approach this. You have a ranger. Kinda tough to say "You paired us up with these slow pokes from he!! that have ruined my day more than the group behind by making us the issue". Probably be a little offensive to the others. Never had it get to that point, but makes for an interesting debate.

I guess if it did for me I would likely say to the ranger "Why don't you split us up since we were paired up by your course anyways, and as two twosomes there should be no problem?" Insisting that my wife and I would just skip to the next hole (Putting us in front of the others add you:)) so as not to slow down the course.

Kinda hard not to offend the other group when you really feel like saying "These guys don't belong on a golf course, if even with as quick as we play we are still slow as a foursome"

I guess if the didn't like the idea of splitting up, I would likely leave and ask for a rain check or my money back. Or say I am leaving, skip a hole and never see them again.
 

MGP

Clubmaking Ho
Supporting Member
Apr 21, 2007
1,996
24
Handling slow play is always a touchy subject, especially when the course pairs you with other people that play a lot slower than you do.

I played last Friday (I walked on as a single) and they paired me with two other guys. Right as we were getting ready to tee off, they put one other single in our group. The two guys that they paired me with were realllllly slow players. Besides not being very good (not necessarily a cause for slow play in and of itself), they were never ready to hit their shots, talked and generally wasted time while they could have been lining up putts, selecting clubs, etc. They were nice guys but wasted tons of time. I kept giving them tips like "If you're ready to hit, just go ahead and hit".

The other guy and me were both a lot faster, always ready to play. Our group was constantly holding up the groups behind us. When a hole finally opened up in front of us I suggested we let the group behind play through and they did. After that, the next group was pushing us on every hole. We finally finished the front nine and I again said, let's let the group behind us play through at the turn. The front nine played about 2:45 for us and I was playing like crap and frustrated.

At the turn, the two slow guys finally caught on that they were really really slow and told me and the other guy to play ahead without them. Thank God! The two of us played the back nine in about 1:45 and we even let a husband and wife with a cart play through! On the back side I dropped four strokes over the front just by being comfortable, walking up to my ball, picking a club and hitting. We moved right along and I really enjoyed the back. Funny thing is I actually talked a lot with the guy I was playing with and helped him straighten out his drives and chipping as we played.

If every round played like the back nine did, I would be really happy with golf again. That's how I learned to play and I wish more people would just pick up the pace. It only takes 2 minutes a hole to save 36 minutes on the round! Four minutes saves more than an hour.
 

SiberianDVM

I love Hooters
Moderator
Jul 25, 2005
8,783
1,539
Augusta, GA
Country
United States United States
Saturday, I played in a tourney. The first group was 4 champ flighters. My group was next off, 4 B flighters. We B flighters were waiting on the champ flighters ALL DAY. They were really grinding.

Sunday I tried to play 18 as a single walking. Even playing 4 balls sometimes I could not stand being behind the 4 turtles who were in front of me, and I quit after 9. They were pretty bad: in the trees on every hole, duffing irons 30 yards, and making a dog's breakfast of the greens.

So good players and bad players will play slow, unless the courses:
1-have marshalls to prod people
2- or have GPS in the carts that tell people to speed up
 

artfulgolfer

Well-Known Member
Jan 8, 2007
80
0
imho, the problem will never be solved. Marshalls take their job to get free golf and courses pack as many players out per day as possible. You just have to consider yourself lucky when you pick a day when things are moving. If you decide to play in any kind of tournament, you know you're in for a long round. If, like jayhawk shared, my rounds were usually 5 1/2 hours, I'd quit playing altogether, but here, we usually get in under 4 1/2 hours (which I still consdier a slow round).
 

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