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Marietta, GA
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 49
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Posted: Aug/23/2007 5:24 AM PST
Quote: Originally posted by CantonDog A 20 handicap can play just as fast as a single digit and still have fun.
I disagree. Unless I shouldn't bother looking for my ball and just take a drop every time I'm off the fairway, how can I play at the same speed as a single digit handicapper?
If someone's hitting 11/14 fairways, and I'm hitting 5/14, then I'm going to take longer. ...much longer.
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South Florida
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 290
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Posted: Aug/23/2007 6:21 AM PST
Quote: Originally posted by Jprice If someone's hitting 11/14 fairways, and I'm hitting 5/14, then I'm going to take longer. ...much longer.
I can personally vouch for that!
The golfer should do whatever they can to speed up the game while not feeling rushed. I pay my green fees just like everyone else, & i feel that i am entitled to enjoy it as much as the next golfer. But i let people play through, act with respect, and treat my fellow golfers like family.
As i mentioned before, a little common sense. But i guess as the saying goes, common sense is not so common. LOL
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Orem, UT
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 338
Moderator
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Posted: Aug/23/2007 11:31 AM PST
Quote: Originally posted by Juancd75 Quote: Originally posted by Jprice If someone's hitting 11/14 fairways, and I'm hitting 5/14, then I'm going to take longer. ...much longer. I can personally vouch for that!
Me too! I golf a lot with my brother-in-law, who is a 1 handicap, and I'm somewhere around 20. I slow his game down quite a bit, but he takes the moments waiting to prepare himself for his next shot, so he doesn't let it affect him, and he lets me take the time that I need.
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New York
Joined: 8/24/2007
Posts: 3
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Posted: Aug/25/2007 4:41 AM PST
I am a beginner, but it doesn't take long to understand that as important as it is to learn how to swing a golf club correctly (be it shooting (off the tee and in the fairway, chipping, putting,etc.), a golfer must understand etiquette when on the course. When I go for lessons, I cross fairways and learn to give those playing the right of way. I learn to shoot on a range which is part of the course, but may interfere with others playing. Not only do you stop when they pass through, wait when another group tees off, and watch the trajectory of balls hit which may land near where we are learning. When it is time to recover our practice balls, I never want to accidentally pick up another golfer's ball in play.
I keep a list of golf rules on my Favorites, and listen to rules being explained on TV. All these concerns may sound complicated, but they are easy to follow and are required of all, beginners and otherwise.
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New York
Joined: 8/24/2007
Posts: 3
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Posted: Aug/25/2007 5:19 AM PST
Quote: Originally posted by Jprice Quote: Originally posted by CantonDog A 20 handicap can play just as fast as a single digit and still have fun. I disagree. Unless I shouldn't bother looking for my ball and just take a drop every time I'm off the fairway, how can I play at the same speed as a single digit handicapper? If someone's hitting 11/14 fairways, and I'm hitting 5/14, then I'm going to take longer. ...much longer.
Of course, there is an answer to your problem: have a caddy like OddJob (from the movie "Goldfinger"). When you find the rough, he can go onto the fairway and slip a ball through his trousers. If one of the group has a lower handicap and plays faster than the other, he can be disposed of using OddJob's steel-rimmed tophat. But at the same time, in the movie wasn't James Bond matched with Golfinger because they had similar handicaps? Maybe the answer for a course to arrange groups this way. If a group wants to include me, and I am just getting started in the game, arrange a tee time that may not slow up other golfers. It may not be as convenient a time as originally desired, but that's the price you pay for wanting to assemble your own group, regardess of abilities. One could answer: if I constantly hit my ball into the rough, do I settle for an earlier or later tee time when it may be darker and balls off the fairway are harder to find? It's confusing to think of a solution.
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Moncton New Brunswick
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 572
Moderator
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Posted: Aug/26/2007 8:05 AM PST
Speaking hypothetically, it I could control the play of a golf course, I would make it compulsory that each and every golfer that applied for a tee time would have to provide proof of at least 1 years play time (twice a week June-Sept) at an Ex-par3. If you couldn't prove that, you don't play. Everyone has to learn the game of golf, but learning on a full blown course, without proper instruction and actual playing time, is going have this problem go on for ever and a day. Playing on a par 3 is no put down, its the learning experience that every new golfer should have to under go. We could probably even introduce them to golf etiquette at the same time....
Del
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Cumbria, UK
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 281
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Posted: Aug/26/2007 3:28 PM PST
Golf etiquette is something we learn or are taught. Slow play affects us all from time to time either through our own game/group or those ahead. If those of us are truely gifted, we will be aware of holding up others & ask them to play through.
Visiting golfers should be made aware of what the club expects to be the normal time for a round (while in Spain recently, visitors were certainly given this information on their arrival).
Obviously a two-ball is usually faster than a foursome, men play faster than women (usually), beginners cannot be expected to remain on the practice area for ever. The game had the stigma of being elitist in the past, and I beleive it should remain there, the sport has been opened up to the world in general.
Perhaps we should just think back to when we first came to the game and were we "guilty" of this sin. I beleive etiquette is a two way thing.
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Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 2
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Posted: Aug/27/2007 6:52 AM PST
I've got a lot of patience for people who play pretty poorly, but do what they can to speed things up. The people who I don't have patience for are the guys that have probably spent more on their golf gear than I spent for my car, take like 15 minutes sizing up the shot, taking practice swings, etc., and then finish it up with a horrible shot into the woods.
Two weeks ago I came across a twosome like this. First of all, I arrived at the first tee box about 30 seconds after they did. I was by myself and can play pretty quickly, so I was hoping to play through. Well, they had already teed up, so I figured I'd wait until the second hole to ask, as they sure didn't offer. Well, they both took forever to finally hit their tee shots (which both hooked horribly), and when I thought they were going to move on, they decided that they would EACH re-tee. I finally did get to play through on the third hole, and as I was leaving the course, I think I saw them on the 13th or so.
But it does just come down to courtesy. If I see someone behind me going faster than I am, I'm going to let them play through as soon as I possibly can and I'm hoping others would do the same for me.
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Los Angeles
Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 38
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Posted: Aug/27/2007 11:09 AM PST
I must say...the only thing that keeps me off the golf course more than poor weather is the anticipation of slow play. There is no reason for a 4+ hour round in my opinion. I think the reason for the slow play is golf on TV. The sport has become so popular that now people watch the pros on tv and mimic them on the course...looking at putts from both angles, etc. Just get the ball in the hole! Also, i think the sprinklerheads with yardages has also made for slow play. when i was growing up, you had to eye-ball your distance. that was part of the beauty and art of golf. now lots of average golfers cant pull a club without first searching for a yardage marker, then recalibrating the wind and the sun and birds - then picking a club. Again, just hit the ball and get it in the hole...! Ugh, obviously frustrated...apologies. 
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Joined: 8/16/2007
Posts: 143
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Posted: Aug/27/2007 3:09 PM PST
Golf courses should post rules that are fair and clear. THEN enforce them so they have credibility. Most slow play is a combo of playing from the wrong tees AND poor course set up that day. Plus spending $50 for a greens fee, $1000 for equipment, then looking 5-10 min for a rock Flite or Pinnacle is beyond me! Only other peeve is that it's the casual golfer who fails to replace divots, ball marks etc. The experienced player repairs 2 ball marks, their own, and for some other a$$.... whose too damn lazy.
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