In reality, it takes about an hour to play 18 holes of golf. The other 3-4 hours is the time spent getting to the ball, choosing a club, cursing, throwing your club, and retrieving it!
Golfers don't need to be as slow as turtles |
Calculate in travel time, warm up, cool down, (drinks?) and you're talking about a 6 to 7 hour commitment for a round of golf (average).
This gets very frustrating to the average golfer. Waiting at every hole/shot, creates stiffness, and also doesn't allow you get get "into a grove".
Or, if you eventually get that groove on, you'll lose it waiting 15-20 minutes until your next shot.
Memorial day weekend is notorious for slow rounds of golf (much like Father's day). It's a day when people that don't normally play, go out and hack around.
Now, don't get me wrong - it's not the level of a person's play that makes the round slow. A high handicapper can play 18 holes in 4 hours, and a single digit handicapper can play in 5 hours - It's the little things that add on 30 to 60 seconds a shot (at least!).
Here's an example: On Friday afternoon, I met Richie at the course and we teed off at 2:20-ish. Having played late afternoon rounds in the past, I was expecting a 4 1/2 hour round.
This round was very slow. The group in front of us was a foursome, and we were a threesome. This creates a slow "Feel" to the round, as only three players are hitting into a group of four - so you're waiting an extra 1-2 minutes per hole.
Additionally, we rode in a golf cart - meaning we got our balls faster than if we walked - so it felt slow.
And, this group in front of us had no clue how to play golf at a decent pace.
The group consisted of 4 golfers. One walker and three riders (in carts).
They were taking about 15 minutes per hole.
The course puts out groups at an 8 minute interval - so this starts to back up the groups.
Bored as Hell waiting to hit |
In relative contrast, playing Saturday was different - and not.
The round still took 5 hours - but on Saturday I walked. So, I wasn't standing over the ball as long.
The round "Felt" faster, even though it was not.
The Saturday issue was my tee time was 9:30am - already "late" in the golf world - and so it became slow.
Sunday's tee time (8am) was earlier, and we played in 4 1/2 hours. What I consider "Normal" for this area.
There has been a lot of discussion, articles, and effort put into the ideas on how to speed up the game. Some ideas like:
- Make the number of holes less (12-14) - which I feel is just stupid
- Make the size of the cup larger to make putting easier/faster (cool for beginners)
Since many of you are golfers, I'll share my top hits on how to play faster:
- Choose the right tee box. You probably are not a great golfer (statistically speaking). If you are a 12 handicap or better, play the Blue tees. If you are a senior, play the yellow tees. Ladies play the Red tees. All others play White.
There is nothing more frustrating that seeing a group hit from the BLUE tees and ground a ball just past the white tees!! - Every player goes to their ball and sets up separately, waiting for the group in front to clear. Choose your club, set yourself up. This way, a foursome should be able to hit their shots in under 2 minutes.
- Play "READY GOLF". If a player in your foursome is further away than you, but he's not ready - HIT THE GOD DAMN BALL! No need to wait.
- Courses should space the times of each group 10 minutes apart. (8 minutes per hole means a 2 1/2 hour round). This will never happen, as courses want to cram as many golfers onto the course as possible (think seats on a 737)
Just doing the above, could cut anywhere from 4 to 5 minutes off of the time it takes to complete a single hole of play. This translates to over an hour saved across 18 holes.
Maybe the clubhouse could put remote cow-prods on every golfer. When their group slows down,
Bzzzzzzzz
I'd apply for that job!
But, for now - we'll just have to deal with slow play.
Perhaps bring a bottle of scotch to pass the time.
Until next time,
Keep it in the Short Hairs
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