Too many golfers believe that slow play is the number one problem in golf. For us – course owners, architects, administrators, manufacturers, golfers, and everybody involved in the game – to ignore this problem and not do something about resolving it, would make us complicit in allowing this potentially fatal disease to eat away and eventually ruin the most wonderful game ever devised by man.
As I mentioned, in previous writings, we need to look for the root cause of the problem as well as some quick fixes to alleviate the immediate pain. Having a selection of pills from which to choose to relieve every irritation is not a good long-term solution for golf or our health care.
An example of some quick fixes are a “pay by the hour” pill, which might get those who want to play eighteen holes around faster but not those who would like to play nine holes slowly. Or a “stop emulating the tour players” pill is questionable because the PGA Tour have not to date addressed the slow play problem effectively. However, it seems that they have recently recognized the extent of the problem which may affect the game and in turn their viewership.
Another suggested quick fix is to make the hole larger – this will only diminish the challenge, which is the attraction golf presents. The list of pills – suggested by the most concerned golfers, with the game at heart — goes on and I believe some are band-aids which will fall off, or pills which will eventually lose their potency.
When we recognize that it takes only one slow car on a single-lane highway to hold up all the traffic we start making the problem explicit. From this point of view let’s define why that single car is moving slowly. Is it a student (learner) driver; a tourist enjoying the ambiance; or is it the fact that the road is too treacherous for some drivers?
There may be many other reasons and addressing the root cause is the real challenge and is our most effective way to resolve the problem.
We need to develop some immediate solutions, knowing well that some may not be as effective as we would like and may need some tweaking or rejection later. However, we must do something soon, and never become complacent or lose our willingness to introduce new ideas based on the results of a concerted effort to research the efficacy of new initiatives.
Some immediate suggestions to get us off first base are:
• Modify the design of courses – tee positions, fairway widths, and length of rough – and make them more friendly to the average and less skilled golfer, while still challenging the skilled golfer – this is in the hands of the architects and supported by course owners and superintendants.
• Insist on the use of tee boxes appropriate for the average handicap of the group (four-ball or two-ball)
• No less than 10 minutes between tee times
• When paying green/cart fees, golfers should accept the conditions of play. Included in these would be the provision that golfers holding up the course would move off to the side, out of the way of faster moving traffic until the backup has been cleared. This process would be administered by a well trained ranger.
• Golfers should be reminded that their position on the course is immediately behind the group in front of them, not immediately in front of the group behind them.
• Educational pamphlets such as “How to avoid getting side-lined” or “How to help improve the enjoyment of the game” with some tried and proven procedures such as how to speed up cart golf; how to speed up play on the green — and many other sound suggestions to help speed up play and make your game more enjoyable.
These, if implemented ASAP with an eye to improving them as we learn the effectiveness of each, are some of my suggested slow traffic control suggestions.
We do not have the luxury of sitting around talking about this anymore.
Neither do we need to make the game a tyrannical experience for those who are attracted for the inner warmth it stimulates when we accept the challenge to evaluate ourselves in the company of our friends.
Please give us your input and suggestions regarding this form of attack and the need to act as soon as we can and refine later.
Frank
franklygolf 
10 minutes between tee times is an excellent idea. However, since there will be fewer groups playing, course income will go down, so prices will have to go up to compensate. Tournaments in which all putts have to be holed is one of the main causes of slow play in our area, as well as scramble tournaments, which attract golfers who only play a couple times a year. Dropping a ball near where a lost ball is thought to be is another good idea. It should be a 2 stroke penalty, as if you hit again from the previous spot and this is where the ball landed. We have played that way in our informal matches for years. If groups are talking or drinking instead of playing, a course marshall should intervene. At the end of the day however, golf is not a race. I always allow 5+ hours for a round of golf on the weekends, depending on the course. If we finish earlier that’s a bonus.
All putts have to be holed or it’s not golf, whether it’s a tournament or not.
There are no gimmees. See: I.K. Kim in last year’s LPGA Kraft Nabisco.
I used to play in a fivesome that played 18 in 3:30. The short guy with the big mouth would station himself near the hole and knock anything that wasn’t holed back to you. Used to really tick ’em off when I would go up, replace my ball and hole it after everyone was finished. But I was trying to become a competitive player and you need to be able to hole the short ones.
Having the slow group let the group behind does nothing to get them to move faster. What can be done is have a set of very forward tees, at the beginning of the fairway. The rangers must enforce the rule that if a group falls behind they must tee off from those forward tees until they catch up with the group ahead. This makes the holes much shorter speeding up the slow group, which fixing the problem.
So let’s say that forward tee is 225 yards from the green. Is the ranger going to force them to tee off with a wedge so they don’t wait for the green to clear? Slow groups aren’t necessarily bad players.
I suggest you hire retired UFC cage fighters for rangers.
We are all in agreement that slow play is a problem, but for the reasons that Conrad Glewicz and Tom Shaughnessy touched upon, it will not go away anytime soon. Unfortunately, there is an increasing number of golfers who simply are inconsiderate and care only for themselves. Evidence? Witness bunkers that are not raked, greens pocked with unrepaired ball marks, fairway divots not filled, and, of course, groups that do not keep up with those in front of them and do not even bother to try to catch up – I’m sure you’ve all heard of these complaints, even perhaps made them yourself on occasions. On-course marshalls are basically powerless to force any unwilling groups to pick up their pace, and I have even heard of a marshall being threatened with physical violence. They don’t get paid enough, if at all, to take this kind of abuse and risk. Allowing liquor consumption on course doesn’t help to promote focused play, but I can understand the course operators’ concern for potential decreased revenue if alcohol sale and consumption is limited to inside their food & beverage facilities. All of the suggestions cited as potential remedies to reduce slow play are more likely to work in private clubs as there are effective means for enforcement in such environment, i.e., peer pressure from the general membership. For public courses, however, I can not share the optimism expressed as long as golfers do not become more considerate of fellow golfers. Practicing common golf etiquette would do wonders to speed up play, but only if actively applied.
Geoff Shackleford had an article in GolfWorld blaming the speed of greens for slow play. I think the idea has merit, but I wondered what others thought. I know I’ve experienced slow holes because a green was particularly fast and undulating.
Mr. Schackelford has a good point. At a lot of newer courses the greens are very fast and undulating which lengthens the round.
Frank,
Tom Shaughnessy really hit on the biggest reasons for slow play. I would add that golfers must start resisting the urge to help look for your buddy’s ball that he just hit 40 yards offline when your ball is in the fairway. I can’t tell you how much time my group has wasted over the years doing that. Last year I stopped looking if my ball is nowhere in the vicinity of theirs.
I wish I could believe there is a solution for slow play that will significantly decrease round times (>30 minutes) but people being what they are I seriously doubt it. There is just not enough consideration for others out there. For instance, urging players to pick up after X number of strokes to speed up play sounds good on paper but getting them to do it is another thing entirely.
Keep up the good work Frank. It’s a topic worthy of extensive discussion.
All that needs to be done is add one rule: you have one minute to play your shot once it’s your turn to hit. Go overtime, +1 stroke.
I’m guessing this suggestion is for the professional game, because I don’t see how you’d enforce it for the rest of us. I don’t believe courses are going to pay to send a ranger out with each group to keep them on the clock.
If it becomes part of the rules of golf, then your playing partners/fellow competitors/opponents will be responsible for timing you. And we’d all get used to it.
My total time till I put a ball in the air is no more than 20 seconds.
I don’t think very many people are going to want the level of tension and stress that would go along with a rule like that. “Add one Fred, you took 62 seconds.” “Oh no I didn’t. You started the watch too early.” And then the fight started.
I think that one of the reasons for slow play is that golfers don’t start as caddies, this is where course etiquette, etc is learned. The other thing that has caused slow players is the pros. They watch them, especially on the greens and golfers imitate their favorite players. Under two feet, just putt out, don’t mark it, clean it, etc.
First of all, there needs to be two Rules of Golf. One for Tour players and one for amateurs.
Secondly, in the Amateur’s Rules of Golf, lift and clean your ball on the green one time only. When it’s your turn to putt, do so until your ball is in the hole. If it means stepping on someone’s line, do so with care. Allow next putter to fix spike marks if any were made by previous putter. I’ve not seen too many instances where stepping on someone’s line made a huge difference anyway. Certainly the green has been trod on by the previous groups. Constantly marking and picking up your ball and replacing it on the green consumes too much time.
Next, reduce the amount of time a player is allowed to look for a lost ball to 3 minutes. Also, lost ball rule should be ‘drop where ball was last seen and add one stroke’.
In the Amateur’s Rules of Golf, out of bounds should be ‘drop where ball went out of bounds and add one stroke’.
With the increasing influence of technology, each golfer could have a magnetic time rating card they swipe when their round begins and again when walking off the 18th green. This would record their playing time and give them an ongoing ‘time rating’ that could be used by the starter in reserving tee times for their next round. Lower (or faster) time ratings would get the earlier tee times while higher (or slower) time ratings would get the later tee times. To qualify for an earlier tee time, you must work on getting your time rating within acceptable (faster) range. This would put the faster players in front of the slower players. Each course could break their tee times into ranges say, 4.0 – 4.5 hrs. would be eligible to get tee times from 6:00 AM until 12:00 PM. Anyone with a time rating over 4.5, would be eligible to get tee times from 12:00 PM and later. This would cause many golfers to work on improving their time rating so they could get earlier tee times. In the case of groups or foursomes, their combined average time rating would determine their tee times. The faster players in the group would encourage the slower players to ‘step it up’ so the faster players wouldn’t be penalized with a slower ‘time rating’ than normal. This system would encourage golfers to be their own course ranger.
So if I’m stuck behind a slow group I’m going to get a bad reputation when it’s no fault of mine.
This is just like all of the charging by the minute ideas. It’s impossible to apply fairly.
Frank
I have been enjoying golf for over four decades, having taken up the game after finishing college, being totally taken in by the game and the challenges it offers.
I learned to play “ready” golf very early in my golfing career, thanks to good friend and golfing partner. During all of my golfing career I have been known as a fast player, but in reality I am just ready to hit my shot as soon as others in the group have played their’s. As real golfers I think we have an obligation to properly instruct all newcomers and beginning golfers what “ready golf” is all about. Too many times I have golfer’s, both men and women, tell me they always play ready golf but continue the sit in their cart or not start making their club selection until after everybody behind them have hit their shot.
I have also been in charge of scoring many times for PGA Web.com tour events. After watching PGA players take 4.5 to 5.5 hours to complete a round I have asked the PGA officials running the event why they are reluctant to impose sanctions on the players but they are reluctant to do so. I can understand their problem a little since these players are trying to earn enough money to survive or move up to the next level. The next level, or PGA Tour, will wake up when they see their potential revenue start to drop because of low TV ratings. Most events are about as exciting as watching grass grow.
I feel very strongly about slow play, but I also want to enjoy the experience and the opportunity to just be on the course enjoying the game. It is not a race to be completed with specific checkpoints or timed stations along the way. If we get to that point, I’ll look for another outdoor sport to pass the time.
Unless they cut down every tree in sight, playing from shorter tees won’t help anything. Modern caveman is just going to take that 460cc 46 inch beast and try to drive the green, with disastrous results.
Are you going to have a course employee on every tee to make sure the groups are playing from the proper tee box? Just because you enforce it on the 1st and maybe the 10th doesn’t mean anything once they’re out of sight of the clubhouse.
In today’s world, you’re going to have a lot of rangers limping back to the clubhouse with two black eyes if you try to make people skip a hole.
Phrases and pamphlets and signs posted over urinals? Please.
Tee times ten minutes apart? This actually does help, but it would require the people running the business to modify their thinking and if we’re going to do that why not do this.
Tee times five minutes apart, FOR TWOSOMES ONLY.
Stop making people watch three other people play.
Stop making people try to get three other people to show up at the same place at the same time.
“Oh, if we break up foursomes we’re going to lose business.”
You think whip cracking rangers making people skip holes is going to be good for business?
I can introduce a new player to the game if it’s just he and I out there, but I can’t stick him in a foursome and make it work.
This is THE SOLUTION.
PGA of America members managing struggling facilities: Try it one day a week. If it doesn’t work, you’re not out anything. But WHEN it does…
Hi Frank,
I like your comments.
Slow play – on even a flat and relatively easy municipal near my home invariably comes down to repeatable patterns.
Shadow shooters (can’t hit the ball out of their shadow),
Compulsive conversationalists (obviously never heard of shut up – keep up – play ready golf),
Money games where the players spend agonizing amounts of time over putts,
Holes with water always cause backups,
Ball hawkers who search forever for balls.
At my municipal if one plays Friday mornings it is possible to play in 3 to 4 hours. Saturday afternoons the norm is 5 to 6 hours. The difference is due to the diminishing abilities and attitudes of the golfers. I would rather stay home and clean the garage than go out Saturday.
One suggestion that might make a difference would be require that a player is allowed to mark, lift and clean the ball ONCE on the green and then putt out.
Another but harder to implement idea would be to require valid handicaps for play during prime hours.
Finally, unless a water hazard is an absolute necessity, they should be filled in and turned into grass bunkers.
Equip carts with GPS that feedback location information to the pro shop so the pace of play can be monitored and laggers identified and given the prod.
Require any group that is 15 minutes, or more, out-of-position at the turn (or similar time interval that is logical for the particular course) to skip hole #10 and proceed directly to the #11 tee box. This would give the held-up golfers a welcome reprieve, and with proper warnings of the “Skip #10” Policy, might incentivise slower groups to maintain an acceptable pace-of-play.
My home course (Radrick Farms, in Ann Arbor Michigan) does exactly that…and it works.
But most of our golfers are members, not paying guests. I don’t know how that works for a muni.
slow play is a general reflection of society today, to … to everyone, I payed my money, and that is that; the course I play at has told the marshalls not to push the players on slow play, for fear of offending them, and they will not come back, slow play will never be fixed, people talk about it, but, it is always the other guy who is slow…Good luck in your quest…
conrad be more positive. negativitey is not need for this important subject
One reason for a group falling behind on the course is the lost ball rule – the rule requires that if a ball is lost it must be replayed from the original location. This means that after five minutes of searching the golfer must take additional time to return to the place from which he originally hit – assuming that no provisional shot was taken.
Similarly, if a ball goes out of bounds and the player has not hit a provisional – because he or she didn’t know or think that the ball went out of bounds – the golfer must return to the original spot and swing again.
The rules could be modified so that out of bounds shots are treated like a lateral water hazard, and a lost ball played from the most likely approximate location with two penalty strokes instead of the current stroke-and-distance rule.
These suggestions will help keep the play moving by eliminating the “walk of shame” back to the tee.
I have nothing to add to that. Perfectly stated!
I like to play a 30 second rule. If you can not find your ball within 30 seconds, you take a drop within a club length of where you (your group) believe it crossed the boundary into the rough, add a penalty stroke, and play on. It’s quick, reasonable, and it addresses one aspect of slow play.
The only people I see playing stroke and distance in a non-tournament situation are those who are in a group where everyone is gambling more than they can afford.
And there’s another huge cause of slow play that no one here has mentioned. Gambling.
But good luck doing away with that one.
Playing from the right tees would be my first choice. Learn how to play ready golf would be my second choice. Having a ranger would be my third choice. Giving the group ideas about advoid be sidelined or how to play enjoyment golf would help. Automatic 2 putts in a scramble events.