It looks like we are going to get some real positive action from the USGA about the biggest problem we have in golf.
After review of the press release dated Feb 2 2013 — for full content see http://www.usga.org/news/2013/February/USGA-Announces-Pace-Of-Play-Initiatives/ — I called the USGA HQ to discuss how serious it was about combating the slow play problem. I am pleased to report that it has at last hit the very front burner.
Within the press release, the USGA has identified some of the key factors known to influence pace of play, which include:
- Course design (overall length, green-to-tee walks, location and number of hazards)
- Course management and setup (green speed, hole locations, height and location of rough)
- Player management (most significantly, the proper distribution of starting times)
- The effectiveness of player education programs.
This is, as I have strongly suggested, the first step in solving the problem i.e. to clearly define it. The results of our survey Growing the Game http://www.franklygolf.com/GrowingtheGame.pdf have helped in this regard.
Then, the next step is to develop a solution. The USGA has developed a plan of action to “… develop a broad set of initiatives to identify challenges and solutions regarding pace of play issues…”
This initiative includes:
- Analysis of Key Factors
- Research to Produce Pace-of-Play Modeling
- Pace Rating System
- On-site Assistance at Golf Courses
- Player Education Programs
As much as we have questioned some of the recent rules changes adopted and/or proposed by the USGA, we need to stand behind it and work together in solving this slow play problem.
This initiative to attack a real problem facing the game is laudable and I know it will bear fruit, if all of us stand behind and support the USGA and participate in solving and implementing a sound, well designed solution.
If we are to participate and support this initiative, we need to provide some constructive input.
In this regard, I suggest the research – outlined above — seems to have been developed from the perspective that slow play is a problem caused by many golfers, and that a research program such as Pace of Play Modeling will help. I believe it is good, interesting research but subordinate to a more direct approach of addressing the key factors outlined above.
My analogy several weeks ago, in trying to define the cause of the problem I stated; “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 driver; a tourist enjoying the ambiance; or is it the fact that the road is too treacherous for some drivers?” Answers to these questions are the root of the problem, which I believe need to be addressed as soon as possible.
In some instances, an interim solution may be as simple as pulling the slow car(s) off to the side of the road until the back up is cleared. With appropriate gaps between tee times this should soon speed up the traffic back to normal. In some instances ejection from the highway (course) – with reimbursement of the toll — may be appropriate.
This may seem too harsh but if agreed to as a condition to drive on the highway at peak hours when paying your toll it should help relieve the congestion. For those who are financially affected by losing a toll for a car, they will soon recognize that losing one slow car and reimbursing the toll, allowing five more to travel the highway – paying tolls – makes sense to the highway owner. Bunny slopes for those who are still learning is what I suggested in my book Just Hit It and in the analysis of the survey results mentioned above.
I believe that very few golfers actually cause slow play but it affects so many, that it appears to be caused by the whole. We need to approach solving the problem by understanding the root cause and from this perspective we will find an effective solution.
I ask all of our Frankly Friends and all of their friends to join us in resolving this problem and to do what we can to support such a worthy cause. Your ideas and suggestions, will be passed directly on to the USGA and I will do my best to make sure they are seriously considered and incorporated into developing a long term solution.
Thank you and I look forward to your comments to help and support this initiative. The game will become more enjoyable because of our efforts.
Frank
franklygolf 
I have a “crazy” idea. If the PGA could only try to seriously conduct just one tournament where all players were on the clock right from the start instead of only when they get out of position, it may make for an interesting viewing experience. Of course only allowable delays would pause the clock, such as searches for lost balls (5 minutes, right), or officiating decisions. WOW, could this start a new attitude?
Leon, that is the point I am making! Manage your tee times on the basis of your knowledge of your members and those visiting. If this is left as a free for all then that’s when the trouble starts. Certainly do not hassle members or fee paying visitors but talk to them, manage them and you will be surprised how cooperative they actually are. Nobody wants to get in the way deliberately or hold up others- they want to play golf in pleasant and agreeable circumstances with their colleagues. Help them do that!
You know guys, you’re barking up the wrong tee! Seeking to hassle the existing club members or visitors to your club by imposing time scales for play is ludicrous. What clubs have to do is manage their tee times and the first tee. At the Olympics (didn’t we Brits do well) we have different classes of event for different types of running. We don’t put the sprinters out with the marathon runners, we manage their start times so that they do not clash. Clubs should reserve certain times for two balls or four balls playing foursomes, reserve other times for the slower player. Ask the player when he phones to reserve a time What is your average time taken? Tell him/ them that this is done to ensure that they are neither held up nor do they hold up other players. Put it to them and most will understand the reason and comply with simple requests to keep moving. Golf is not just about hitting a ball 80 times and packing the clubs away, it is an experience, exercise and a social interchange with friends. Wake up and smell the flowers BUT NOT I agree when there is a competition on. Then the club has to take charge and put known slow players at the back of the field. Manage it guys don’t punish it. At a club known to me they are experimenting with a reward scheme for visitors- they are given a voucher at the start of play- but with a time deadline. IF all four players are back in the clubhouse at the bar by the time stated on the voucher- 4hours 15 minutes after their start time, then it can be exchanged for refreshments and drinks ONLY. The value need not be huge but since the spend is within the clubhouse some of it inevitably ends up in the coffers. I believe that clubs have enough trouble these days competing for income- don’t trash those efforts by chasing paying players around your course. They will not come back so instead Manage them! At my home cub it is
Start of play until 9.30 Two Balls ONLY- or Foursomes play
9.30-11.30 Two or three balls only
11.30 onwards Four balls or any mix.
Tell two balls playing after 11.30 you may experience some delays because it does take longer to play a fourball than a two ball- even Einstein would agree with that, so don’t be surprised. Remind fourballs that it is etiquette to let faster groups through, but above all talk to them!!!!
Sounds reasonable to me.
actually, this is a reply to Mr. Yates … yes, the Olympics did go well, but track is track and golf is golf, you’re making fruit salad … how did you do with golf in the Olympics? oh, yes, now I remember … hasn’t been on the agenda for what, about 100 years? Manage them as you say and I’ll bet more than a few will say “if you won’t let me play the way I’m accustomed to with my friends at the usual time we play, which is the only mutually convenient time we can all get away from work, the mrs., etc., then we’ll take our business elsewhere”.
Another fine experience Monday.
My wife and I were first off the tee at 8:08. Arrived back at the car at 10:56.
Twosomes Only. “For the good of the game” as the USGA would say.
My wife and I were fortunate to be able to play 18 holes today. We arrived at the course at 10:30 and were putting our clubs in the car at 1:28. We played stroke play strictly by the rules and holed every putt.
The reason? We played as a twosome and everyone in front of us was a twosome.
We noticed the course was backed up on the front nine as we were finishing.
The reason? Two foursomes were holding up the works.
It is time to realize that the foursome needs to disappear from the game.
The USGA can come up with all of the studies and programs and other nonsense it wants. Encouraging nine hole rounds. Encouraging alternate methods of play. None of it is necessary.
Slow play has multiple causes. There is no one solution.
But we can reduce the time commitment required to play an 18 hole stroke play round of golf.
For those for whom golf is a social exercise, while you may not be able to play the game with all of your buddies, you will have more time to eat and drink with them in the clubhouse after the round instead of having to rush home to your wife and kids. It seems to me there is a great deal of value to that for both the player and the business.
My hope is that some course manager will see this and try this at his facility one day per week. Make sure you promote it properly, then see if your business doesn’t grow. As an earlier poster put it, the couple of foursomes you lose will be replaced with a hundred twosomes.
I’m from South Africa and I have a question – do you guys in the States play Medal when you have a social round, or use one of the ‘scoring’ systems (e.g. Stableford, Bogey)? I cannot comprehend a 6 hour round – never had one in my life – and would rather slit my wrists than have one! We complain like hell if we have a 4 and a half hour round! With Medal I can understand that high HCs could cause an issue. With scoring it should not be an issue – if you cannot score anymore you pick up and go. Here in SA just about all social golf, and much of Club golf, uses a scoring system. A Club will have only 1 Medal competition per month.
I think all these ideas are great and in-effective. The main factor in my opinion is the course management’s tolerance of slow play. If the course management is afraid to offend the slow players by asking them to speed up or leave then slow play will continue. If the course managers make it uncomfortable for the slow players to be there, then they will go elsewhere. It’s ironical that when 10 slow players leave to play elsewhere, the course will attract 100 fast players to the club.
The same idea applies to tournaments at your course. If you tolerate 6 hour tournaments that’s what you’ll have. If you refuse to re-book the 6 hour tournament the word will get out and you’ll have more tournaments wanting to play your course.
One of the most simple things to speed up play is to mark the course better. I play some courses that only the 150-yard mark is visible. Mark the 50, 100, 150, 200, & 250-yard marks as well as every sprinkler head. On the score card mark distances to hazards as well as to clear the hazards. Also mark these on the tee boxes in plain sight.
I support the USGA’s, and any group seriously helping to increase the pace of play.
Being ready and understanding how to get ready in advance, to play your next shot is critical information all golfers should be instructed how to do.
Green speed is a minor issue as far as I am concerned, however, pin placement, is an important issue. Cutting the cup near the edge of the green, or close to major undulations slows everybody down and can lead to more three putts than necessary. I see lots of good players taking extra timing lining up their second putt to a “tough” pin placement that is unnecessary. Greens with severe elevation changes and elephant burial grounds are major contributors to slow play.
Frank,
I have read your views on this topic a number of times, but I do not remember if you chastise the golf courses for their set-up. I’m not just speaking of hazards, rough length, or green speeds, but actually looking at their basic clientele and working the course accordingly. I play at a course in Greenville, SC almost every week. Most of the players that I see there are seniors (myself included) and they struggle a lot. But there are holes that just don’t make sense for us. A green that has such a severe tier that it is impossible to keep the ball on the green at times. If it rolls off of the front it will go 20 yards down the fairway incurring many extra strokes and time to finish. There is also a hole that has a blind landing area off of the tee, so we end up waiting until we see the group in front get close to the green before we can hit. A bell that could be rung when the group finishes their second shots to tell the following group that it’s safe to hit. Another hole has trees growing over the fairway such that you need a tee ball that is basically straight as an arrow or you will hit one of the trees and maybe not see your ball and have to take extra time to look for it. There are many other things that courses could do, level tee boxes, signs with yardages to a hazard that comes across the fairway for proper club selection and other simple things that would aid the less skilled golfer.
I realize that we as golfers have an obligation to the others on the course to play as quickly as possible. Know the proper tees to use, play ready golf, know what yardages our clubs go under normal (not once is a lifetime) shots and watch the group behind and let them play through if needed. However, the courses could do more to help themselves and I don’t really hear a lot about their responsibilities.
Thanks,
Mark F
Unfortunately, the Tour encourages slow play amongst the masses, its not intentional but, the fact that many pros go through all kinds of maneuvers & gyrations every time they hit a shot, is not lost on Joe Amatuer Golfer. The other thing is, I notice it anyway, some golfers play as if they own the golfcourse and that the folks behind them wasting away in the middle of the fairway are leaning on their 7 irons for the fun of it. In addition, you’ve got the guy who takes 6 practice swings just before he shanks it 75 yards into the woods and he does this for every swing.
As long as we have golfers with handicaps that range from 0 to 40; pace and time of play will be different for everyone. Four 0-10 handicappers playing a round compared to four 30 handicap golfers could be 1 to 2 hours difference even with everyone playing ready golf at a normal pace. There are so many factors that contribute to slow play that there is no one solution. People seem to be irritated by a number of petty things instead of taking the time to enjoy a round of golf with friends. That is the major problem; people rushing through life without taking the time to enjoy it. Instead of complaining about everything be glad that you are able to afford the time and cost of playing a round of golf.
I would applaud the USGA’s effort in this regard. I totally agree that length of course, number of hazzards – particularly OB’s – length of rough and speed of greens are huge contributing factors to slow play.
Along with an innitiative to teach ready golf I believe it’s essential that courses only provide two tee choices each day – the general choice and the front tee choice, that all hazzards other than bunkers but including OB’s be played under the current lateral water hazzard rule (this means balls hit OB or balls lost will be played under the stroke penalty and not stroke and distance – no need to retee or worse drive/walk back to the tee), rough needs to be uniformly long enough to effect play but short enough to not effect finding the ball and finally greens should be cut to a moderate pace – 9 to 10 on the stimp meter and continuous putting until done with the hole should be encouraged if not written in as a part of the rules.
I don’t often disagree with Frank but I think this is a bigger issue than a single car thing – the premise is right but the reality is that there are multiple offenders on this road.
I don’t see how the money thing would really work. Your pace of play is determined by the groups in front. You can only go as fast as they are playing. A marshal for each nine holes would keep groups moving to pace of play. If we are charged for slow play then no one would come back to that course. Golf is suffering enough, adding more money to it would kill it for many.
#1 solution — be ready to play when it’s your turn
#2 — play ready golf
#3 — putt out short putts
#4 — get out of that cart (if driving with another golfer) and walk to your ball
Institutionally, we need to make speedier play something we all aspire to and value. While it may be difficult to penalize those who are slow, we can reward those who meet or beat a target time for 18 holes. Maybe start by charging everyone $10 more per round, and refund it to those who maintain pace of play.