Slow golf revisted

I played 18 today at a decent and popular public course.

Tee time was 10:32 AM --- we holed out on 18 at 4 PM (3:58 to be exact). By my count that is a 5 1/2 hour round.

I know we've had this discussion before but please, can someone explain to me WHAT THE FUCK takes people so FUCKING long to play a round a golf?

And is there anyone who actually enjoys a five-hour round, especially in the heat?

I know some of the problem can be over-crowding on the course -- but the two groups ahead of me today were the problem -- they were slow and by about the tenth hole I was miserable because of it.

What is a reasonable round of golf?

Four hours is all you need I say.

 

Did you call the clubhouse and ask for a ranger to come out and kick them in the ass?

 

A lot of golfers suck, so it takes them a long time to play 18. It's annoying, but there's not much anyone can do about it.

 

Looking for lost balls;

Not playing ready golf while watching buddy play instead of moving to your ball;

standing over the ball too long and taking 15 practice swings;

taking more than 2 shots to get greenside.

 

I am not a good golfer but I don't slow groups down because I just step up and hit it and go to where it lands.

You can be bad and keep moving forward.

I see way too many guys who are shooting 110's yet lining up every put like it is for the Masters championship and taking 18 practice swings before every shot.

 

QTLAW and ZAGOSHE have nailed the most heinous offenses.

Another problem is when folks have an unrealistic expectation of how far they can hit. When there's a group 275 yards ahead of you and you've never in your life struck a shot longer than 225, for heaven's sake, go ahead and hit.

Things would be speeded up considerably if, during friendly non-tournament rounds, everyone went by two "We're not playing the Masters here" rules. That is: 1.) Two minutes max when looking for a lost ball, then take a drop. 2.) You get a chance to make your triple bogey, after which, no matter where you are, you pick up.

I would also have starters and rangers admonish groups that if there's a hole open ahead of them, they're moving too slowly and there's a strong possibililty they will be asked to skip a hole.

 

Is there another kind?

 

I'm going to play devil's advocate here, but what's the big rush? Enjoy your time out on the course and don't worry about finishing as fast as you can.

 

I've covered a couple of junior golf tournaments this summer and their ideal pace was 4 1/2 hours.

 

When I was a teenager, my buddy and I could do 18 in about three hours walking and carrying our own bags. That's not an executive course--I think it came in around 6500 yards.

We'd tee off around 8:00, play 18, have lunch and then do another 18 in the afternoon.

Four hours maximum for a round.

BTW Zag, weren't there any course marshalls around?

 

My 12-year-old son and I are learning to play together (he's gonna get to a point soon where he beats me, and he'll probably kick my ass in a couple of years). We are always extremely cognizant of who's behind us and how long we might have held them up. No more than eight strokes on a hole -- if it's not in the jar, we just give ourselves an 8 and move on.

The idea is to have some fun, too, so we try to avoid self-inflicted misery. We both play from the front tees most of the time (no need to slow people down trying to pretend we're any good at this game, at least until we are a little bit better).

And the last time we were out, playing an exec course, there was a par-3 that had a lake about 8-10 yards to the right of the green. For some reason, that lake was like a freakin' magnet for both of us that day. We sank a bunch of balls, said screw it, and just moved to the next hole. So we didn't have an 18-hole score -- big deal. It ain't the Masters. We didn't slow anybody down, my son still got his first-ever birdie that day, and it was an all-around good time. And we were done in 3 hours, 15 minutes.

That was good enough for us, and it should be good enough for most others.

 

I recently played in a four-man scramble on a pretty tough country club course. Granted, I and my teammates suck, but I couldn't believe the number of people who look for lost balls in the deep, thick weeds/grass/gunch, and look for like five minutes.

If my ball goes into the deep shit, I don't bother. I play with the cheap, inexpensive golf balls so that when one goes away, I won't miss it. And besides, if you take a minute while you're waiting to look in the deep gunch, you're bound to find a couple of balls any way.

I also see a lot of Judge Smailses on the course who take forever just to hit. And of course, the people who read the greens like they are Tiger Woods.

I bet if I and two buddies played on an empty course, we would get done in 3 1/2 hours. You don't look for your ball in the thick rough. Drop one, and if you're playing for fun, who gives a shit if you don't penalize yourself a shot? You take a couple practice swings per shot. You find your ball while your buddies hit. And get the hell off the green when you hole out. You can laugh and joke on the next tee box.