Is it just me, or have we forgotten about pace of play, asks Northern Golfer editor Dean Bailey
I’m not in a great rush on the golf course. I used to count a sub-three-hour round as a success, but I’ve realised they’re often not much fun. I enjoy a rather relaxed pace, not too fast but moving serenely around the course at a steady speed.
However, it appears Ready Golf – the easy-to-follow guidelines to speed up play which you can refresh yourself on at https://shorturl.at/qRMZJ – along with some basic Rules of Golf are being forgotten.
The biggest cause of slow play I see every week is the golfer who believes their stories are so fascinating that we all need to stand on the tee box together, after they’ve teed it up, to hear them. Just play your shot and continue to tell your tale as you walk, please!
Second, you only get three minutes to search for a ball. The last group I timed from the tee box behind spent nine minutes looking for a ball – which they never found. If you see that happening in your group, suggest time is up and get a move on.
Furthermore, you can – and should – ignore the honour system on the tee and ignore who is furthest from the hole in strokeplay. It doesn’t matter if it’s not your turn, keep the game moving.
Don’t worry about marking your card straight away either – you’ll have loads of opportunities to do it later. There’s also no need to spend an age adding it up on the 10th tee, check all 18 after the round then just let the computer do the adding up.
Please also stop manoeuvring as a pack. There is no need to have your whole group watch each stroke. Also, impromptu lessons after a chunked pitch on a short par four are never helpful, just don’t do it!
If it’s stableford and you can’t score, pick the ball up. Returning a 12 is pointless.
Most important of all – be aware of what’s going on around you. Pause a conversation if someone is waffling before hitting, suggest your playing partner goes first when you’re delayed – do the little things that speed up play and try and pass on your Ready Golf skills to others.
There are many reasons why golf is slow, but a lot of them are solved by paying more attention to what’s going on around you. Finally, please remember to let faster, especially smaller, groups through when it’s appropriate. We’ll all enjoy our golf a lot more if it doesn’t take an age.
