Etiquette - Playing
Behind Slow Players
Where was the golf tip about playing
behind slow-paced players? Every golfer experiences the frustration and
annoyance out on the public golf course when the guys ahead of you slow
to a crawl...sizing up their clubs...doing practice swings all in a
ritualized preparation that leads to a goof-ball dud of a shot.
Slow play has always been confined into
the role of a we-all-understand-it-but-wish-it-would-go-away sort of
golf abstraction, politely discussed with drinks after 18 holes.
However, the reality torments focused and fast golfers. What to do, when
the foursome ahead of you, golf at a pace that will result in over 4
hours to play a round of 18 holes? Do you have the time or patience or
do you have to tell them to 'move your %?@# game from a dead man's pace
or whatever'?
Is 'slow play' really a respectable pace
as some players opine, or does it merely mask sports skill and course
management deficiencies? Given the growth in golf's popularity and some
open space environmental constraints restricting new
Golf Rules For The Slow Guys -
Getting Later Tee Times.
In most private golf courses, members
learn to know each other's game, sift and sort out doubles and foursomes
based on similar style games. Result? Most players get in and out of the
golf course in under 3 ˝ hours...and this is with the aid of golf carts!
And the slow players? Players who are destined to absorb 4 to 5 hours on
a round typically get the later tee times. If they didn't then the
entire day's schedule would be backed-up...which would generate some
seriously miffed players, plus show in declining revenues for the club
on the day.
Meanwhile, public golf courses take a
1st-in-best-dressed approach to tee times. Result? Any combination of
fast or slow guys can tee off, and then throw the entire day off the
rails as literally hundreds of golfers have to stand by and wait for the
"bottleneck" to reduce.
What's The Slow Player's Golf
Game?
Unlike the fast players, the slow player
is what might be politely described as somewhat anal, drawing out each
shot obsessing over every detail, seeking unrealizable perfection.
However, like the alleged fast players,
the slow player's golf game is similar in one respect...most if not all
of everyone's excruciatingly planned shots have a snowball-in-hell
chance of actually landing where planned. That is to say within 20 yards
or so of the "best spot" for the lead-up shot. This
permanently-above-par reality does nothing to inhibit the mental
gnashing, the preparation, obsessing over the best club, trying to bend
the knees just so, adjusting his stance, re-setting the grip...and for
what? Not addressing the ball, rather taking one or two practice swings!
On Making Things Equal Out On
The Golf Course.
No surprise that golf, like life,
mirrors the many individual differences. Golf pro, Ned Vare, once
observed in a philosophic aside "I can tell everything about a person
and his or her character from the way they golf ". True, but the
real-time needs of golfers scream out for practical solutions to make
the game a fair access and trade between players with different skills
and different mental approaches.
* Golf Tip #1 - Instruction.
At its root, the slow player problem
owes much of the resulting frustration to a simple cause, namely the
inadequate skills of most players. Poor technique, poor sense of the
game only leads to exaggerated and confused play. Solution? All serious
players, particularly you slow guys and gals, need to take-in some
practice play and buy some golf instruction. Your game will naturally
pick-up.
* Golf Tip #2 - Scheduling
Smarts.
You want to avoid "traffic jams" on the
course? If so then manage your course like you would any commercial
inventory. Tee times should be firm and fair. All players should receive
a "code" that allows for simple yet true grouping into several speed
categories such as slow, medium, fast. Fast players get early tee times
and slow players get the later times. Running a public or private golf
course like a disciplined business will result in a lot more happy faces
and polite conversation and drinks at the 19th hole.
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