So what do you guys think about the article:

http://www.golfgearreview.com/mikedudurich/2785.html

I have to admit, one of my pet peeves is slow players in my own group. I think one of the funniest (and perhaps not meant to be) points in Mike's article was the guy who stands in the tee box and waits to tee off as if he's going to hit a 350 yard drive, when all of his prior drives were short of 200. His comment is usually, "well they're probably fine, but you never know."

I believe in playing it safe, but we also need to be realistic.

Thoughts?

Well on a similar note, I was playing yesterday and as I past a tee box I had already played, I saw some guys teeing off. I was walking the round so I watched as I went by and the second guy in the group wiggled and waggled on the tee box for about 30-45 seconds after he setup, and the proceeded to pop up his drive about 80 yards. Not sure what went wrong, he reloaded and startd again with a second ball. If I were behind them I would have been frustrated.

But I also agree with Mike's point, if you have a 1% chance to hit into the group, and you haven't hit one that far (or on line) all day, hit! Don't wait. Especially if you are pushing beyond a 4 hour round. At that point everyone should be trying to do the little things that'll speed up play.

And partners in the 4some can help. If someone's in the bunker and after hitting out they are still away, Ill offe o rake the bunker so they can go ahead and play. Simple things like that shaving a few minutes here and there will help.

That's so common, haha, I see it all the time too (the extended beginner waggle). On one hand you sort of feel bad for the guy, because he's probably nervous. Everyone hates teeing off in front of others when you're at that newbie stage (heck, I *still* do). Would be fun to come up with a book similar to Golf for Dummies that has all of those gaffs in it. Good call out on the raking, too, especially when someone has blown a few strokes trying to get off the beach.

Playing golf is supposed to be fun, courteous, competitive, relaxing and at times frustrating. Slow play and, especially the reasons for slow play, can, unfortunately, cause anger.

On the tee, people do wait too long for the group in front to clear. Often, if they are waiting, they get into conversation and before they tee it up the group ahead is now on the green. Scott is correct, some players spend too much time getting ready to get ready.

From tee to green, they spend a lot of time figuring yardage and many of them don't even start until it's their turn to hit.
When they have a ball in a hazard and don't know where to drop, or are searching for a lost ball, they don't understand the "etiquette" of letting the group behind play through, or they don't care.
When riding in a cart, they will sit and watch their fellow rider hit, clean their club and put in back in the bag before they drive over to hit the other ball.
Players don't understand the concept of playing a provisional ball if they may be OB or in a place to be "lost."

On the green most players don't start reading their putt until the one that's "away" putts.
After they complete the hole, they count scores and start marking cards while standing on the green when the group behind is waiting to hit the ball.
Walkers with carts leave their cart and bag in front of the green and when they have all holed out they walk to the front of the green while the group behind is waiting for them to clear.

On 3 pars, players don't understand the "etiquette" of letting a faster group, behind them, "hit up" and play through. Especially when their whole group misses the green.

A very large percentage of golfers today are playing without any understanding of the "Etiquette and Rules of the Game." Not knowing where to drop a ball, how to drop a ball and options on simple occurances like OB, unplayable lie, lateral or direct hazard, really slow down play. Not knowing how, or who tends the pin and all the other things that make up the game of golf, not only slow down play, but they cause anger, which is not the way the game should be played.

So true Bill. Great points...

Good article.

We always play ready golf. And I'm usually the first to tee off in my group because of my lack of distance.

Another point of slow pace is when the group in front of you decide to play from the back tees, when they can only drive no more than 220 yards on a good swing. Usually these are the older folks, and they've even been recommended to hit from the middle or front tees by the course marshal. A lot of times ego plays a big roll.

Yeah, I never understood that Doc. Most courses are challenging enough for the average golfer without having to hit from the back tees.

I applaud all the responses here in reaction to the slow play article!
Certainly sounds like I was preaching to the choir here. But our job is now to spread the word among friends, relatives, playing partners as well as anyone else we meet on the course!
I guess that makes us some sort of evangelists, right?
So be it. Let's get the game moving again!

Mike,
Each public golf course should have on going etiquette and rules clinics that includes addressing speed of play. Every golfer who attends the required clinics will get a discount card for all public courses. Each public course doesn't have to lose revenue by giving discounts, just raise the green fees 10% to those not attending the clinics.
This should be presented to the PGA to run through each of their sectional divisions to incorporate in every public course with PGA pros.

P.S. Mike, if you get a chance, PM me your email and I'll send you a newspaper article of me addressing slow play on tour.

Thanks for the nice article Mike. I think all of us can relate to being stuck behind some slow players at one time or another. Most of us more often than we'd like to rememeber.

Rangers are useless at enforcing pace of play. They don't want to be the "bad guys" out there. The other extreme we've experienced is having an over zealous ranger telling our group to pick up the pace when there was an open hole in front of us, but also NOBODY BEHIND US! Whenever someone tells me to play faster (and trust me, it's not me holding up the foursome, it's those guys like Doc says who play the wrong tees and spend 10 minutes looking for a ball in the woods), it messes me up. I rush, hit a bad shot, and take longer to play, ironically, because I'm hitting an additional shot!
If anything, I'm guilty of rushing a bit to overcome the perception that the woman in the group is the slowpoke.

Choosing the proper tee is a key variable to both speed of play and fun. I wish courses would ditch the blue/white/red style of tee markers where blue (or black) are consider the "pro" tees. I play a number of courses that have ditched those for objects to mark the tees and call them things like "razor" or "wedge". With those they post the recommended handicaps. I think this is a much better idea because there's less of an ego to play the 10-20 handicap tees versus playing the white tees.

For one of the golf events me and my buddies do, we had one person who's near 60 who tried to play the blue or whites but I finally got him to play the up tees and he had a much better time and won money for the first time.

Wait a minute..........These scores you all report are not from the back tees?

On the subject of rangers ... I played golf at a course on the Outer Banks of North Carolina a few years ago with my nephew while on vacation. We were paired with a father and his son, who as it turned out, had not played much golf at all. They struggled and had a very long day.
My nephew and I teed it up from the blue tees because the course wasn't all that long.
At the fourth tee, the ranger suddenly appeared and said we needed to pick up the pace. He even went on to suggest that perhaps we (my nephew and I) were playing the wrong tees.
I'm a lot of things, but I'm not slow on the golf course. I quietly asked the ranger -- in my nice Mike voice -- if he had been watching what had been going on. I smiled and said we'd take care of it.
So Aimee, you're absolutely right. In many cases, they're of no use other than to drive by and smile at you.

Yeah, rangers are pretty useless at my course for anything beyond giving me a ride back to my car. Nice guys but they've been told NOT to press anyone. The course wants people to enjoy their round so they have been told not to say anything unless it's total chaos.

My biggest problem with slow play is that I begin, like Aimee said, to press and rush myself to try and keep us moving and get back to where we need to be. So I wind up missing putts, rushing my shots, etc, and I don't have a good time. One guy is like that in my guys trip to Myrtle Beach. So now, I do not put myself in his group ever because I know we will have the rangers out there talking to us because he has a 5 minute setup before each shot...and if he gets interrupted he starts all over...and then shoot 130....AUGH!!!

I agree with the rushing part.

Unfortunately, I'm a "Barkley" golfer and tend to hold up MY group and I play to catch them up on the green. Sure I end up RUNNING from shot to shot, but my main goal is not to hold up the group behind me. That's why I try to play with a foursome and not a fivesome, use the middle tees, and my group always plays ready golf. By the time I'm on the green, the group behind had just finished their layup and are heading to their ball. We're off to the next tee by the time they reach the green.

With any group I play with I try and play "ready golf", however, I'm playing for my own enjoyment and I take whatever time is necessary for me to study and make the shot. OK, I won't look for lost balls beyond 3 to 5 minutes, and unlike other guys I have played with, I try to follow the other guys shots.

I don't have a problem with golfers playing from the back tees, if they can play a decent game from back there. Or if the course isn't that long in the first place. Some courses measure over 7,400 yards from the back tees, an others only a little over 6,000 yards. The course I play is 6735 from the back (Blue) tees, and it's rated 70/113 for a par 72 course. I'm also playing in Denver at an altitude of around 5400 feet, so the ball does go a bit farther. I almost always play this course from the blue tees, and it's not a problem in terms of lack of distance off the tee. The only time I play from the white tees is when my playing partners all hit from the white tees, and it only makes sense to do the same thing.

On the other hand, I can see the point of hitting from the shorter distances for a guy that can only hit his driver 200 yards on a good day. Some courses also only have 2 sets of tee, not four or five like some courses do. So it can be hard to decide what tee to play from.

Fred,

I agree...playing "READY GOLF" is a great way to speed up the round. Any player ready to play should go as soon as another player has finished his or her shot.

Another slow down is the player who wants to help another player fix something about their game. I've seen that really slow down a round, you know when one player in the group tries to fix the game of another over and over, especially on the tee box constantly checking alignment,etc. A pre-shot routine needs to be reasonably quick,not an old Sergio-27-regrips type thing. And its fine to offer suggestions to someone who's struggling, but that can be done in the cart or while waiting to hit. To consistently offer suggestions on the tee box starts to slow us all down. That type of practice is better suited for the range.

You know, speaking of that Scott, that is another one of my peeves. Some people just feel compelled to make comments about your game, or how you could be doing something different. Now if this was the club pro in my group, I'd probably be inclined to listen, but generally, it's annoying especially when their game isn't up to par. I find it difficult to tell them I'm not interested in their advice without it coming off slightly rude or aggressive. Any good tips on how to address the issue?

Yes............good point

Tell them it's really difficult for you to try something new while you're playing. Would they mind taking a look at it after the round?
After the round, they will want to split and miracle of miracles, they will have an appointment to get to as soon as you finish.

Chris, you trying to tell me something? HAHAHA just kidding or maybe not? it don't matter to me, just tell me to go pound salt...

Truthfully, I hope that I am not one of "those guys" that slows up play...I usually try to play as I know I do not like to stand at my ball and wait. This usually throw off my next shot. So I try to be considerate to all of the golfers on the course and treat them the way I'd want to be treated.

However, one of my pet peeves are the guys behind me that are rushing me because the group in front of me is playing slow and heck, it may not be their fault as it is the group in front of them.

I also try to play courses or play at times when the course is not crowded.

KLUN,
I CAN TELL BY YOUR RAMBLINGS IN THIS POST..............
YOU ARE AN ANCHOR DRAGGING THE SPEED OF PLAY BOAT

Bill, the only reason I am the anchor is because my balls are all over the place...Wait, that didn't sound too good. I mean...well, never mind, I'll shut up now, I think I dug a big enough hole for myself.