Time on the course.

[Doug Ralston]

Golf seems a funny game.

We pay large sums of cash to play a nice course, then the two goals manifest.

1. Play as little as possible for the money. You make your 73, or I make my 98, and we feel pretty good 'about our golf'. Hmmm.

2. We try to finish as quickly as possible.

The 1st I understand, as antithetical to our capital culture as it seems. But it is competition for most. I see that.

The second I simply do not understand. I would rather be out on a nice course than in the '19th Hole' making braggidocio [sp?], or at home typing responses on GCA. I paid well to be there and I am gonna hurry off?

Most courses have a 'par-time' of 4.25hr to 4.5hr. Is it uncomfortable for you to play a 4 1/2hr round? A 5hr round? Not me. I am there because I love it. I am glad to let faster players through. I CAN often get done much quicker, if unobstructed, but have little desire to hurry.

How many of you feel hurried when on the course. If it is open, do you want to finish in 2.5hr? 3hr? 3.5hr? 4hr? More? Just curious.

Doug

[Dave_Miller]

Golf seems a funny game.

We pay large sums of cash to play a nice course, then the two goals manifest.

1. Play as little as possible for the money. You make your 73, or I make my 98, and we feel pretty good 'about our golf'. Hmmm.

2. We try to finish as quickly as possible.

The 1st I understand, as antithetical to our capital culture as it seems. But it is competition for most. I see that.

The second I simply do not understand. I would rather be out on a nice course than in the '19th Hole' making braggidocio [sp?], or at home typing responses on GCA. I paid well to be there and I am gonna hurry off?

Most courses have a 'par-time' of 4.25hr to 4.5hr. Is it uncomfortable for you to play a 4 1/2hr round? A 5hr round? Not me. I am there because I love it. I am glad to let faster players through. I CAN often get done much quicker, if unobstructed, but have little desire to hurry.

How many of you feel hurried when on the course. If it is open, do you want to finish in 2.5hr? 3hr? 3.5hr? 4hr? More? Just curious.

Doug

Doug:
Part of the problem I believe is that when you have a 5 hour round you are usually waiting on every shot.  This takes the player (at least for me)  out of rthym and you cannot get into a comfortable pace.  Waiting to hit every shot is brutal and takes a lot of fun out of the game. 
Best
Dave

[Joe Hancock]

Doug,

I think we all have a built in timer of sorts. Mine runs quick, so I tend to walk faster than those around me, for example. My comfortable pace of play is 3 1/2 hours. If I take much longer, it becomes less enjoyable rather than moreso.

Likened to a nice meal, it doesn't improve the meal if I take twice as long to eat, allowing the entree to depart from it's optimum temperature.

And before one of you smartasses says anything about my built in clock running quick, and wondering if my wife is disappointed........YES!......

Happy Masters watching,

Joe

[Andy Troeger]

Count me as another one who tends to move fairly quickly whether it be on the golf course or otherwise. While playing golf, I'm not one to hurry or rush things, however, I don't dawdle either which is what personally frustrates me.

One has to understand when they play golf that they are not the only one to pay for the opportunity to play a course, whether it be public or private. Making other people wait while you waste time or go about things at a snail's pace is inconsiderate of those that want to go at a reasonable pace. To quantify that somewhat I think if it takes you more than 4 hrs 15 mins without waiting on a relatively "average" course in terms of pace of play then you're probably wasting time. Obviously places that are more difficult or cause ball-searching to become an occupation have an effect on the time listed above.

That said, players who want to go exceptionally fast on a crowded course are also inconsiderate. If you want to play in 3 hours on a weekend plan on getting up early, otherwise there's no benefit to trying to watch the group in front of you play every shot from within earshot 

In a sense Doug I agree with you, there's no need for me at least to go play some nice course and rush around it in 2 hrs. I usually don't have anywhere better to go! However, there's a definite limit and playing painfully slow golf because of waiting on groups ahead can make what should be a pleasant experience a frustating one.

[Doug Ralston]

Andy;

I agree you cannot be the one blockading the circle. But, as i said, I am glad to let people play through. I have often played open courses in 3-3.5hr. but if one must hunt, as you say, the round will be prolonged. I would be surprised to play some great courses in less than 4.25hrs, simply because they are hazardous and increase you hunt time.

When we played Tot Hill Farm, it was almost 6hr, and I was not fussed. Cartpath, ball search, and difficulty had the entire field ahead going very slow. No use to play through. And the joy of the course made it not the kind of time that was wasted. Next day we played Tobacco Road in around 5hr. Better and better. Who would want to come off there? Too many laughs.

Golf courses are places to be. I don't get in the way of people who are playing, but I will be busy appreciating. Don't joggle my elbow.

Doug

[Dave_Miller]

Andy;

I agree you cannot be the one blockading the circle. But, as i said, I am glad to let people play through. I have often played open courses in 3-3.5hr. but if one must hunt, as you say, the round will be prolonged. I would be surprised to play some great courses in less than 4.25hrs, simply because they are hazardous and increase you hunt time.

When we played Tot Hill Farm, it was almost 6hr, and I was not fussed. Cartpath, ball search, and difficulty had the entire field ahead going very slow. No use to play through. And the joy of the course made it not the kind of time that was wasted. Next day we played Tobacco Road in around 5hr. Better and better. Who would want to come off there? Too many laughs.

Golf courses are places to be. I don't get in the way of people who are playing, but I will be busy appreciating. Don't joggle my elbow.

Doug

Doug:
While you are considerate and let people play through I have been stuck behind plenty of groups who are going slow and do not let groups through.  This happens more often than one might think and also at private clubs.  Living with the 4 to 41/2 round is one thing and can be bearable a round of 5+ hours can become torture. 
Fairways and Greens
Dave

[Andy Troeger]

Obviously it depends too whether you're playing in a foursome or not. Playing in foursome with buddies makes slow play more tolerable for me since there's at least people to keep things lively during the otherwise tedious waits.

Playing as a twosome or threesome or sometimes getting paired up and playing in 5+ hours can be pretty miserable as its all waiting and the occasional opportunity to hit a golf ball.

[wsmorrison]

Yesterday, a wondering Australian and I were playing in a twosome behind a lot of foursomes playing in a qualifying tournament.  The groups ahead were keeping up a fine 4hr. pace so we decided to relax, take our time and have fun.  We took extra putting on a bunch of greens (is it OK to post a handicap score in light of this?) and discussed the architecture at great length during our leisurely stroll. 

I remember the first time I played The Old Course, my brother and I completed the round in about 3 hours and I kept thinking down the stretch that I wish the time wasn't flying by so fast.

I don't like being held up for each shot and play relatively quickly, but I do enjoy taking some time to take enjoy the whole experience.

[Dave_Miller]

Yesterday, a wondering Australian and I were playing in a twosome behind a lot of foursomes playing in a qualifying tournament.  The groups ahead were keeping up a fine 4hr. pace so we decided to relax, take our time and have fun.  We took extra putting on a bunch of greens (is it OK to post a handicap score in light of this?) and discussed the architecture at great length during our leisurely stroll. 

I remember the first time I played The Old Course, my brother and I completed the round in about 3 hours and I kept thinking down the stretch that I wish the time wasn't flying by so fast.

I don't like being held up for each shot and play relatively quickly, but I do enjoy taking some time to take enjoy the whole experience.

Wayne:
Rule 7-2 permits the extra putting on the hole just completed so you can go ahead and post the score. It was a 67 right
Hope all is well
Dave

[Brent Hutto]

If I'm paying money for a round of golf, I'm paying it to play golf. Playing a round of golf generally takes me somewhere in the vicinity of 2:30 to 3:15 depending on the course and how well or poorly I'm playing. I would never deliberately try to cheat myself out of a single moment of golf-playing time.

I am most certainly not paying money to stand around viewing the backsides of the slowpokes ahead of me as they wander aimlessly about the fairway or (especially) putting green. That is time spent standing around when I could be doing any number of more enjoyable and/or productive things including...wait for it...playing another round of golf!

The same reasoning applies to the number of strokes taken. It only takes somewhere between 60 and 70 good strokes to play most any golf course. I wouldn't care to miss out on any of those but I will gladly give a miss to the assortment of foozles, duffs, penalties, wasted shots and way-off-the-mark putts that comprise the other one to three dozen strokes that make up my typical round.

Now if I could stand on the seventeenth tee of Cypress Point Club while waiting on fairways and greens to clear or if I could be hitting all those wasted shots as irons to the sixteenth green at Deal I'd enjoy them a great bit more than I do in real life.

[Adam Clayman]

Being considerate of those who follow should not be related to the cost of the round.

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