Pace of Play Monitoring

[Josh Tarble]

I am looking to put together a proposal for a pace of play program at our club.  I've gone through several of the PoP threads I've been able to find and none have addressed what I'm looking for specifically.

My question: what are some options to precisely monitor a groups actual time?  Is it solely up to the pros?  Are times monitored every round, or just weekends? 

I'm not sure exactly what all the options may be, but ideally I'd want something that 1) doesn't require a ton of extra work for the pros 2) doesn't leave a lot of room for members to fudge their times

[John Connolly]

Could have starters or starter equivalents marking start times at 1st tee and finishing times at 18th green? if your club has the 1st tee near the 18th green it could be a one man job.

[Carl Nichols]

Josh:
Our starter logs when every group tees off.  During certain busy periods--usually Thursday and Friday afternoons, plus weekends from 10am until mid-afternoon sometime--we have a second person (usually a retired gentleman) who is responsible for, among other things, logging when each group finishes.  (Our 18th green isn't quite close enough to the 1st tee to make this a one-person job.)  The times are then calculated and posted in the locker rooms.  The peer pressure is almost always enough to keep times under our rules--always under 4 hours, under 3:40 or 3:50 early on weekends--but sometimes letters need to be sent and other steps taken.

[Keith OHalloran]

Rivermont is the best at this that I have seen. They keep the times that the group tees off, and the times they finish. They publish those times in the men's locker room, so that you can see exactly who held you up. Seems to work well.
In regard to allowing a group to self police, they used to have some clocks on the course that were all set to the target pace of play. If you teed off at 10, every clock on the course should say 10 when you passed it. It is an idiot proof way of pacing groups.

[archie_struthers]

 

Never , ever post an accepted pace of play time .........it will come back to haunt  you . Rather stress ready golf and staying in position ...

[Carl Nichols]

Never , ever post an accepted pace of play time .........it will come back to haunt  you . Rather stress ready golf and staying in position ...

I've had the opposite experience.

[Keith OHalloran]

Archie, unfortunately we have had the opposite experience as well. We have had a lot more success when telling members what their target is, and letting them know what will happen if they do not meet the expectations.

[Paul Gray]

I've actually experienced targets that succeed and targets that completely fail.

Set a target of no more than 3.30 hours, allow for the inevitable complaints, cut the rough and stay strong. Most importantly, let your Pro Shop know that you are backing them fully in implementing this policy and make sure you have notices up, old British style in their directness. Only a strong 'no ifs, no buts' approach works.

Oh, and make a fairly generous concession for groups allowing others to play through. By doing so, rather than people always feeling that the clock is ticking and therefore they must carry on regardless, they can actually feel there's LESS pressure on them to hold the rest of the course up.

 

[Josh Tarble]

Thanks for the responses.

I saw a thread on the Rivermont clocks, which I think is a very cool way of allowing players to self-monitor.  That seems like it could be a cool idea, but I'm guessing it would be tough to implement at our club.   My thought was there surely has been some sort of punch-clock or similar contraption that members have to clock-in and clock-out before and after the round.  I'm also guessing that it would be tough to mandate that even though our 1st tee and 18th green are very close together.

If we do get something implemented, I'm sure we will have to rely our pro (who does a great job and is slammed busy already) to clock the groups.  I was hoping maybe someone had a creative idea of tracking times that was a bit more automated.

[jeffwarne]

Your clock in and clock out idea sounds perfect.
Your pro will certainly appreciate that.

We record the exact starting time and only use it as a reference when rangering.
We don't waste a guy recording finish times-but I can monitor that from the bar
Our pace is good,but it's great to have the exact times when needed because they always fudge otherwise

[Matt Day]

I am looking to put together a proposal for a pace of play program at our club.  I've gone through several of the PoP threads I've been able to find and none have addressed what I'm looking for specifically.

My question: what are some options to precisely monitor a groups actual time?  Is it solely up to the pros?  Are times monitored every round, or just weekends? 

I'm not sure exactly what all the options may be, but ideally I'd want something that 1) doesn't require a ton of extra work for the pros 2) doesn't leave a lot of room for members to fudge their times

Josh
Moore Park in Sydney use GPS units on selected groups, one person in each group has a GPS on their golf bag which provides real time data

http://www.mooreparkgolf.com.au/weve-reduced-18-hole-rounds-by-20-minutes

http://www.solution240.com.au/

[Josh Tarble]

Matt,
That GPS unit sounds like a pretty sweet idea.  But again, I'm doubting the club will want to make much, if any, investment on it.

Jeff,
I think our pro does track exact tee off times, and he does know approximate length of rounds...but we haven't ever had any sort of policy, and unfortunately some of our newer members are taking a long time to get around. I at least want to start the conversation so would like to have a few options.

[Mike Hamilton]

I am looking to put together a proposal for a pace of play program at our club.  I've gone through several of the PoP threads I've been able to find and none have addressed what I'm looking for specifically.

My question: what are some options to precisely monitor a groups actual time?  Is it solely up to the pros?  Are times monitored every round, or just weekends? 

I'm not sure exactly what all the options may be, but ideally I'd want something that 1) doesn't require a ton of extra work for the pros 2) doesn't leave a lot of room for members to fudge their times

Josh
Moore Park in Sydney use GPS units on selected groups, one person in each group has a GPS on their golf bag which provides real time data

http://www.mooreparkgolf.com.au/weve-reduced-18-hole-rounds-by-20-minutes

http://www.solution240.com.au/

I played Moore Park two weeks ago.   Took us 4:45 to walk 18 and we waited on almost every shot.

[Jud_T]

Josh,

Just tell 'em that groups that finish with a full hole open in front of them can't go off till 10:30 the following weekend. 

[Michael Whitaker]

For those that have seen an improvement in pace after instituting a monitoring program... what were the primary behaviors that were changed to speed up play?

[Paul Gray]

Also, check out Pace Manager Systems

[jeffwarne]

Oh, and make a fairly generous concession for groups allowing others to play through. By doing so, rather than people always feeling that the clock is ticking and therefore they must carry on regardless, they can actually feel there's LESS pressure on them to hold the rest of the course up.

 

an excellent point and where judgement, and not just raw numbers, are equally important

[A.G._Crockett]

Thanks for the responses.

I saw a thread on the Rivermont clocks, which I think is a very cool way of allowing players to self-monitor.  That seems like it could be a cool idea, but I'm guessing it would be tough to implement at our club.   My thought was there surely has been some sort of punch-clock or similar contraption that members have to clock-in and clock-out before and after the round.  I'm also guessing that it would be tough to mandate that even though our 1st tee and 18th green are very close together.

If we do get something implemented, I'm sure we will have to rely our pro (who does a great job and is slammed busy already) to clock the groups.  I was hoping maybe someone had a creative idea of tracking times that was a bit more automated.

I agree that the clocks at Rivermont are the best system I've ever seen.  It takes all the doubt out of what is going on, and takes pressure off the marshals as well.

Not to speak for Chris Cupit, but I believe that the first groups out on weekend mornings understand that they MUST play faster than the stated pace of play as a condition of the early tee times.  The culture of the club has become very much one of a faster pace of play, and I believe that players who do not meet the standards lose the ability to make weekend am tee times until they have recorded a "good" time later in the day.

[Matthew Lloyd]

Not to speak for Chris Cupit, but I believe that the first groups out on weekend mornings understand that they MUST play faster than the stated pace of play as a condition of the early tee times.  The culture of the club has become very much one of a faster pace of play, and I believe that players who do not meet the standards lose the ability to make weekend am tee times until they have recorded a "good" time later in the day.
[/quote]

I really like the idea of a merit based system to early tee times.  You simply can't have slow players open the day on a course. It will ruin the rest of the day for everyone else.  If the first 5 groups can keep a pace under 4 hours it would be a huge help.