Do you score better when you play faster?

[Jeff_Brauer]

The pace of play and scoring issue rings true with me, but not sure why. 

I agree with Lou that playing faster gets you in a rhythm that seems to help me hit quality golf shots.

I recall playing Troon in Scotland with an elderly gent, and we finished in 2.5 hours, and I played well.  Hard to tell exactly, because he was all about match play and we picked up if we were out of the hole.  Of course, it meant the tee ahead also had to be open to take advantage.  I didn't feel I took any less time than normal.


At Royal Melbourne, my ex and I also played three times over two days, also in 2.5 hours, and I shot low 80's, about my then normal "good" score.  One round, we followed the ladies league and barely kept up, despite our two vs. their foursomes.


Stateside, I like to think I play fast enough, like when I get the first tee time off.  I attribute most of that to "cart sense" of not just watching my cart partner play, and then start selecting my club. I drop them at their ball and drive to mine.  The key being ignoring other shots by simultaneously getting ready to play (when out of line of flight and vision)  It seems to me my overall speed is (assuming constant cart behavior) is more affected by course length.  When I drop to 6300 or below, I hit many more greens, play fewer shots, etc.

[Peter Pallotta]

A different slant/topic and not meant to open a can of worms, but even the slowest *walking* round keeps me looser, happier, in better rhythm and scoring better than *any* round in a cart, either fast or slow. I know that some manage to play good golf when riding, but for whatever reasons I've used carts enough now to know that I simply can't. I seem to actually *need* the time/pace between shots that walking provides.

[Jeff Shelman]

For me there is a balance. Slow play where you wait on virtually every shot is bad for me as I lose concentration and focus.

But too fast is also bad. This usually means racing on a cart or something. I don't think about shots, don't concentrate and I make dumb plays or have horrible alignment or something.

In a perfect world? A pace somewhere in the 3:15-4:00 range (depending on how many people are in the group) and I feel pretty good.

[Thomas Dai]

I wonder how much time is spent walking/riding back to the next tee.....
......and then walking/riding back to level with the green just played?
Atb

[Sean_A]

Well, I just played today in 4 hours flat as a 3ball and played really well.  I would say the round felt slow and that I was being held up a bit...maybe 15-20 minutes slower than I would like, but not terrible.  I would prefer this to trying to get around in 3:15 by rushing....my dodgy ankle also appreciates the more casual speed.

Ciao

[JHoulihan]

For me there is a balance. Slow play where you wait on virtually every shot is bad for me as I lose concentration and focus.

But too fast is also bad. This usually means racing on a cart or something. I don't think about shots, don't concentrate and I make dumb plays or have horrible alignment or something.

In a perfect world? A pace somewhere in the 3:15-4:00 range (depending on how many people are in the group) and I feel pretty good.

I am with Jeff. Trouble really only comes at the extreme of the speed curve (generally less than 3.5 or more than 4.5 hours). Faster feels like I am just hitting and running and longer making me want to check my phone or waste time especially when playing as a single.
I moved from Chicago to Phoenix and instead of walking about 50% of the time I am now riding about every round. I recently started walking to tune up for my trip to Bandon OR. Here is what I think after a small sample size of just a single round walking. My normal round was about 415 to 445 RIDING at my local course. Last 5 scores riding were 90-86-78-79-82 (Average 83). My most recent round was WALKING at 4 hours 6 minutes scoring 85. Could we have played faster, maybe 10 minutes max never being more than half a hole behind. I plan to keep trach of my times much closer this year than past and will see if this recent round is the norm or outlier. Only more data points will tell.