more hours per round, how can this be?

[RJ_Daley]

Do any of you have the same experience?  

I play in a regular 4some on our men's club Thursday.  We tee off at 10:54.  There are tee times last until ~ 3:30Pm.  There are about 8 4somes that tee off ahead of us.  We have a policy at our course where prior to Memorial Day and after Labor Day, you can play a 5some.  Being the sort of old retired farts we are, someone always has an extra pal to play a 5some during those months that it is allowed, thus often the groups ahead of us have a couple of 5somes.  

Yet, we have always played in < or = 4 hours, even with a few 5somes and ours as a 5some, during the months it is allowed, and in generally worse weather.  But, once the mid season gets here, and there are only 4somes allowed, the time to play the round has always seemed to have gone up at least 1/2 hour on average.

What is up with that?

[Jim_Kennedy]

You're kidding, right?  

[Pat Brockwell]

They are playing slower.

[Brent Hutto]

You say there are eight group ahead of you. Who is ahead of those eight groups? Surely the course isn't closed until 9.30am when your guys start going off. There's only so many possible reasons your rounds take longer:

1) The eight groups ahead of you are playing slower
2) Your group is playing slower
3) The people ahead of those eight groups are playing slower.

[Mike Sweeney]

What is up with that?

Dick,

I have not dunked a basketball in about 6 years, and I am guessing that I am not going to get any closer when I hit 50 in 6 years.  

[Mark Bourgeois]

Sh*t, is this from the new SAT?

[Dan Kelly]

What is up with that?

Everyone's walking pace slows down because of the overwatered fairways.

[RJ_Daley]

The I.P banned Mr Daddario e-mailed me with what seems like the most likely explanation.  Spring conditions have less rough, and few leaves out yet.  More people loose or look for balls longer due to more rough, more leaves as the season goes forth.  And, there are two holes in the first 6 where those factors can be exacerbated by the more overgrown summer conditions.

I also think that guys get more serious and careful with their games as the season takes hold.  They don't putt a 2 footer remainder in and wil mark them, and they don't play ready-golf as much as they get more fussy about their games.  More betting, more matches in the height of the year.

New SAT indeed.  If Shivas tees off on 10 with a speed trolley, and McBride leaves the first tee with a GCA.com ultralite carry bag, and McBride uses a cheater line, but Shivas does not... what hole will they cross paths on?  a, 6-14, 11-8, or 17-5?  

[Peter Pallotta]

"I also think that guys get more serious and careful with their games as the season takes hold.  They don't putt a 2 footer remainder in and will mark them, and they don't play ready-golf as much as they get more fussy about their games.  More betting, more matches in the height of the year."

RJ
I think that's it. (Or at least, that's what I was going to suggest, so I agree 100%!).

I think early in the season, people are just "playing golf", while as the season progresses they put the game face on and start "Playing Golf", i.e. Marking Two Foot Putts and Deciding on Options and Lowering their Handicaps etc.

I've tried that myself. I just find I play (and score) better when I'm just playing golf, without the capital letters.

Peter  

[Joe Hancock]

Peter,

That's my new question to my playing partner:

Did you bring your lower case game, or your upper case game?

 

Joe

[Jamey Bryan]

Dick, I don't understand it at all, EXCEPT to think that there's an attitude that a 4 hour round is good.  My club never, under any circumstances, allows fivesomes.  The average round is between three and three and a half hours.  We only approach four hours when we have an unusual amount of outside play.

[Peter Pallotta]

Good one, Joe
But maybe it's just me who plays better in lower case, as I'm not a very good player to begin with. There's a little-known golf instruction book that I think was written just for me; it's called "Options are Just a Figment of Your Imagination". Chapter 3 is entitled "You See that Bunker? Just Aim for That, as You Won't Hit It Anyway".
 
Peter  

[Pete_Pittock]

RJ
   Our course allows fivesomes year round, with proshop approval, with the provision you lose privileges when you exceed the expected pace of play. In our case, that is four hours (it used to be 4:15). I play in a fivesome quite often.
When playing five we consistently play ready golf and barely beat the time.
   After playing with five people, when you drop to four there is a natural assumption that you can play a little slower, a little more deliberately, and still make the four hour barrier.
Alas, we slow down too much.
   It's a little bit like the drunk driver trying to drive a 55 mph speed limit and alternating between 75 and 30.