Matt
I didn't ignore any plea for education as way to speed up play. Nor did I say more effective marshalling can't work. In fact, I think both can help. However, its these same two things which have been spouted my entire lifetime, yet things have gotten worse and we all must pay more for the priviledge. I think its time to look for answers elsewhere and I see the length of courses as an issue which helps slow the game down. Not only this, but some seem to want to leave the back tees open for everyone when we darn well know that few golfers should be back there. To say this doesn't slow the game dramatically (walking back and forth to the tees for most courses, added shots because of length, added shots because of difficulty and added time just because these nimrods take a regular joe game far too seriously) is to ignore basic facts. Furthermore, to suggest 12 minutes for 1000 yards is all it costs is rubbish and anyone who sits down to think about it knows this to be the case.
Ciao
Sean,
We've all been sitting down and thinking about this, and there has been some agreement that 1000 yards, or 800, or whatever doesn't add that much time to a round of golf. We've explained why instead of bashing down other people's ideas without providing evidence to the contrary. So, I'll try to explain once again, and I'll do it in the frame of a low handicap player because they are the ones most affected by the proposal of closing the back tees.
Let's assume that there is no one in front of the player so there is no wait, that way we can effectively measure his pace. We can assume the low handicap player will reach or be near every green in regulation. So even by moving the tees up the low handicapper does not take less shots on the golf course, save for a few more missed greens than before. This will add no more than 5 minutes throughout the round because it doesn't take any longer to hit a chip than a putt. The golfer may hit ~5 more shots depending on the difference in yardage, and if he is an efficient player there's no reason to assume more impact than 5 minutes.
As for the walking aspect, if we were to assume a worst case scenario of each back tee being farther away from the next tee than the middle tee, we would assume the golfer has to walk an extra 1,600 yards (for a course which is 800 yards longer). This is the absolute worst case scenario as many holes have a back tee which is closer to the previous green and no time is added to the walk at all! Since average walking speed is 3.5mph, the player who has to walk back to every tee only adds 15 minutes to the round. And therefore in total a course which is 800 yards longer and routed quite poorly only adds 20 minutes to the round for the player playing the appropriate tees.
You may look at this and say, "See, 20 minutes I told you guys length was adding time played!" You would only be partially right. Length is still not the issue which slows down pace of play, for golfers will still play slowly no matter what tees they're playing from. By moving up the low handicapper, you're not solving anything because they weren't the problem in the first place (generally speaking of course). The problem is still from the guys with long pre shot routines, poor preparation for upcoming shots, and lackadaisical gate. They slow people down no matter what tee they're playing, so while I agree that golfers need to play the appropriate tee for their game, the real issue is the golfers and not the tees from which they play. Closing the back tees would solve very little and anger a good percentage of golfers.
Adios
