Quote:
Originally Posted by Fourputt
First to JP, the pace of play standard for the course is 4:25 (that's 2:10 per 9 holes and a 5 minute allowance at the turn for necessities). That is a very liberal requirement. It's not difficult for four golfers to walk the course in right around 4 hours (I've done it this year at age 61 and 40 pounds overweight), so that extra 20 - 25 minutes is just gravy. I really don't care about the excuses I always hear that we had 2 lost balls on #11 and Joe hacked up #14 and took 10 strokes. That doesn't matter. When you fall behind, you should make every effort to catch back up again. You don't just continue to plod along with a hole open in front of you.
|
4:25 is a perfectly reasonable time frame in which to play 18 holes, walking or otherwise.
Your comment about "When you fall behind" is the operative phrase. Golf course traffic is no different than rush hour traffic in that sense. In rush hour traffic, each person who delays movement by even just a few seconds, telegraphs that delay through the rest of the traffic and that delay time multiplies exponentially so that people at the "end" experience delays far longer than just a few seconds.
Bethpage State Park addressed this and other problems a while ago with policies they've introduced to the Black Course and I believe they've done this with other courses there too (there are five courses altogether).
The Black had a history of slow play dating back to the 80's when it was customary to shove as many groups out onto the course as was possible. Back then the "unwritten" policy was to have three groups on any given hole at any given time; one on the tee, one in the fairway and one on the green. The problems started of course, with the par 3's. You can't have three groups on a par 3 so there "extra" group was obviously waiting somewhere and as the groups kept coming, the backups grew.
Back then, it was not at all uncommon to have a round last six hours and I recall one round that took slightly over seven hours during which I experienced backups of as many as three foursomes on a tee (not including my own group).
Being a "must play" course for decades (and more so since the Open) and where it's located, (Tri-state NY area) the Black Course is never really "empty". Between corporate outings during the week, vacationers, "sightseers", tournaments and regular weekend / weekday play, the Black is always busy and it's only closed on Mondays for maintenance.
To address this and other problems with pace of play, Bethpage introduced strict spacing guidelines for the Black Course. It should be noted that the Black Course is a "walkers only" course and always has been (and hopefully always will be). What they've instituted is an eight-minute spacing between groups which is strictly enforced. Once a group has teed off on the first hole, the next group is not allowed on the tee until the starter says so and they're not allowed to tee-off until that eight minute time has passed.
This allows people to look for lost balls, get to the corner (#1 is a dogleg right) and hit their second (or third or fourth) shots and basically get out of the way before the group on the tee begins play.
The interesting thing they also did, and this addresses the phenomenon of one group being slow and the "trickle-down" effect that has on the rest of the day, is that once every hour-and-a-half or so, they stop play from the first tee for two time slots.
This varies according to the way the course is actually playing (which depends on input from rangers out on the course) and is designed to allow some breathing room between clusters of players. So if one group is playing slowly and their pace is affecting many groups behind, the spacing tends to restrict the effect of that one group to just the "block" of groups immediately behind rather than affecting all of the groups for the rest of the day. If the overall pace is fast, they have the option to ignore the periodic two-group gap and instead, fill that gap with players.
They also speed play by taking some of the "bite" out of the course by trimming the rough in key places, such as on the left side of the first hole which usually has some very dense "lay-down" fescue in which one could easily lose their child - let alone find a golf ball, as well as other places around the course where poor shots typically come to rest.
Tee locations are variable, but only in as much as they can be made shorter or longer within the same teebox. There are only two tees on the Black - White tees and Blue tees (not counting the Open tees) and they are separate areas on some holes and simply the back end of a common teeing ground on others.
Many people have felt for years that if they had long ago removed that silly sign on the first tee describing how difficult the course is (which basically plays to every male ego on the planet) it might have helped to take some of the "myth" away from the course and thus some interest, but marketing is marketing and since the sign isn't lying, it's a rare case of "Truth in Marketing".
I also believe that taming the slow play issue is easier on a "walker's only" course than it is on either a "cart's only" or a mixed-use course. Since no energy is being expended while riding in a cart, players tend to be more "mobile" or more adventurous; helping to look for other's golf balls, travelling from one player's ball to another, pausing to "witness" shots rather than moving to their own because they figure "it's just a few seconds" (which add up over time). And then there's the idea of being responsible for the passenger and his or her needs, the issues of "ready golf" and so on. It is my opinion that walkers, by default, are more capable of "ready golf" simply because walkers tend to move in straight lines directly to their own ball and are not as likely to be "wandering" as one might be in a motorized cart.
I know that's debatable, but that's my opinion.
But in fairness, I can't say that "only" walkers or "only" riders would help because I've experienced the same delays in all situations. I believe that the courses can do some things to mitigate delays, but they also need the cooperation of the players. Many players feel that pace of play is strictly a golf course's problem and "they" should be doing something about it, but that's not true.
Just as in rush hour traffic, if people would simply pay attention and be ready to move when necessary and not allow themselves to either become distracted or to engage in behaviors which only make matters worse, a 4 or 41/2 hr. round would be quite common everywhere. But human nature being what it is coupled with the idea that golf is a leisure time activity, it's hard to get people to think in terms of efficiency.
To be honest with you, I'd be happy if everyone just fixed a few ballmarks.
-JP