Dealing With Slow Play

Golfweek's Jim Achenbach gets plenty of interesting reader mail on slow play remedies.

Comments

[JPB]

Didn't see this before posting my drawing and quartering comment above. I think mostly the problem is the golf culture and expectations watching the Faldos and ben Cranes of the world on television. If I were the dictator of a course, I would tell people that it was expected that many real players expect a day of golf to be 36 or 45 holes of walking golf. They want no round to take more than 3:00. So if you can't play quickly enough you need to change something. Play foursomes rather than fourball, walk faster, whatever. If carts are allowed, perhaps get the buffoons to take 4 of them instead of 2. 2 carts for a foursome is a guaranteed disaster because you have 4 cart people watching one another and driving around in circles. Literally. But mostly it is the culture. Recently I heard a slow player brag with some surprise that their round took 'less than 4 hours." Slow roasting alive could be even better than drawing and quartering, especially if it could be done in public on a nice packed member guest day with the cart brigade out in force. :-)

[Smolmania]

D-day is 8/12. Our flight leaves at 7:45 p.m. Off to play links golf on the east coast of Ireland for a glorious week. No carts. 36 a day. No round lasting more than 3 hours and 15 minutes. The question is, why can't we do this here??

[JPB]

Can I stowaway in your luggage Smolmania? I have not yet had the chance to play over there, but really want to. I actually think my wife will go along with it. I just need to figure out how to schedule a golf trip over there that has something for the non players. And right now the kid is too young to play. I need a fix of real golf pretty badly. I want to play some famous courses, but I would also like to kind of get lost at some of the non publicized ones and just play. Quickly. ;-)

[Smolmania]

There's one spot still open JP. This is my 3rd trip, but first with the big kids. Two other trips were low budget excursions. This time it's Mercedes bus with 8 captain's chairs. Portmarnock, Baltray, County Down, Portrush, European Club, Island Club, Portstewart, Castlerock. The judge who goes over every year says this tour guide is the best.

[Steven T.]

JPB

Americans playing foursomes? You've got to be kidding. What private club, other than perhaps once a year, has foursomes on a regular basis? I would hazard a wild guess that no public course would know what to do with foursomes. Americans like to post a score-"What did you shoot?" It's ingrained in our culture. Why else would those who hack it around struggle to shoot 110?

[JPB]

Smolmania, I am flattered I would be asked. You might not have known I was (another) lawyer. I have a valid passport, but I don't think my wife would allow that trip on short notice. I will have to content myself with the club championship in probably the first flight. Ugh. The play isn't that slow at my club,but I am sure it will be 4:00 or 4:15 on the 12th. Think of me hacking it around on a full course with 75000 carts revving their engines in probably 100 degree weather. Have fun and report on the tour. I would like some references on tours, etc...

Also, if there are enough crazies around here, it might pay to someday organize a trip. I know we are probably all lunatics, but it could be interesting. One problem it seems to me is that some of the tours I have seen are meant for groups. If I go it will probably be with my wife and kid or alone, I don't have a group of a few guys around here who would be all that likely to go there. We have a new judge who is an excellent player who might tho now that he gets judge vacation time, LOL. I have not even been able to get to Bandon yet and I can drive there in a really long day of driving I think. Feh.

[NRH]

JPB, you've got to get to Bandon. You will be more than rewarded for the difficulty of getting there. Geoff, still waiting for the Shackelford Invitational...played Stanford and because of you was paying attention to Bell & Thomas' work. Since it was 100 degrees I could have used a Trump waterfall or two between holes. Smols, I'm jealous.

[Smolmania]

The Shack Invitational sounds like a good idea. Maybe Geoff could talk Mike Keiser into giving us a good rate at Bandon. . . (he donated the Dunes Club in New Buffalo for an outing of the Shivas Irons Society a couple of years ago). He strikes me as the kind of guy who'd agree with the tone of this blog. . .

[Al]

If the Shack Invitiational is going to be at Bandon, count me in! Trying to set my first trip there next April.

Smolmania, you are my ido1.We will expect a full report after you get back.

[NRH]

Just don't send a Hallmark to Keiser.

How about a 3 day tour of Ballyneal, Sand Hills and Prairie Club?

[JPB]

NRH -That would be excellent.