Everybody Hate Raymond's Pre-Shot Routine?

I have really enjoyed the intelligent discussion on slow play under the Links Magazine column by George Peper and was prepared to try and continue the discussion by looking harder at the USGA Pace of Play policy to see how it could be, ugh, "tweaked' to work for the PGA Tour.

But really, how can you even have a slow play debate when you see video such as this one, shot at Lakeside during Golf Digest's recent celebrity get together.

Warning, this uncomforable watch. I clocked it at 18 seconds of his waggles and hitches.

Oh, and is Ray Romano trying to pull off a Stack and Tilt move here? If so, it doesn't bode well for their hopes of helping the average man.

Comments

[ozzgolfer]

When it did not work for jason gore and a few others not yet well known you know it will never work for all.

[ReverendTMac]

Yet another chop who I'd have to studiously ignore during their pre-shot. What's the point of showing guys like Ray and Pesci on GD? "Come feel better about your own swing with Ray Romano"?

[Tuco Ramirez]

Thats not stack and tilt but a mean reverse pivot!

[Chema]

Stack-and-tilt? More like watch-and-puke. Mercifully, his clubhead speed looked about 55 mph, so the ball only went 35 yards right of the fairway. What's with the white socks with black shoes? The sunglasses look like the ones they gave my grandmother after her glaucoma test. It's a mystery why Tiger skips Pebble.

[Steven T.]

I'm still using S&T for my putting.

[Chuck]

Geoff, isn't it possible to see some of the same interminable fidgitiness even in the old Bobby Jones film series shot at Riviera in the 1930's? In other words, some of that might be a timeless "bad golfer" phenomenon more than a "television-era slow-play phenomenon"...

[Not a slow player]

I think this is misguided angst against slow play. I am in full agreement that something needs done about slow play, but this is not an example of the culprit. Ray goes through his whole preshot routine in about 18 seconds. I can think of many more ways that a much more significant amount of time is wasted on the golf course....

- standing around on the green markng your score after the whole is finished
- cart path golf, changing clubs
- sauntering to your ball at a snails pace
- not ready when its your turn to hit, worse yet, not being at your ball when its your turn to hit (usually in the cart watching your partner play)
- lining up your putts from all angles like the pros
- marking your ball, instead of tapping in
- waiting until your turn to putt until starting to read the line
- etc, etc, etc...

Point is, I can play a round of golf in under 3 hours with a preshot routine approx the same length that is shown on that video. Don't blame Ray!

[Dan King]

An 18 second pre-shot routine is 15 seconds longer than it needs to be. Figure an average score of about 90, we'll subtract the putts, which have their own unique problem. So we have 54 full shots, times 15, times four for the foursome, that equals an extra 54 minutes. Yep, there are lots of ways to waste time on a golf course, but every 54 minutes saved is a good thing.

Cheers,
Dan King

[Four-putt]

If so-called architecture critics would stop putting extremely difficult (penal) courses on a pedestal and stop hypnotizing us into worshiping such designs, play would speed up because basic golf courses would once again be fashionable. But thanks to these guys, they're not.

So I guess we're all at fault, not just the PGA Tour dawdlers.

So, you finally get a chance to play Pine Valley. You want to be told your foursome has to watch the clock and finish in four hours or less? Get serious.

[butler cabin]

18 seconds of pre shot routine is excrutiatingly long. I'd last one hole with him before going sabbatini.

[Not a slow player]

I think many of you are taking longer than you are admitting. The preshot routine includes your practice swing. Most of us stand behind the ball and that is where the clock starts... take one practice swing walk up to the ball address it, waggle, swing. I think you go through 18 seconds pretty quickly. Time yourself and see. I know 99% golfers out there don't just walk up to the ball and hit it. 54 minutes of swing time is fine if everyone is ready to hit there ball when its their turn. Much, much more time wasted elsewhere....

[Just the facts, Maam]

Dan King...Sorry, you forgot to add in the hour and a half spent looking for lost balls after 3 seconds of preparation. Net, net, after 3 seconds of preparation, you can probably add 36 minutes minimum to the round! Just like most things in golf, slow play is the result of many many influences, and to single out Ray Romano's pre-shot routine as both the culprit and solution is short sighted, mean spirited and stupid.

[Dan King]

That would be at least 30 lost balls. I think the foursome is playing on a course that is too tough for their game. The course would be doing them a favor kicking them off the course.

Cheers,
Dan King

[Just the facts, Maam]

At a full five mintes searching per lost ball, it would take 1 ball per hole, or 18 total to add 90 minutes to the round.....but hey! Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story! Cheers!

[Tighthead]

If someone in my group is waggling like that, it only wastes time on the tee box. If we are in the fairway, while he is waggling I am pulling a club, replacing a divot, walking, etc.

18 seconds on the tee box doesn't seem too bad. In my experience, real time gets wasted when it is someone's turn to tee off and they only then turn their mind to the task at hand - i.e. "is this a par 4?"

[Sid Coulling]

I think slow play is so ingrained in our habits now that we all are guilty of it in some form.

I agree that Raymond's video doesn't seem so bad; after all, he was probably self-conscious about having his swing recorded like that.

Watch an old tape of a 1960s baseball game sometime, and it is incredible how fast they played. The pitcher got a sign very quickly, wound up, and threw. If the batter didn't put the ball in play, he stayed in the box; the ball was thrown right back to the mound, and the pitcher went right back to work. Today, the batters step out after every pitch; the pitchers walk around the mound between almost every pitch. They wait longer before starting their windup, yadda yadda yadda.

In golf, we probably do everything slower; speeding back up to a 3 hour round will take alot more than clocks on tee boxes, marshalls, etc. For most golfers, it will take a real effort to get the lead out and stop worrying about their hips, alignment, shoulder turn....