I usually take Thursdays off from work so I play a lot as a single paired with others. In my opinion, it is definitely the casual/occasional golfer that is the biggest problem. They haven't played enough to know or follow the flow of play and are not ready when it's their turn. When they're waiting their turn on the tee box they've got their face in their phone so they're not mentally prepared for the tee shot. Often they haven't even planned the tee shot when they finally step up. It seems so obvious to those that have been playing for decades but they really don't get it.

Since they don't play often they have a poor sense of where their ball might be on errant shots so they're often looking for it in places in can't possibly be. If it's a younger guy with some swing speed and a premium ball he might spend a full 5 minutes looking for it while the group behind stares with their hands on their hips. This is what really takes me out of my game: the group in front of us is over a hole ahead, the group behind is breathing down our necks and the oblivious guy in my group doesn't even notice or seem remotely concerned.

TLDR, it's the occasional golfer that is the scourge in regards to pace of play.

Pace of play usually has less to do with your group (if everyone keeps moving) and instead how many other groups are on the course. Plus at my club the singles will get on your ass and you'll let them through which slows you down more.

Couple things.

I would only let a single through in the afternoons. A single during rush hour on a course gets to wait.

That being said, we kind of figured out how to let them through without stopping. We just waive them on and keep playing. Let them hit first or putt first but don't stop to let them through. They will get to the next tee and be gone.

We have one group of 4 that plays on Sunday afternoons religiously at my local course that always gets passed up for slow play. Some people complain, but I don't. They are always more than willing to let you play through. Pace of play, to me, has everything to do with self-awareness.

93MarineHorn said:

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Since they don't play often they have a poor sense of where their ball might be on errant shots so they're often looking for it in places in can't possibly be.

TLDR, it's the occasional golfer that is the scourge in regards to pace of play.

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This, a lot. Most of the time they don't know where it's gone because they don't even watch it. As soon as they swing and they see it going offline they just look down or start walking back to the cart or something. When I'm playing with guys like that I've just taught myself to keep an eye on their ball. It's a pain in the ass, but I can walk over and find their ball in 15 - 20 seconds vs multiple minutes of them looking in the wrong spot, multiple times per round.

powerbelly said:

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I am always in favor of ready golf, but play out of turn if you are ready and the other person is not. If I am off the green and you are ready to putt, hit away.

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I don't mind this occasionally, but if another player is constantly jumping ahead of the others off the green, I'll say something.

I always play and advocate for ready play, it's the will of the gods.

If someone is in the bunker, swings and leaves it in I'm ready to putt and letting it rip. As I have aged I have lost some distance, if we are waiting on the group in front of us and they are out of "my" range I'll hit out of turn and let the longer guys wait.

Ready golf is the way and the light. Go to the light fellas, go to the light.

MW03 said:

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What do yall think about ready golf and putting out early? Do you take issue with that, or would you prefer folks to go ahead and putt when they're ready? I don't mind if people go out of turn, but I have to admit that it irritates me a little bit when people putt while others are still off the green. Not sure where that comes from.

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I love it. Three of us played yesterday and it made things go a lot smoother. The green thing is tricky. I would say for me it just depends on how far off someone is.

Ready golf through the fairway, but it should generally be an exception and not a rule on the green. If everyone is about equal in playing ability they should all be getting to the green at about the same time. But once on the green there is a lot to learn from watching other people putt, and it is often times fairly difficult to stay out of everyone's way if you are playing in a foursome.

Someone will read that and say BS, I putt out of turn all of the time and I don't bother anyone. Yea, maybe not, or maybe they just don't say anything.

But I would say, generally speaking, 16 or 17 of the 18 holes should be putted out in order with some rare exceptions. Maybe you jsut jacked a putt 8 feet past and are still out but the guy six feet is ready. Or maybe everyone else hit the green and you played out of the sand trap but hit a bad shot and are still furthest away. Things like that. But if a player is close to being ready and you are wait your turn.

My retired buddies in Hot Springs Village rate their golf by how long it took to play 18.

But the pace of play also depends on the golf course. It's senseless for you to play in 3 hours when the rest of the golf course is at a 4.5 hour pace. It will make for one frustrating round.

I'm lucky to play at a course where 20 groups in a day is a busy day.

Rarely we have groups ahead or behind us. And it'd be exhausting to try to play as fast as we can. We don't need to. 4 hour round is a good pace for us to take our time with our shots. Rarely do we have to play ready golf.

We can. But we don't have/need to.

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Big picture, if you can putt without slowing them down due to waiting on you to get out of the way, then go ahead. But your putting should not delay people getting onto the green

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Amen. It's very frustrating to be ready to chip on to the green and have someone decide they can't wait their turn to putt. You have to start your routine over and you can feel rushed, especially if you don't hit a good chip and need to take some time to read the following putt.

You guys are making me feel blessed that my home course is a standard 3.5 hour pace of play for a 4some. It's an older course built in 1972 so it was designed to have all of the holes line up very well to each other, no long drives between green and tees etc.

The only time we go over that is MGA events where we are doing a shotgun start and lining up 8 people at each hole. Those rounds are 5 hours+ and if you are stuck with the lower flights like I am at my 14 handicap, you don't always have the most fun people to play with.

That said if I am playing with someone who is a "I have to find my ball at all costs" I set the timer at 3 min worth of looking and then they are taking a drop. Problem for us is MOST of our lost balls will be OB and it basically screws you on the hole.

Fastest I have ever played by myself to play 18 with it wide open was an hour 45 min, but I can typically walk our separate 9 hole course in an hour and 15 min and it is 3400 yards from the blues.