Slow Play

By Jeff Howes, EIGCA Senior member

Golf is meant to be fun!

Why do we play golf? Because it’s fun. Because striving to hit that perfect shot and getting exercise is enjoyable. We enjoy being in the great outdoors as well the social aspect of the game. However these very aspects of the game are disappearing.

We need to put some more fun back into the game.

Golf is a game which is meant to be played fast. There was a time when three and a half hours rounds was normal. I remember the first time I went to St. Andrews to study the famous links. I overheard two older gentlemen talking “Can you believe how slow it was out there yesterday”, one said to be other, “no I can’t”, the other replied, “I’ll give up the game if these 4 hour rounds continue”. The norm these days is probably about 5 hours to play 18 holes. Where is the exercise in the standing around waiting on every shot.

We do love to hit that perfect shot which is essentially a hole in one or sinking an approach shot to a par four or par five. This aspect of the game will thankfully probably never end but if we could learn to get around the courses faster we will obviously have more opportunity to hit these sweet shots because in theory we will have more time to play more golf. I’ll never forget going to The Banff Springs golf course as a 16 year old with a friend of mine. We went there early in the morning with the hope of playing 36 holes. Because it was a drizzly day the course was not too busy. We got in 54 holes that day and that was walking at a comfortable pace. That was fun.

Yes, we love to be in the great outdoors being one with nature but why not walk and play a little faster so we can sit and enjoy the sights from the sun soaked balcony of the clubhouse with a beer in hand. If we could get into the clubhouse quicker we might be able to spend money on food and drink which might in turn bring clubhouses into a profitable situation. Not only that, it gives us more time to socialise with our friends and family who might not have been in our four ball.

It is time to get serious about slow play and I think we need to start with the professionals. First of all the touring pros are setting a bad example by taking 5 hours to play 18 holes on television. The governing bodies need to revise their rules to speed up the touring pros. Anyone who watched Trevor Immelman at last year’s Masters knows what I am talking about. Secondly the teaching pros need to spend more time teaching golfers how to play quickly. When was the last time your teaching pro said anything to you about playing quicker. Don’t take it as an insult if they do because they only want you to enjoy the game the same as you would by striking the ball better by keeping your head down.

The television commentators need to praise and highlight how nice it is to see the fast players on tour. And I firmly believe the slow players should also be named and shamed and penalised by the tournament director.

How a golf course is maintained is also a big factor in speed of play. Greens committee members need to realize that narrow fairways and high rough is not fun. As the famous Dr. Alistair Mackenzie said “No one likes looking for golf balls”.

The speed of the greens should not be dictated by the stimpmeter reading of your neighbouring club or that of a U.S. Open. The speed should be determined by the slopes of your greens. If they are severely sloped then you will have sufficient break and interest without making them real quick. If the average golfer is taking a lot of three putts then it will obviously lead to slow play.

And why is it that all new courses seem to have the brief to be par 72 over 7000 yds when over 90% of the golfers in the world will have more fun with a course at 6500 yds. In general golf holes are more memorable if they are shorter rather than long and require precision rather than brute force.

We need to use our imagination to solve slow play. With today’s technology why can’t we issue cheap stop watches at the first tee and issue instructions to the players that they must play their shots within the 30 or 40 seconds from the time it is their turn to play or they will incur a penalty stroke. The stop watches can be collected at the 18th.

It is my view that the growth of the game is not as rapid as it should be because the game is not as fun as it once was. The biggest reason in my view is because it is taking too long to play. We need to get serious about slow play just for the fun of it.

The 4th hole at GC Foehrenwald in Austria has loads of strategy with wide fairway which means no looking for balls.

The article was originally published in Golf Management Europe November 2008.