Battling the slow play epidemic

A few guidelines to help you make the game more fun for other groups, too.

People are leaving golf.

For those of us who review our last round in our heads to help us fall asleep (or plan the opening shots of our next one), it’s hard to believe. But it’s true.

People are leaving golf because of those in other groups who ruin it for them—the strangers who make the experience they’ve paid good money for and dedicated large chunks of their time to into a frustrating afternoon of misery. The people who take too long and hold up the entire course.

Here are some ways you can avoid being those people when out on the course and help to foster others’ love for, rather than sending them running from, this game we all enjoy so much.

1. Play from the proper tee box

This is probably the main reason for slow play, which is one of the main things people cite as the reason they don’t enjoy the game.

If you’re not carrying the ball 250-plus yards off the tee when you’ve got a driver in your hands, you should probably be at the forward tees on most championship length (par 70-72) courses. The par of a golf hole is determined by the number of shots it should take a person to get to the green, plus two putts. If you can’t realistically get far enough off the tee box with your first shot on a par-4—no matter which club you play—to make an approach shot to the green on your next swing, then you’re on the wrong tee box, and you’re slowing up the entire course on purpose by making that decision.

Sure, we’re not always going to hit the perfect shot and put ourselves in a position to play our next one the way the hole was meant to be played (what fun would golf be if it was easy?), but to intentionally slow down everyone on the course because you’re knowingly playing par 4s as par 5s and par 5s as par 6s, is just being selfish, and hinders everyone else’s ability to enjoy their round as they are forced to wait for you.

If there’s no tee box that fits this description of a game you can play—you’ll never be able to reach the green in the designed number of shots no matter which tee box you play off, even with a driver in your hand on every hole, for example—you should play a shorter course, or simply follow the next guideline in this article.

2. Let faster groups play through

This should really go without saying, as it’s one of the basics of golf etiquette, but based on some of my recent rounds it apparently doesn’t. If you look back and frequently see people waiting to play their shots—which they can’t because you’re in range of where they want to play to—you should move out of the way and let them go by.

This is especially true if the group behind you has fewer players than yours.

Think of it this way: a twosome will need to take twice as many shots per player on average than a foursome to make their way around the course in the same amount of time. Do you really think each player in the twosome on the tee behind you is averaging 10 shots to every five of yours?

Sure, you’ll have to wait an extra five minutes at the next tee box for them to get ahead of you, but if they’re waiting for you on every shot, you can bet the situation won’t be the same if you trade places. They’ll be out of your way in no time.

3. Everyone in the group doesn’t need to be at everyone else’s ball on every shot

When your ball is in play, go to it and be ready to play when it’s your turn. Bruce (a random guy I just made up) doesn’t need three guys standing around him while he shoots.

If everyone goes to each ball at each shot, not only do you look like a bunch of five-year-olds playing soccer, running around in a little cluster, it also unnecessarily lengthens your round and holds up those behind you that are following proper course etiquette.

If you’re in carts, let one player off at his ball and drive to the other player’s ball. You can each play your shot before you pick up your cart-mate and continue on your way. It’s not complicated, and it speeds things up enormously.

4. Mark down your scores on the next tee box

Don’t stop right after your group putts out to mark down everyone’s score. There’s plenty of time while the other members of your group are teeing off on the next hole for you to pencil in the numbers from the previous one.

If you’re off the green and people are waiting to make an approach into that green, you’re still in harm’s way if you stop before the next tee box to mark down the scores, and if you’re off the green after I’ve seen you finish the hole, they’re making that approach shot—as they should be. That will eventually play out badly, as we’re not out on the pro tour with people hitting greens-in-regulation all the time.

5. Gear down on the consumption

It’s fine to enjoy a few drinks out on the course. It loosens you up physically, creates a less formal and more social atmosphere, and it helps the course out financially as well (assuming you’re not breaking the rules and packing your bag full at home).

As with any environment where alcohol is consumed, though, there’s a fine line between social and problem drinking. When you start wobbling over your ball, it will obviously be hard to play the game as it is meant to be played, and when you’re looking for your ball in the trees (under the influence) on every other shot, or raking every greenside bunker because your balance is off on your downswing, you’re not just hurting your score, you’re hurting everyone else’s enjoyment of their rounds.

You may also be yelling at the person who is right beside you, because voices tend to increase in volume as the drinks go down the hatch and voices carry on a golf course, so you’re distracting other groups with your shenanigans in this situation, not just holding them up.

In summary

It’s not a hard thing to do—keeping people moving over the course of a round—but we all have to take responsibility for doing it. It’s only the higher-end courses that have marshalls driving around ensuring people are following the rules (including keeping the pace up), but those courses are generally played by more serious golfers, anyway, so they don’t have this problem as often, in most cases.

It’s the full-length courses in the cheaper price range that are supposed to be encouraging and engaging the not-so-serious golfers to enjoy the game and get out to play it more. We can all help them out by just being decent while we’re out there, looking over our shoulders once in a while, and playing the game as it’s meant to be played.

It will make it more fun for everyone.