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In January everything seems to slow
down. We’re through with the hectic holiday season, and with luck
and some unseasonal South Texas weather, we’ll have more than just a
few days of winter so that we can just grab a book, sit by a toasty
fire, and “chill” without feeling a need to rush to get some project
finished or have our guilty glands working overtime.
With that said, maybe this is an ideal
time to look at something else that is slow in our golfing world,
that bane of the golf professional’s existence: slow play. Gayle
Fisk, our weekly tournament chairman, sent your president a copy of
the “Arizona Golfer“, Arizona’s golf newspaper, in which Greg Wolf,
head golf professional at TPC Scottsdale, addressed this very topic
in his column.
Some key areas addressed to speed up
our play:
1) Whoever gets to the tee box first
should tee off.
2) Take three clubs to your ball when
figuring out yardage. Got a Sky Caddie or other range finder? Take
it and your three clubs with you out to your ball. Mr. Wolf didn’t
mention the range finders, but you and I know that some of us take
the range finder out to the ball, then walk back to choose a club.
This is fine if the speed of play is going smoothly; but if not,
then please take your clubs and Caddie out to your ball.
3) Whoever reaches their ball first
should hit, not who is farthest out.
4) Line up your put while others are
putting.
5) Mark your scores at the next
teeing area, not at the green. |
6) Once you’ve putted, continue putting
until you hole out. Now this is fine when playing a friendly round,
but in our SAWGA weekly tournament play, we may have to consult our
rules guru, Mary Lucas on this one.
7) If you are not
directly behind the group in front of you, you are slowing up the
course.
And how’s this for positive
reinforcement? Although it’s been some years since, and things may
have changed, at Kananaskis Golf Club in Alberta, Canada, the
following method was used to speed up play.
Golfers literally go to work when
they sign up to play there. Individuals clock in with a time card
slipped into a time clock when beginning their round, then again at
the turn, and a third time when completing their round of play.
Those who finish in regulation receive small medallions noting their
achievement for fast play. What’s that old saying again: Something
about dangling a carrot before the donkey? Whatever works…
Have you got some great ideas to
speed up play? If so, let your president know. We all enjoy golf,
but a five hour round begins to fray even the calmest of
dispositions. Remember, we play behind the group in front.
If a hole is open in front of you, it’s go,
go, go - you’re too slow!
Hit ‘em well, and maybe…a bit faster.
Jeanne Parsley
President 2008-2009 |
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