Pace of play on the golf course is one of the biggest problems golfers of all ages and levels face on a daily basis. Whether it a municipal city course or an exclusive country club, finding ways to speed up a round of golf should be on the forefront of every golfers mind.
Yesterday I started a 7-part series where I am sharing my own personal ideas on the best ways to speed up the pace of play on the golf course. With the first idea, I discussed how knowing your golf ability and not trying to be a superhero can save many valuable minutes over the course of 18 holes. There’s no need to wait for the green to clear on a par-5 when you’re chances of getting home in two is a slim 1-in-100. Lay-up and use a more manageable club and you’ll likely make more pars.
With today’s idea, I’d like to share one of the most simplest ways to save good time on the golf course.
If Tiger Woods bogeyed a hole while his playing partners both made par, Tiger would typically tee off last on the next hole. In reality, if Tiger was so pissed and just didn’t care, he could certainly go tee off first if he was ready before his playing partners.
There is no rule in golf that says in stroke play you have to play in a certain order. I repeat. There is no rule in golf that says you have to play first if you made birdie and your partners made bogey.
The order of play in golf is more of an etiquette thing than anything else. While I believe in respecting the etiquette of golf, when you are playing with your buddies during a hungover Saturday round, there is no reason why you should have to wait for your friend to dig through his golf bag and find his golf tees while the other three players wait for him to get situated.
If you are ready to tee off and your playing partners are not, then tee it up and hit. I understand that some players are sticklers for things like this. Believe me I have played with them. But it should be discussed and agreed upon before you hit the first tee. If these are regular golfing buddies, then you should only have to address it once and every round after should be just an unwritten rule between your group.
This goes for all shots on the golf course. If you are ready to hit your second shot and your playing partner is still looking for his golf ball in the trees, go ahead and hit even if you are not away. Believe me when I say it’s okay and nobody will look down upon your golf game, especially if you are playing a good paced round of golf.
So playing ready golf is okay. Sure it may be poor etiquette during a competitive high school or amateur round, it’s okay to do while playing with your buddies on the weekend.
Try is sometime. I guarantee it will speed up your round and saving 15 minutes over the course of 18 holes is quite a bit of help.
What do you think? Let us know on Twitter @Front9Back9 or leave your thoughts below.
[…] But let’s get back to the series I started back on Tuesday. For a quick recap, the first day I laid out how knowing your golf ability and playing within your means is a great way to start helping speed up play. Yesterday, I outlined the easiest of all the ways to improve pace of play, which is play ready golf. […]