August 2024A Closer Look

1TitleHow to make your fun round of golf a fast round of golfBy Susan FornoffIt was the Fourth of July, and in the McMulligan household, that always means 18 holes. We got up early, donned our patriotic colors, and teed off at 7:10 a.m. on a local muni so we’d finish early enough to enjoy the festivities.Would you believe, our early-morning round took nearly five hours? We weren’t holding up the show, we were waiting. And we walked! What was taking so long for the few groups who got out ahead of us, most of them in carts and none of them competing for trophies or purses? They obviously needed some guidance!So I decided to survey Colorado golf leaders, local competitors and CGA friends for their best pace of play tips.What I got back was a deluge of suggestions, including a few long, unrestrained and passionate emails from golfers who had been waiting all their lives for someone to ask this question. Just joking, sort of. But clearly, I’d hit a nerve. There were so many tips and suggestions, the CGA is presenting them in two parts. In the September edition of CGA Monthly, we’ll get to competitive and league golf. This is the pace-of-play guide for newbies and fun golfers. Like those folks out in front of us on the Fourth of July.Start to implement these ideas – and share them with your mates. As Mr. McMulligan says, “Golf is fun. Waiting is not.”

Be ready to start on time. That means: Arrive at the course with time to check in, get loaded, make tees, balls and scorecard accessible, meet and greet your companions and – here’s a big one – select the right tees for your game. “Many courses have a chart or language on the scorecard recommending which tee box to play from, given handicap or average distance of a drive,” notes rules official Laura Robinson, formerly the executive director of the CWGA. If not, ask yourself if you can hit the green with a middle iron in regulation from the back tees. If you can’t, keep moving up a tee until you’ve given yourself that chance. Did you know there’s no rule prohibiting men from playing the most forward tees? As a short hitter, I like to look at the par-3 yardages and choose the tees that give me the best chance to land on those greens.

This one from the USGA: Choose alternate forms of the game that don’t require holing every ball, like Stableford and best-ball, or even play Doubles Golf, the CGA’s newest format. Here are the USGA’s other pace-of-play suggestions.

Newbies and fun golfers, no one is going to put you on the clock and penalize you, but you might be asked to skip a hole if you are not keeping up with the group in front of you. Rules official Karla Harding has a fun way of looking at that: “When you come through the door on a par-4, there should be someone on the dance floor.” In other words, when you’re teeing off you should see the group in front of you around or on the green. “If no one is on the hole when you get to the tee, simply say, ‘No one is on the dance floor,’ and everyone will know they need to pick up the pace.”

Remember this sign at Scotland’s Royal Dornoch, shared by Breckenridge’s Charlie Simpson, who has played in all 50 states and probably leads the CGA in courses played all over the world: “Your goal is to stay just behind the group you are following, not just to stay barely ahead of the group behind you.” That might be hard to do when admiring Royal Dornoch’s spectacular seaside scenery, but the Scots play 18 holes in less than four hours. Try it here in beautiful Colorado.

Tee time is NOT talk time. Of course, golf is a social game, especially when playing just for fun. The best times to talk are just after teeing off, on the hopefully long walk or ride to the next shot, and after finishing the hole, en route to the next tee. Most players prefer silence when they swing or putt, so unrestrained conversation is going to slow things down for the whole group.

If someone made a birdie on the previous hole, they should revel in that and have the honor of teeing off first on the next hole. Otherwise, players should step up to the tee whenever they’re ready.

Always play Ready Golf, which is capitalized here because it has become universally acclaimed. You’re in the fairway and you’re ready to hit, look around and make sure everyone else is safe, then GO. You’re around the green and you’re ready to play, look around and make sure everyone else is safe, GO. Even on the green, there is no rule in recreational golf that requires the player who is away to putt first.

Now that you’ve putted, go ahead and finish. This technique is known as continuous putting, which means, says Karen Carlson, handicap chair of LPGA Amateurs Northern Colorado, “Putt out instead of taking time to mark your ball again unless you are in someone's line.” Rules official Brad Wiesley says he thinks this is “so much more efficient than putting, marking, replacing and putting again that if everyone would do this, when possible, it would speed up play on the green a lot.”

Here’s one for golfers who play sometimes in leagues but sometimes recreationally: “If you’re not in competition, give putts,” suggests CGA board member Judy Maillis. Or go one better and don’t wait for someone to say, “That’s good.” You know when that 16-incher is good!

If you’re driving the cart, learn good cart strategy. Don’t: Drive your “cartner” to their ball and sit and wait until they’ve hit and gotten back in the cart to then go to your ball. Do: Drop off your cartner and drive to your ball, or leave the cart and walk to it – OMG, yes, “Walking is still OK in golf,” says Commonground’s Director of Golf, Ben Pennymon. Riders, your driver is not your chauffeur. Share efficient cart management and, says Judy Maillis, “Try to get in your 10,000 steps!”

Park or put down your clubs behind the green, not in front. Or, better yet, on some brilliantly designed courses, suggests ExperienceGolf president Elena King, “Park the cart in direction of next tee between the hole and next tee.” Whatever you do, you never want to have to walk back toward the group in front of you while they’re standing there watching with their hands on their hips.

Write your score down at the next tee. This gives you something to do besides talk while others are teeing off.

This one thing really bugs the players behind you when they see it. Nick Nosewicz, an elite amateur whose day job is running Lenny’s Golf, remembers as a kid going to the back of the cart after a great drive and fumbling around to put on his head cover before finally putting his club in the bag and taking his seat. One of his five golfing uncles told him, “Sit in the cart and when we get to the fairway you can put that on.” Now Nick is telling his 14-year-old niece that.

Walkers, you are not the Rolling Stones or some other traveling band. Unless you are all playing the same ball, tee off and scatter, taking the most direct route to your own ball.

Looking for your ball in the weeds? Lewis Harry, who as CGA Director of Rules and Competitions has observed hundreds of golf competitions, has this suggestion for recreational players: “The everyday/weekend player is taking too much time to look for a ball that won’t be found.” Rules set a three-minute limit. Even if you’re ignoring the other rules, follow that one. Says Mr. McMulligan, “Give up that precious pelota in the name of fast play.” Put another ball in play nearby and move on.

“Pick up and move when you reach net double bogey, your maximum hole score under the rules of the World Handicap System,” says CGA Chief Operating Officer Ashley Harrell. If you don’t have a handicap, consider 10 your maximum. And please sign up for CGA E-club to get your handicap started.

Forget Kevin Costner’s big scene in the movie Tin Cup. “For friendly play, I would say to pick up when it is no longer possible to hit a decent shot,” says Laura Robinson. “If you are in the rough and just can't get out, pick up! If you can't get over the pond/lake or a big gully, pick up!”

If you’re the group that’s waiting, get the course involved, suggests Scotti McCarthy, president of City Park Women Golfers. “If there is an extremely slow group somewhere along the way slowing everyone down, we call the course and hopefully they will send someone out to speed things up,” she says. City Park Men’s Club president Nate Kuberski says, “A couple forecaddies on each nine instead of cart rangers would be a good start.” If course staff comes by to talk to your group or help you catch up, cooperate. Here’s a USGA case study on Fossil Trace’s friendly player-assistant program.

A final note: Some survey responses said the problem is that many golfers do not care about pace of play. So, don’t be one of those golfers. Value time and aspire not to waste it. If your attitude is, “I paid my money, I can take as much time as I want,” you are disrespecting the golf course and the players behind you. Adjust that attitude to “I’ll play ready golf” and “Let’s keep up with the group in front of us,” those two universal tenets of golf pace of play, and you will be welcome to join – or play in front of – any foursome.--------Journalist Susan Fornoff has written about golf for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, ColoradoBiz Magazine and her own GottaGoGolf.com. She belongs to the Overland and Links at Highlands Ranch ladies’ clubs and ghost-writes as “Molly McMulligan,” the CGA’s on-course consultant on golf for fun. Email her at mollymcmulligan@gmail.com.She thanks these contributors to this report: Karen Carlson, Stefanie Ferguson, Karla Harding, Ashley Harrell, Lewis Harry, Elena King, Debbie Kolb, Nate Kuberski, Judy Maillis, Scotti McCarthy, Mr. McMulligan, Nick Nosewicz, Ben Pennymon, Vicki Ripp, Laura Robinson, Charlie Simpson, Trent Wearner, Brad and Cindy Wiesley, Greg WithCover & TOCWelcome MessageMember ZoneBMW AdRules Drop zonesOn the CoverJunior Golf 1Junior Golf 2CITYWIDE AdTravelInside the RopesSwing TipCommunity ImpactOutside the RopesColorado GolfA Closer LookSPIRIT of the GAMERMGCSA mowingVolunteer LeadershipGearFeatured Club