If you think you need to take extra time to time to play league or competitive golf, think again: Your score might suffer! That’s because the CGA and many of Colorado’s competitive leagues want golfers to keep up with the groups in front of them and have instituted stroke penalty systems for laggards.
League and competitive players hopefully know the basic pace-of-play tactics addressed in Part I last month for recreational golfers who do not have to play strictly by the Rules of Golf. But did you know that some of the recent changes to the Rules, such as reducing lost ball search limits from five minutes to three, came about because the USGA wanted to accelerate the pace of play across the board? And did you know that adhering to some traditional etiquette, such as lingering on the green while everyone else putts out, is now discouraged when a group has fallen behind?
In the Rules of Golf, Rule 5.6 declares: “A round of golf is meant to be played at a prompt pace. Each player should recognize that his or her pace of play is likely to affect how long it will take other players to play their rounds, including both those in the player’s own group and those in following groups… To encourage and enforce prompt play, the Committee should adopt a Local Rule setting a Pace of Play Policy.”
CGA policy: Play too slowly and you could receive a one-shot penalty, then a two-shot penalty, then disqualification.
Of course, you’re not a slow player, are you? Or, are you? At a recent local event, the tournament director asked the participants, “How many of you are slow players?” No one raised a hand. Then he asked, “How many of you know a slow player?” Everyone raised a hand!
“In tournament play, pace of play is always difficult,” says Greg With, who chairs the CGA’s Rules Committee. “Players seemingly agonize over every shot, take forever and aren’t really concerned that they’re holding up the field.”
Repeat after Mr. McMulligan: “Golf is fun. Waiting is not.” And see if you can find a morsel or two for thought among these bits of advice formulated specifically for competitive and tournament players.
1. Learn the Rules of Golf, so that you don’t have to waste time consulting with your fellow competitors about sprinkler heads and penalty areas. This does not have to be boring! The CGA has a library full of entertaining rules videos, and rules topics frequently come up on The Spirit of the Game podcast.
2. Understand The CGA Timing Pace of Play Policy and expectations for tournament golf, including what measures it takes when a group falls out of position and precisely how many seconds it gives a player to make a shot. Your club or league may not have something this detailed in place yet, but it is trending and more and more tournament directors are enforcing some sort of pace of play.
3. Play Ready Golf. As described in Part I, this means that when you get to your ball and are ready to play, make sure no one is hitting or in the way and then fire. If you are not comfortable with the concept in a tournament, ask the player who is away, “OK if I hit?” Most will be happy to have an extra minute. And, no, you are not breaking the rules in a stroke play competition; only in match play are players required to play first when away.
4. Have a pal time your pre-shot routine to find out if you’re part of the problem. Lewis Harry, the CGA’s Director of Rules and Competitions, shared these parameters: At the tee, once a player has watched their shot and moved out of the way, start the timer for the next player; on approaches, when the green or landing area is clear and the player is at their ball, start the timer; on and around the greens, when it is a player’s turn to play and all is clear, start the timer. If you’re taking more than 40 seconds or even almost all of that before you play, become part of the solution by knocking off 10 seconds or so and sticking to that.
5. Set that timer for 3 minutes when the search for a player’s ball begins. “The change from five-minute search times was done in 2019, but players still stretch that 3 minutes out far too long,” says Lewis Harry. And, with such a short window now to find lost balls, it would be most kind for any player who can quickly get back to their own ball to join the search party.
6. Watch the shots of others in your group so you can help find those maybe-lost balls. This is selfishly good sportsmanship: By helping the foursome keep pace, you’re staving off the stress of being timed and feeling rushed.
7. Put another ball in play whenever your shot might be lost or out of bounds. Just make sure to declare it “provisional” if you hope to find the first ball,
8. Recognize that if a ball has been lost, your group is now behind, says Steve Rooney, vice-president of the Wellshire Men’s Club. Now it’s time to do the split. “No. 1 solution to close the gap: Once you have putted out, walk to the next tee and tee off,” he says. “Everyone in the group needs to do the same as they putt out.” There’s no rule in golf that everyone has to stand around on the green until the entire foursome putts out. Quietly, inconspicuously, get moving.
8. Taking a caddie – an option in many CGA tournaments – does not exempt players from pace-of-play rules. Here’s a thought: At home, when the network telecast cuts to Bryson DeChambeau, Jordan Spieth or Lexi Thompson launching into pre-shot discussions with their caddies, go water the lawn or clean up the kitchen. Don’t listen to them and do not under any circumstances try to emulate them, unless you too are playing golf for a living.
9. Be realistic about your game. “If you use a laser range finder, please use it quickly and don’t dawdle at the back of your cart trying to decide which club to use. And do you really need to shoot the pin before a chip?” says CGA board member Judy Maillis. By the way, she adds: “How many practice swings do you really need?” Also, this reminder from CGA Director of Finance Debbie Kolb, holder of much championship glassware: “Take the clubs you anticipate you might need. Meaning, when you’re chipping over a bunker and happen to land in the bunker, have the sand wedge in your possession.” For higher handicappers, who are encouraged to play in many CGA events, that is not pessimism but realism.
10. If you’ve ever had to wait and watch while someone did this, you will understand the pleas from Vicki Ripp, Devil’s Thumb Ladies Club: “Please, if your ball is where you cannot get to with your cart, take your measuring device AND a few clubs. Please don’t walk up, measure, then have to go back to the cart to get a club!”
11. Negotiate stick-in/stick-out preferences early. Yes, keeping the flagstick in the hole moves the game along faster, but many tournament players prefer to take it out, at least sometimes, while others would like it always in. It is only in match play that rules require the player who is farthest from the hole to putt first; in stroke play, your foursome can order things up more practically so you’re not taking out the stick, putting it back, taking it out and putting it back.
12. Proceed to the next tee before recording scores. I thought everyone knew this by the time they got into competitions, but a couple recent tournaments proved me wrong. Most clubs are now using Golf Genius electronic scoring with paper scorecard backups, so players may need a little more time to get the scoring right. Don’t sit there next to the green holding up the group behind you with your calculations.
13. By no means should you feel you have to rush to play 18 holes in four hours. Think of pace of play as a collective effort. Says Karen Carlson, handicap chair of LPGA Amateurs Northern Colorado, “If everyone would play efficient golf and take just three minutes less per hole, that is 27 minutes less for 9 holes and 54 minutes less for an 18-hole round!”
14. Finally, book a flight to Edinburgh and go see how the Scots get around a golf course – walking, competing and following the rules. Many a 75-year-old left us in the dust, and we’re fast. Or, so we thought.
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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 our two-part “While We’re Young” series on pace of play: 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, Steve Rooney, Charlie Simpson, Trent Wearner, Brad and Cindy Wiesley, Greg With