[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by GymJim

In my humble opinion "slow play" in The Villages (primarily on so-called Championship courses) is a self-inflicted wound caused primarily by the imposition of the unrealistic 8-minute tee time intervals and their (The Villages') time par calculations based on that theoretical place of play. I am not a mathematician, but anyone with a basic knowledge of Queuing Theory can figure out that each of 15 foursomes playing on a full, 18 hole course cannot sustain an 8 minute per hole pace no matter what. One, small bottleneck will disrupt every group behind it and, like in a traffic jam or at a stoplight, stopping and starting does not happen simultaneously - there is always a delay for each ensuing group. Also in my humble opinion, 4 decent golfers can walk 18 holes faster than 4 "elderly" Villagers can play while driving 2 to a cart. Remember how fast we played during COVID when 4 carts per foursome was allowed? I lived in the UK for many years, and they walk there rather than ride - yet most tee time intervals in Scotland are 10-12 minutes despite the faster pace of play. I'd imagine that the sweet spot to maximize enjoyment and profit (the real culprit here) is about an 11 minute tee time interval. I am also not an engineer, nor do I do time and motion studies, but my sense is that The Villages uses the 8 minute interval to squeeze as many people on the course as possible (maximize profits) and justifies it by 'thinking' that our over 55 crowd will make up for its collective lack of mobility/skill/rules awareness etc. by riding in a cart - which (to me) is a false assumption. Especially if there are two golfers to a cart and each one waits in the cart for the other to hit before proceeding to his ball. Still no excuse for ignorance and creeping along, but let's be honest Villagers are getting older and slower, not younger and faster. So, if enjoyment of the game for everyone was really a primary goal (remember that "Villages Lifestyle" you thought you bought?) then The Villages would use tee time intervals (for foursomes) more in line with the UK and most of the world. I am all for playing quickly, but dictating speed of play is like dictating morality - just does not work. Kind of reminds me of a sign I saw years ago at the 1st tee at Andrews Air Force Base (near DC) golf course that read: "You Will play in 4 hours!" That's an order. Bottom line: Villagers probably would not play any faster, but they would enjoy it more, if they were not being told they are too slow, as a result of being gauged against some unsustainable 8 minute per hole pace of play requirement. It's primarily the dictated pace of play that causes the perception of slow play. Loosen it up to 11-12 minute intervals and see how that works. Only problem with that is loss of profits - but who's counting?

You need to rethink your math. It’s not 8 minutes per hole because it’s 8 minute tee times. There will be 2 groups on n par 4’s and even 3 on par 5’s. If you look on the scorecard you can see they generally allow 17 minutes for a par 5, 15 for a 4 and 13 for a par 3. Even the PGA tour that leaves 10 minutes between twosomes don’t plan on a 180 minute (3 hour) round