[Indydealmaker]

Originally Posted by NJblue

It seems like there are two potentially contradictory "rules" to maintain pace of play. One says to keep up with the foursome ahead of you. The other says to pick up after double par. Suppose your group consists of four people who generally double bogey and the group ahead of you are scratch golfers. By definition, your group will be taking a lot more strokes (i.e., time) than the group ahead of you - even if none of your group ever reaches double par. In order to keep up with the group ahead, your group would have to pick up after reaching par, which might be even before reaching the green. What fun would that be?

On the other hand, if your group follows the "double par" rule, the group ahead will open a gap of several holes because of their proficiency. It seems unfair for the ambassadors to chastise you for slow play only because those ahead of you are way ahead of pace.

There is only one TRUE rule. Play at a pace at or better than the guideline for that course. If you do that it does not matter how far ahead the group in front of you manages to be. They could be Tiger and three of his buddies.