50 mulligans might be a wee bit excessive :1rotfl:, but I know what you are saying and I agree with you :thumbup:

When my regular group wants to play fast, we use range balls. No hunting for balls, no going into back yards, etc.... Works great.

Or if a group behind is pressing, let them through. While they are taking their shots, borrow a couple of their clubs out of their bags. That will keep them busy for at least 20 mintues. Then you pass them as they are slowing up play

Or try stepping on their balls in the fairway as they pass through (golf balls that is).
Kidding above...not below:

I have also played 50 years, used to be very good, then I realized having fun and not keeping score is much more enjoyable. Oh yea, wear crummy clothes just to aggravate the self imaged so called professional hackers.

I admit I am.

so you steal range ball --- then take someones club from there bag - I would wrap a club around you head --- just kidding :) do you wish you were a so called professional hacker

Correct
 

We use to tell the players on our very high end golf course that the policy is to keep up with the person(s) ahead of you and not try to stay ahead of the person(s) behind you. The problem I see with TV golf course Embassador's or as we would say [Rangers] is that they are allegedly not trained properly. I can recall a round we just played and the Ambassador told us to move faster as the "2 some" behind us had caught up. Of course we had maintained our position by keeping up with the group ahead of us and because the schedule(s) allow for singles and 2 somes you can pretty much plan on being challenged. (It is interesting that a single actually does not have a position on the course.) The proper way to manage the course is to first note if there are open holes by the first group in the very front then to ask them to close the opening. And as they hopefully pick up speed to make sure the groups behind keep up with the groups ahead as the close up the holes.. Instead the typical Ambassador will note that a particular group is waiting and immediatley assume the group ahead must pick up their speed. That is NOT the solution if that group has stayed up with the ones ahead of them. The proper answer is to tell the Ambassador you are playing "right behind"
the group in front of you and that he/she should see what is holding up the total course..Unfortunately they will not understand this and continue to attack the wrong problem. That is the fault of the Golf Management for not providing the proper training of the Rangers. :ho:

I agree with this post, however we keep talking but nothing changes. We need to engage with golf management ( or higher). Anyone have suggestions for action--not just endless ventind?:blahblahblah:

Last week we were playing Bonita Pass. We were all backed up and literally had no-where to go while waiting for the "train" to move along. We pulled away from the green, but there were carts parked waiting ahead of us also The folks behind US began hitting balls toward us in an attempt to make us "move along" With no Ambassadors in sight, I walked back to the impatient bunch, and politely explained that "No-one could go anywhere as we were all literally parked behind each other in a train" That seemed to defuse the situation, and I believe they were shocked that someone (me) had the nerve to walk back and "explain". All done with a smile and pleasant attitude, and no further balls came our way. Remember, in only a few more weeks, the crowds will thin. Think positively :)

And we too were in a "train" situation. I believe everyone knew that. My question is, given that we could not move ahead, is it okay to hit mulligans and from whatever tee? I say why not but obviously the group behind us thought it was not okay.

I don't think it is appropriate to hit mulligans even if the course is playing slow. Once a group starts a hole, I think they need to play the hole without delay. Yes, this means you will probably get to the next tee before or just after the group in front tees off. But that, to me, is where you can stop, chat, take a few practice swings, etc., while still allowing the group behind to start play on the hole. Remember that, to the group behind you, you are the group that is preventing them from starting play. They have little idea what is going on in front of you. All they know is that play is slow and someone in front is playing multiple shots from the same spot.

Having said that, I hope the ambassador made it clear he/she understood you did not have any room to play faster. I'm not sure why they made multiple visits to your group except that the group behind was commenting on the mulligans taken.

As far as the tees used, if you can hit the ball far enough to reach the green, or appropriate landing area on a par 4, use the tees you want. Unfortunately, there are too many here that insist on playing tees that are not realistic on both executive and championship courses.

smoking and cell phones should be outlawed on the courses.
yesterday the ambassador informed us, that a group of men where complaining 3 groups behind us and he was telling all the groups including 2 in front of us to pick the game. look at the mess the smokers leave on the courses and tee boxes.

My two cents is no. Reason being is that when it does get backed up for the most part the group behind you is focused on what you in the group in front of them may be doing. This time of year I believe it is best to just move up and hit from the drop zone if you have an errant tee shot.

I don't agree that walkers always slow the game down on executive courses. I have been paired with walkers many times and I can't think of a single time that those of us driving had to wait for the walker. More often than not, it was we in the carts who slowed things down because we had to walk a long way from the cart path to hit our ball - darn slices.

The only time I can see this being a problem are the few courses that are laid out such that the green of one hole and the succeeding tee box are far apart (Silver Lake comes to mind as well as the long walk to the second par 4 on Churchill Downs).

Rules.Courtesy
 

It would be absolutely inappropriate to hit mulligans when waiting. It would be appropriate if there was a question if the first ball was lost. Regarding using "range balls" on most courses if a player is seen hitting a range ball on the course it is grounds to request the player to leave the course. :ho:

I agree that range balls shouldn't be removed from the range and used on the course. Perhaps the poster was referring to shag balls/old, scarred balls that weren't worth retrieving.

I'm so glad I don't play golf!