inexcusable slow play
 

tried to play Havana today. Without exageration it took us an hour and a half to play 4 holes. This is nonsense. Someone has to be able to move groups along without fear of losing their job. Why have ambassadors if they are not allowed to do their job? If ambassadors are not allowed to do their job then how about a timing system. If a group doesn't finish within 18 minutes of the expected time give them half their money back and tell them to try again tomorrow. Ther are many reasons for slow play all preventable. But there are some of you out there who do not belong on the big courses,you are not skillful enough. If you are constantly writing double digits for scores you are ruining it for a lot of people. Pick up after a double par please,I beg you.

Oh now you've done it.

Get ready for those people who say "Hey, we're all retired, what's the hurry?".

I don't agree with them and you can search this site for previous threads about this subject. Each score card has a time requirement listed. The ambassadors need to make people adhere to it or get off.

Anyone playing a championship course should have played long enough to understand the pace of play. I HATE slow play.

Ambassadors were all over us the other day for being 1 minute behind......give me a break. Obviously they are not all given the same job description.

Slow Play
 

Slow play on most courses outside TV could get you kicked off the course. Played Palmer's today it was steady play. I find biggest offenders on executive courses. Why????? I am afraid it is only going to get worse as the built out proceeds, there are many more renters and Lifestyle people crowding the courses. Suspect population with renters well remain 80,000 plus all year

I was told by an ex ambassador that he was fired after somebody complaining about him telling them to get a move on ............. thats possibly the reason ambassadors don't do a great deal about slow play!:shocked:

If ambassadors are not allowed to do their job why have them? I also notice the scorecards have hole times on them for people to try to follow so it should be fairly easy to i.d. the slow players,give them a polite warning to pick up the pace and if they continue their selfish ways ask them to leave and get a 9 hole refund. If this issue is not addressed it will only get worse as more people play. My group simply went in and got a full refund and will use it tomorrow at another course.As I said earlier slow play can be prevented with proper supervision and a supervisor with a backbone.

I don't play but can't help wonder what ever happened to signaling the next group to pass through? Is it against the rules here to do that? I only played many years ago, a few times and have done exactly that when we held up others. It was not only polite to do so, but it taught me just how bad a golfer I was hen wwatching how far others could drive the ball. ;)

inexcusable pace of play
 

If a group is falling behind the pace of play, letting a group play through will do nothing to speed up the offending group. The backup will continue if that group continues to take 20 minutes plus to play a hole. The ambassadors can only do so much (unfortunately). Playing at Lopez and Glenview many times the past few weeks (because the course conditions are excellent) the pace of play has been right on track. I can't imagine what the pace of play has been on the executive courses during the seasonal renter/owner months.

We all feel your pain....
 

In my experience Havana is part of the issue. Most of my experiences playing golf here on the 18 holers are within the allocated time or better. I have had two awful rounds this year for pace, both were at Havana. I started asking other clubs about pace of play, almost always Havana comes up first. Either their ambassadors are not doing their job (or do not know how to do their job) or management has handcuffed them. In my experience, this does not happen at Glenview as an example.

The last time I played Havana I played Hemingway to Kilimanjaro. The front 9 took 2 hours and 25+ minutes. I got to the back 9 and and the 11:52/12:00 groups were waiting as we were the last ones from the AM wave. I was standing on number one at Kilimanjaro and no one was on 4 or 5 and I could not see 6.... NO ONE! I saw an ambassador, I asked him what happens for slow play, he said he tells the group, if they will not move he asks management to help.

I mentioned how bad the front side was, he said I wonder why, this side is on time. It took all of my restraint not to "educate him", but I simply mentioned that there are two holes open ahead of us. Off he went, but this is WAY too late..... this had to be done when they were one hole behind on number 5 on the front

unbelievable...

This is a situation where ONE group affected the enjoyment of so many others. I really believe in this case the ambassadors on staff simply did not know how to manage the course.....

Slow play is usually a matter of not understanding the concept of playing 'ready golf' and not understanding golf cart etiquette not the skill of the person playing. I have a high handicap, but was taught early on the importance of several simple considerations that save time especially if there are people behind you:
Never spend a lot of time looking for a lost ball.
Spend the time getting to your ball thinking about how you are going to hit the next shot and what club you are going to use.
Take one practice swing.
If you and your partner are on opposite sides of the course, let your partner drop you off, take a couple of clubs with you if you are not sure what you will need and walk to your ball after you have hit - don't wait to be picked up.
Always park your cart on the side of the green closest to the next tee.
Set a limit to the number of strokes/hole and pick up after that. My current club has a suggested limit based upon handicap. The better the player the lower the limit.
I know there are other suggestions, but these are the ones that come to mind.

Did MY husband teach you to play golf?:a040::coolsmiley:

Those are the tips I was given and try to use.

Suggestion
 

How about instead of berating the ambassadors, your entire group(s) get with the head pro at the championship courses and voice your concerns? They are the ones in charge...not the ambassadors. (And, no, I am not an ambassador or married to one.) Any issues where we came from if the ambassadors had a problem, didn't do their job, or whatever were always addressed by the pro. He was even seen out on the course lots of times, especially on the really crowded days. Have you ever seen one of the pros out on the courses here?

Golfers don't have to be low handicappers to play at a decent pace, either. Some of the slowest players I have ever had the misfortune to play with were single digit handicappers. There are many ways to maintain a decent pace such as ready golf, scoring at the next hole, putting on head covers in transit, not doing lots of practice swings, taking forever lining up putts, finishing conversations later, pick up (as suggested), even do gimmee putts when not in a stroke play tournament. Taylor11947 nailed it.

I don't like slow play, but I don't think golf is a contest to see who can get around the course the fastest, either. I sure don't like being pushed by the group behind when we're waiting on every hole and there are some golfers who do exactly that.

Exactly.