[Photo: Glyn Kirk]
Last week, a viral image of Sleepy Hollow Country Club’s “Pace of Play Offenses” sheet got golfers talking. We covered it right here and also sought your responses via our Facebook and X (Twitter) accounts.
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I’d consider myself a fast-ish player. I’ve played the game for 20 years and caddied for 15 of those. I’m keenly aware of how to keep it moving. But the main crux of my argument is that there is nothing wrong with wanting to play at a leisurely pace, and leisurely does not equal slow. Leisurely is defined as “unhurried” or “relaxed”, which is sort of the idea of playing golf. Four hours of escaping from the real world and locking in. But the culture around golf, particularly at private clubs, has begun to mirror our everyday lives. Get this thing done as fast as possible so we can move on to the next thing.
That brings us to Sleepy Hollow’s “expected” pace of four hours, flat, which is perfectly fair. To be honest, it seems a little lax. At most private courses, three hours and 45 minutes is the standard for a walking foursome, and there is no real reason it should take over four. But two groups on the “shame list” clocked in at four hours and 12 minutes and four hours and 16 minutes. Is that really that excessive?
Based on some feedback I received, not only from easily enraged social-media addicts, but people I actually know, is that it is excessive. “How about you’re playing with some guys who are terrible, play slow and won’t shut up? Then four hours is way too long,” wrote a good family friend who belongs to the same club as my dad. “A round should never take more than four hours at a club.”
Ahh, yes, circumstances. We can play that game all day, but that game doesn’t fit into a two-minute video. I of course agree that a round at a private club should not take more than four hours, but s–t happens. People search for lost balls a little too long. Groups stop at the halfway house and chat for four or five minutes while holding no one up behind them (or letting them through!). Some players actually want to make the five-footer for par in case they have that same putt in an upcoming competition, as opposed to having it given to them while knowing full well they could have missed it. It’s OK to grind. It’s OK for shots to matter. Any or all of these situations could lead to a round taking just a shade longer than four hours. Should that now be worn as a scarlet letter that brands you as slow? Methinks not.
Of course, these “shame” lists are any private clubs’ prerogative. But we’ve got it all backwards. Pace of play shame lists should be a thing at public courses, where the expected pace is usually four hours and 30 minutes, though the standard is more like five. And that’s being generous! Many of you reading this probably have lived the experience of waiting on every tee at a public track. Of arriving at a par 3 to see a group putting out, a group standing on the tee, and another group in their carts behind them. Those six-hour-plus experiences are absolute nightmares and can make you never want to play the game again. That is absolutely not what I am advocating for.
But the sport is supposed to be an enjoyable respite, not a three-hour sprint to get back to the office. Yes, we all have extremely busy lives and obligations and families. Since having a child, my number of rounds have certainly dwindled, but that has led me to say yes only to special invitations and to truly enjoy those days when they come. And by truly enjoy, I mean a nearly four-hour round with a beverage afterwards. Does that make me a bad father? I personally don’t think so. Between the speed golf routine and everybody being on their phone all round, I often wonder if some people even want to be out there.
In an ideal world, three hours and 45 minutes to four hours and 10 minutes is the perfect fast-to-leisurely window we should all strive for, and I have zero problem shaming anyone who veers into four-hours-and-30-minutes territory. Anything in less than four hours and 15 minutes is good by me, though. Take your time over that birdie putt. Wait for the green to clear on that par 5 you hit in two once in your past 20 tries. Stop at the halfway house and ponder over the hotdog or chicken salad decision. The real world will still be there when you get back, I promise.
