slow play
“INSIDE” – TIPS FOR THE CLUB/COURSE
Mike Orloff
Communicate constantly with golf staff
throughout the day to help identify trouble
spots quickly and to make sure groups are
properly paired.
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We continue to read and hear the endless
stories of players complaining about “slow
play” at our facilities. “We did not see a
Marshall” is a common complaint, along with
“we called the pro shop to tell them about
the slow group ahead of us, but they never
came out to help”, or “the group ahead of us
were beginners and were really slow,” etc.
Manage the expectation
Educate players - Set the time expectation
for players before they tee off and inform
players of any unusual course conditions.
If you are tracking a 5-hour round for that
particular day, let them know before they
start. If their expectation is changed before
they tee off, you could circumvent any
potential blow-ups.
Player perception - many players don’t
know exactly what time they teed off. In
many cases they went off later than the
tee time booked, which may result in them
thinking it took longer than it actually did.
Write the start time on a card and give it to
each group.
So who is to blame, the golfer or the
facility?
In most cases, this is a management issue
more than a player issue. At the end of the
day it is up to management to ensure that
everyone has a respectable pace during their
golf round.
The strategy lies in three key areas:
education of golfers and staff, management
of golfers, and general course set-up.
The two concepts that you must also fully
understand to properly manage this issue are
Pace and Flow.
Pace basically is the measurement of time it
takes you to play your round. I.e. “it took you
four hours to play”. Pace issues are primarily
caused due to lack of player education and
improper course setup.
Flow has to do with the consistency of the
time it took to play. I.e. it took you four hours
to play, but with delays due to a group ahead
of you. Flow issues are primarily caused by
improper course setup and overall lack of
management of the process.
It’s critical to proactively manage a large
number of players, most importantly starting
with the first groups out each morning.
Envisage the 18-hole round like two spinning
wheels, with each nine being a separate
wheel. Try to get the early groups to get the
front wheel spinning at a great pace, which
ultimately will get the second wheel spinning
at a greater pace. One group can slow the
pace of either wheel, so the quicker you
identify this group, the better you will keep
the wheels spinning.
Here are some stra ѕ