Slow play – is the player or golf course at fault?

When leading figures at the R&A describe slow play as ‘a cancer’ in golf’, you can be assured that it is an issue taken very seriously by those in power at Auld Grey Toun. The pace of play is normally focussed upon the player, but as golf course architects we have an equal hand in the great ‘pace’ debate.

Scenario

Hole number one is a left to right dogleg measuring 340 yards. The drive is slightly uphill and the landing zone is blind from the tee. To the right of the hole is heavy rough. With the prevailing breeze the hole is drivable across the angle of the dogleg.

Hole number two is a 495-yard par five played from an elevated tee to a downhill fairway that cambers right to left. A water feature is located in front of the raised green, which is encased, by a number of mature oak trees.

Hole number three was a short but pretty 115-yeard par three hole until the committee decided the course needed more length and increased the hole to 195 yards long. The walk to the new tee is a full 100 yards back up the second fairway. The third green size is relatively small with heavy rough and undergrowth to the right hand side.

The golf club is embracing a more environmental approach to their maintenance programme allowing native roughs to be more abundant throughout the course, and there has been little tree work over the past few years.

Speed of Play

The above scenario could be the opening three holes anywhere in the world, but as a combination of holes together, with the set-up described, they collectively become a prime recipe for slow play. Blind tee shots slow up play – fact. Drivable par fours with heavy rough on the slice side can cause speed of play issues – fact. Par fives that can be reached in two shots can slow things down – fact. Water hazards in front of greens that are surrounded by trees can slow play as the golfer clubs up to avoid the hazard and ends up over the green into the foliage.

The Player

We are all aware of the time it can take a beginner to become proficient enough to take their first steps on to the golf course. As they patiently go through the grip, address and set-up process in preparation to hit the golf ball, they are already taking too much time for the other golfers waiting behind them. It is a difficult transition from practice ground to golf course.

Herein lies the question: is slow play created by the golfer’s pre-shot routines and general oblivion to who or what is going on around them, or is the style, set-up and difficulty of the golf course that once-a-week golfers have play on that causes problems? I contend that the latter is just as much a culprit as the former.

Design factors

The ever increasing desire to lengthen holes as a result of better golf equipment or the misguided belief that longer holes means a better golf course has resulted in many clubs stretching certain holes right up to the course boundary. The knock-on effect is that in some cases, players have to walk backwards to then turn around to play forwards … all wasting valuable minutes of time.

There are schools of thought that highlight the abundance of bunkers on a course as a contributory factor to slow play. My personal research has shown that this theory is not correct and that sand bunker shots are, in fact, the quickest to play, normally requiring the same club and same technique.

One design factor that does slow play is undulating greens that are cut to give maximum green speed. Since the 1970s, green speeds have increased on average from 6.5 on the stimpmeter to 10.5. At these types of speeds it makes it increasingly difficult to lay putts ‘dead’ to the hole resulting in more putts coming up short or past the hole followed by the player marking the ball, replacing it, reading and stroking the ball for a second or third time – all increasing the speed of play of that player or group.

Greenkeeping

Greenkeepers are being encouraged to use less water on the golf course and to allow certain areas to become more natural. Less wall-to-wall mowing regimes are now favoured with natural grasses allowed to flourish without regular control. Restricted use of pesticides and chemicals is expected these days, with more and more ‘regulations’ coming into force, moving golf courses back to firmer, fast-running and natural conditions. All very commendable directives, but I predict the net result will be even slower rounds of golf.

The role of the golf course architect

I have explained a number of golf course design and maintenance factors that can contribute to slow play. As golf course architects we have a key role in speeding up the game.

If asked to redesign a course, we should audit the holes to see if there are any which would benefit from a design ‘tweak’, or a different greenkeeping approach.

In challenging economic times we need to eliminate any negatives that may be linked to our course. Taking over five hours to play 18 holes is not going to encourage more golfers into the game.

It is incumbent on us to play our part in speeding up the game, through our skill and expertise in the ways we design each course.

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