Slow play has become a curse on many golf courses throughout the world and it has nothing to do with level or ability, or in that matter the difficulty of the golf course. For my mind it is down to two reasons, golfer error and tee times that are staggered to close together.
Golfer error is something that you as a golfer can change and they are simple changes to make, it is simply a case of being aware of what you are doing and applying a little common sense to the issue.
Top of the list is not being ready to play when it is your turn, there is absolutely no excuse for this type of error. When you approach your ball, you should be calculating the club you will need and be thinking about the best way to execute that shot, ready to play when it is your turn. It astounds me then number of golfers I see, reaching their ball and chatting to their playing partners as the other player is playing, not even realising that they have completed the shot and are now waiting on them to play. It is a simple case of being able to multitask and the change in the rules will do little to encourage players to concentrate more.
Second is the most annoying and perhaps the reason why I think buggies should be banned from golf courses, period, with the exception of those golfers that physically couldn´t walk a golf course. Buggies are a pain in the derrier….people drive off to search for a ball, before playing their shot, they drive off leaving the other player with out clubs and the worst of all (and this is true for some trolley users as well) they leave the buggy behind the ropes (no entry areas) and walk 50 yards to the green only to have to walk back when they have finally finished putting, causing the group behind to grow impatient and create a delay on the course that is easily avoidable, if only they used some common sense.
Finally, to finish my rant about slow play, professionals, yes, the professionals are the third reason why golf at an amateur level is slowing down. Amateur golfers wish to copy their favoured stars, they wander around the green surveying a putt of 6 feet from a host of different angles, to then not only miss the putt but not even get it close enough to the hole to finish with the next one. If you don´t understand why the professionals are doing it, don´t try to do it yourself. To be honest your original instinct is probably far more accurate than the final decision having surveyed the lie of the land from every conceivable angle.
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