16 Tips to Speed up Play on the Golf Course

16 Tips to Speed Up Play It’s no secret, a round of golf takes up a fairly decent amount of time. We want everyone to be off the course in an acceptable amount of time, so in order to help with this please review the following and pass it along to those in your group who might need a little pre-round prod!

Here are 16 Tips to Speed up Play:

1. Be early for your tee time. Proper pace of play begins with teeing off at the appointed time. Allow time for unloading your equipment, putting on your golf shoes, any desired practice or warm-up, purchasing any refreshments or balls and driving your cart to the first tee. 2. “Tee It Forward” unless you are consistently able to reach greens in regulation from the back tees. In other words, play from a set of tees that is comfortable for you – one where you are more likely to hit lofted irons into greens instead of hybrids or fairway woods. It is acceptable for players in the same group to play from different tees. 3. Be helpful to others in your group. Follow the flight of all tee shots, not just your own. Once in the fairway, help others look for their ball if you already know the location of yours. Volunteer to fill in a divot or rake a bunker for another player if needed. Be ready to attend the flagstick for others. 4. Plan your shot while walking to your ball or while others are playing. Carry extra tees, ball markers and an extra ball in your pockets so you never have to return to your bag to find one when needed. 5. Line up your putt when others are putting and be ready to play when it is your turn. 6. Play ready golf first on the tee hits, not first in the hole! 7. Walk directly to your golf ball; don’t follow others unless assisting in search. 8. When two players are riding in a cart, drive the cart to the first ball and drop off the first player with his choice of several clubs. The second player should proceed in the cart to his ball. After the first player hits his stroke, he should begin walking toward the cart as the second golfer is playing. 9. Don’t step off or measure yardage for every single golf shot, develop an “eye” for distance. 10. Be efficient with your pre-shot routine. Take only one practice swing. 11. Play a provisional ball if you think the original might be lost, outside a water hazard or out of bounds. 12. When hitting a shot from the bunker, make sure you put the rake next to you. That way you’ll be ready to rake right after you nestle your shot next to the cup. 13. Park the cart at greenside as near as possible to where you expect to exit the green after holing out or if walking leave your clubs on the side of the putting green towards to next tee. This avoids backtracking. 14. Exit putting green promptly after holing out. Wait until you’re on the next tee to start writing down scores. 15. Don’t ask your playing partners to help you search for a lost ball – unless you are absolutely certain there is time for them to do so (e.g., there is no group behind waiting). If the course is crowded, your partners should continue moving forward, not slow things down further by stopping to help your search. 16. Let them play through: If the group behind you is faster, it’s okay to let them play through. Finish your hole and then let them tee off ahead of you. It’s not a sign of weakness. We’ll see you out here! In 4 hours or less.]]>