Little causes more clubhouse dissent than traffic jams on the course. Should your club take active steps to deal with it? We’ve got some best-practice advice
This article is part of GCMA Insights – topical content for golf industry professionals, discussing the things that matter to those who work in golf clubs.
It’s a six-mile walk around a course that’s often 100 acres in size. A round of golf just takes time.
But with pressures on the clock, whether that’s from family life, work commitments, or just a general sense of being time poor, we all want to make that round as efficient as possible.
There is little that causes more chuntering in the clubhouse than the perception that a round is slow. Sometimes, a traffic jam just can’t be helped. Maybe there was a group that got themselves into difficulty, maybe it was a day when tee times were just very busy.
There are things a golf club can do to ease the tension where round times are becoming excessive. These include reducing group sizes, bringing in starter’s gaps, or increasing the length of time between tees.
The R&A recommends when play is in three-balls, starting intervals should be at least 10 minutes – with 11 or 12 minutes considered for fourballs.
Clubs can also consider changing their course set-up, such as reducing the speed of greens or cutting the thickness of the rough to make play more manageable.
Another way is to think about bringing in a pace of play policy.
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What should a pace of play policy look like?
If this feels like an open question, there are some recommendations within the committee procedures section in the Official Guide to the Rules of Golf.
How a pace of play policy looks is determined by the resources available to a club. Some will be able to utilise multiple rangers and deal with players on a group-by-group basis.
Those without such staff resources may be limited to asking groups to keep up with those in front, or expecting them to complete their round within a certain time frame.
The enforcement of such a policy is “usually best handled through disciplinary measures”, says a section on pace of play policies in the Official Guide.
“Such sanctions are separate from the Rules of Golf and it is a matter for the Committee to write and interpret any such sanctions”.
How can a pace of play policy be enforced?
A pace of play policy can be established and enforced by Local Rules which can give committees a number of options.
They can establish a maximum time for all or part of a round, they can allow a set length of time for holes and even shots at facilities where there are enough referees to enforce it, and they can even modify penalty structures for pace of play.
Enforcing these can often take courage in a competition environment – have you ever met a golfer who believes themselves to be a slow player? – but they can be effective in getting players round the course.
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Model Local Rule K-1, which allows committees to set down a maximum round time, is flexible enough that it can be varied depending on the numbers of groups and the format being played.
“If a group exceeds the prescribed time limit and is out of position on the course, each player in the group is subject to penalty”.
In the suggested Local Rule, that penalty is one stroke.
The key is for a pace of play policy, and any requirements or Local Rules, to be clearly communicated to golfers so they understand what is expected of them.
And, of course, for ‘incidents’ to be considered on a case-by-case basis. A particularly effective example of this has been England Golf’s checkpoint policy at some of its championship events.
This article is part of GCMA Insights – topical content for golf industry professionals, discussing the things that matter to those who work in golf clubs.
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