Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Communicate With Your Players!

Just a little side note from the Goodwin Tournament.  Pace of play is a big, big issue.  I've been following college golf for years, and I've been convinced that the reason pros play so slowly is that nobody made them play faster as collegians.  Now, the expected finish time for each hole is right there on every player's scorecard.

When I was introduced to my group on the first tee, I told them, as advised, to pay attention to the pace of play guidelines, and if they ever saw me heading out down a fairway ahead of them, that would be a subtle clue that perhaps they were lagging behind the suggested pace.  On Sunday, the fifth tee was set up about thirty yards above and behind the fourth green.  Instead of going back to the tee, I headed up the fairway to spot their drives.  After they putted out on five, the first two players asked me if they were on pace.

Since they were the second group off the tee, there was virtually no chance they would be in trouble.  They were at the time, in fact, fourteen minutes ahead of their expected maximum pace.  It took me a moment to connect their question to what I had told them on the first tee.  I apologized to them for the unnecessary concern, and informed them that if I was going up to spot in the future I would let them know what I was doing.

Soooo... The moral of the story is....  Stick with, but remember, what you said.

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