PACE OF PLAY

 

The latest Slow Play Standings are here.

 

Pace of play has once again become a topic with respect to our expanded field tournaments.  This is problematic for our club because:

 

  1. To run tournaments with over 100 members, volunteers are required to arrive at the course around 7:15am on the morning of the event, and the final groups have been finishing after 6pm.  Wrap-up and equipment return results in volunteers at the course until nearly 7pm.  That’s a long day for administration of a tournament.
  2. We are slowing the public golfers who tee off behind our tournament and risking that some groups with the expectation of completing 18 holes will not finish before dark.  LA Golf is particularly focused on pace-of-play, and we don’t want our club to become a focus for them.

 

The Board of Directors has been reviewing the problem and we have concluded that our extended tournament finishes are a result of many challenges, but most importantly:

 

  1. Some groups in early and middle tee assignments are playing slow during their round, effectively compressing the groups behind them.  Even if these groups can regain position, the resulting compression behind them cannot be relieved in in time for our tournament to be completed within our stated goal of 4:45.
  2. Some groups have played slow through to the finish of their round.  We have observed 2-3 groups in nearly every tournament finishing more than 16 minutes behind the group immediately in front, and on occasion some groups have finished over 20 minutes behind the group immediately in front.

 

To address this problem, we are going to institute some additional practices to focus all Members on the importance of maintaining pace-of-play throughout the entire round.  Specifically:

 

  1. Board Members will observe groups throughout the tournament.  If a group is determined to be out of position by more than one hole, then points will be assessed to all Members of the group.  An example of out of position by more than one hole would be if a group was not at the tee for their next hole by the time the group immediately in front has cleared the green (not including par 3 holes).  If notified by a Board Member that your group is out of position before reaching the 16th hole, you must regain your position by the 18th hole or you can be assessed additional slow play points (see #2).
  2. A group which finishes 17 minutes or more behind the group immediately in fron will be assessed one point for all golfers in the group. Additional points may be assessed for groups which finish >20 minutes behind the group immediately in front.
  3. Points will be accumulated and published in tournament results and on the GPGC website so that Members have insight into their assessment(s).

 

We expect that many Members will accumulate a few pace-of-play points throughout the season, especially since there are legitimate reasons that a group may be out of position either during, or at the end of a tournament.  The points system is intended to track and document habitually slow golfers.  By accumulating points across multiple tournaments we expect that we can identify golfers who are playing slow as a regular practice as they will accumulate points in multiple events and thereby progress to the top of the “leaderboard”.

 

If individual Members are identified as habitual slow golfers, they will be notified by the Board of Directors and counseled on opportunities to speed-up their pace-of-play.  We are hopeful that actions beyond counseling (e.g. penalties or suspensions) WILL NOT be required.