Mon Mar 15 2010

Slow Play - Who is in control?

We continue to read the endless amount of stories of players complaining about "slow play" at our golf facilities. Just have a look at some of the golf forums on sites like www.iseekgolf.com and www.ozgolf.net and you hear the same story over and over again. "We did not see a Marshall", "We called the pro shop to tell them about the group ahead of us, but they never came out to help", "the group ahead of us were beginners and were really slow". So who is to blame, the golfer or the facility?

The real issue is more a management issue and not as much a player issue. Yes, players do need to be educated on pace of play best practices and the need to keep up with the group ahead of them, but at the end of the day it is up to management to ensure that everyone has a respectable time during their round.

Pace must be controlled through a series of preemptive strategies - otherwise the players are managing the process, which is a potential disaster.

Most facilities do not have proper training of marshal staff, or have really thought of who is the best person to hire or put in the position of course marshall. What is the strategy or direction being given to one of the most important tasks you have to manage on a daily basis? The impact of slow play hurts us financially - through less players going around the course, poor service that eventuates in less people playing the course, and players not sticking around to have a drink or meal after the round because they have to hurry home.

In California, I managed facilities that were generating 100-120k in annual rounds. It was critical to proactively manage this number of players every day and most important from first groups out each morning. Here are some of the tools we used.

3 ways to improve your pace of play

1) Course set-up - Extend your Par 5's length as long as possible so people are not waiting for the green to clear before they hit, set Par 4's at 330-350 meters long, and make your Par 3's at 150-160 metre maximum so the majority of players can reach the green in one hit. Keep green speeds at 9-10 on the Stimpmeter. Lower your rough heights so majority of players can fully advance the ball. Put pin positions in their easiest positions on busy days.

2) Manage the process - Use a first tee starter on busy days to regulate the time between each group teeing off. Space the groups accordingly, if groups go off too quickly you risk them bottlenecking on a future hole, especially if you have a Par 3 early in the round. Use a more mature staff member for marshalling duties. Most players may not heed the warning of a young staff member. Ideally find someone who is very friendly and helpful to players, but also can be assertive when neccesary. Have a policy and procedure on how to identify and handle issues, and in extreme cases, how to kick someone off the course.

3) Educate players - Set the time expectation for players before they tee off and inform players of any unusual course conditions. If you are tracking a 5-hour round, let them know before they start. If their expectation is changed from thinking it is going to be a quick pace to a nominally slow pace, you could circumvent any potential blow ups.

To better understand where your issues exist, start out by tracking every group that tees off over the next four Saturdays. Start with first group off. Just have the first tee starter write down on a piece of paper what actual time they started, finished 9-holes, and then when they finished 18 holes. You most likely will see a couple of groups in the morning (many times the same players each week) that are creating the slow play for the rest of the day. The slowest group always sets the pace for all players behind them.

By Mike Orloff, Director- Golf Industry Central

Copyright Golf Industry Central  September 2008

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