Should we let them play through?

The Game Room
1

This is kind of poll-ish, but I wanted to get some opinions on this.

Twice this summer I have went to play golf solo and been put in a group of other golfers, and then encountered this problem. I’m about a 12 handicap, so I can move around the course at a decent clip: slightly over half of my drives are in the fairway, I lose maybe one ball a round, I average hitting about 40% of the greens – so I feel I’m pretty good about hitting the ball, walking/driving up to hit, hitting again, etc. without a lot of hunting in the rough or taking ten practice swings.

The two groups I’m referring to were made of up guys who were struggling to break 100. I have no problem playing with weekend duffers, that isn’t the issue. (I’d rather play with a friendly hacker than an uber-serious club pro, anyway.) But let’s be honest, guys who struggle to break 100 play slow.

In both of these rounds, I felt as though we were holding up the group behind us. Both times, I suggested that we let the group behind us play through. Both times, the others in the group rejected the idea. The scenarios were slightly different.

  1. A threesome plus me, all driving carts. We were consistently 1 hole to 1/2 a hole behind. (By half a hole, I mean the group ahead of us would be putting on a par four as we were just teeing off.) The group behind us was a foursome of probably 15 handicaps – they had a few errant shots, but were fast enough that they always had to wait on the tee for several minutes while we were looking for a tee shot of someone in our group.

Although we were not egregiously behind, I felt as though I was being somewhat rushed because we would never be waiting on any tee, we couldn’t catch up to the group ahead of us, and yet, the group behind us was pretty much always waiting for us. Oh, and the group ahead of us was clearly on pace with the group ahead of them.

  1. A twosome plus me, all of us driving carts. Different situation. The course is empty ahead of us. On hole 11, a single walker playing from the black tees appears. He’s good enough to be a club pro. I suggest we let him play through because he could probably finish the back nine around par, and there’s nobody ahead to hold him up. Again, this guy was waiting a long time for each of his shots.

Questions: do you think it is reasonable that I suggest that the group behind us play through in each of these situations? If so, and the rest of your group objects, what would you do (drop it, insist, suggest again later, other)? When do you think it is appropriate to let other golfers play through? Why do you suppose it seems so common for people to resist the idea that other groups should be allowed to play through?

2

I thought that it was the standard etiquette that if you’re slower than the group behind you, you always let them play through. Is this not the case?

3

I think you were right on both accounts. I would explained to the others in the group that this is proper etiquette (especially with the solo), and insisted.

4

well if you are not falling further and further behind i don’t see how your pace of play was that bad. and teeing off while another group is putting on a par 4 is not at all behind. matter of fact with the current technology and depending on what tees you are playing from it is probably good etiquette to let them finish anyways (i mean it irks me to no end when someone hits into me).

and i was always taught that a single has no rights on a golf course. however, i would have probably asked him to join up and if didn’t want to i would have let him through. but if i were the single, since it is obvious that he is just practicing, i would have probably just gone up to you folk and let you know that i was skipping a hole and would be out of your way in a bit.

5

if you are not keeping up then you have an obligation to let the group behind you play through. or better yet a course marshall just comes up and moves you into position. but the fact that everyone else is playing a 5 hour round does not mean that i need to move out of the way of someone that wants to play a 3 hour round.

6

My reasoning on this case is that while we were not falling further behind, we were certainly not catching up, and the group behind was waiting for us.

My thinking is that if we allowed the group behind to play through, they would catch up to the group ahead, and the new group behind us would be a whole hole behind. We would have had to wait a couple minutes max for the group to play though, then there would be no pressure behind us for a few holes at least.

Have any of you insisted with a group you don’t know to let folks play though? How did that go?

7

and i guess it is just the way course’s structure their tee times these days. i personally, don’t want to be waiting on every shot. so having the group in front of me putting on a par 4 sounds reasonable. you can get up and hit your drive and by the time you get to your ball they should be done. play away. now any more than that i would certainly suggest you need to pick up your pace of play. but i personally, don’t appreciate it when the rabbits behind you are pulling up to the tee box while you are getting ready to fire away. especially if the group in front is still on the green.

and yes, i have played with folks where i suggested that either we pick it up and just move forward or let the group behing go through. typically these were the higher handicap folks and it was generally received as being a piece of etiquette that they were not even aware of and well received. crap, i played recently with a couple that after hitting our approaches to the green i looked at him and asked him was he going to repair his ball mark. he was along the lines of HUH. so i explained why and showed him how. he seemed to be genuinely thankful. if you are playing golf you are a good sort for the most part.

8

The premise of playing speed based on skill isn’t always absolute. Years ago I played in a regular group with golfers who all shot in the mid-to-high 90s and we were always waiting on low handicap golfers who lined up each shot as if the Open Championship depended on it.

Beyond that, there was no requirement to let either group play thru. For the first scenario, there was a complete hole open ahead of you. For the second scenario, the single golfer has no rights to playing thru.

Of course, in matters of courtesy, you can always go beyond what is required and it would have been nice to let the single golfer thru but if the others didn’t want to they are not violating any rule of play or rule of etiquette.

9

I think not letting a group play through is the same mentality of not wanting to be passed on the highway. The thought that, “I am going the right speed, anyone going faster than me is a show-off/idiot and anyone slower than me is a lesser being.”

I don’t have any problem letting a group play through if my group can’t keep up with the players ahead of us. Although, if the group behind is “tailgating” us by hitting into us, I’m much less inclined to let them play through.

A only slightly off-topic anecdote from high school:
My buddy and I were walking a course one afternoon and we were behind a very slow 5-some of old men. We didn’t really mind as it was a beautiful day, but we had to be somewhere and were running out of time about hole 16 so we decided to skip that hole. We were walking on the path and we came up to the group ahead of us as they were finishing taking their approach shots. We stopped to let the last gentleman hit before we went past them. Well, we stopped almost even with the shooter (maybe 2 or 3 feet behind and 20 feet to the right of him), but Mr. Shooter’s friend, Mr. Asshole, decided we were way too close and yelled at us to back the hell up. He told us that if Mr. Shooter mishit the ball he could hit us. He mentioned the fact that young guys don’t know what the hell they’re doing anymore and we should show them a little more respect and why the hell were we trying to pass them, etc, etc. While he was ranting at us, one of the guys took his shot (Mr. Asshole never thought that shutting up for a second while his buddy was hitting was a good idea, I guess). Mr. Asshole was sitting in his cart about 5 feet in front of the shooter (about 20 feet to the right as well). Mr. Shooter hit the ball of the toe of his club and hit Mr. Asshole’s cart. It ricocheted off the roof of the cart and hit Mr. Asshole in the head.

Everyone fell over laughing (except Mr. Asshole, he fell down in pain or surprise). Mr. Asshole’s buddies told him he deserved it for not shutting the hell up when someone was taking their shot.

10

and just one final thought.

i never liked getting waived through. it always seemed that as the group coming though that you were constantly rushing through on your seconds or conceding a boat load of eight footers and then rushing your tee shot at the next hole. and then rushing to get out out of the way.

i liked it when i played at gleneagles one vacation. there was a notice on the board that was to the effect that it was taking a two ball in excess of 3.5 hours to complete a round (and you walk - no carts). the governing board issued a decree that if you couldn’t get it done in 3.25 hours that you needed to go elsewhere. that was some fun. the caddies literally jogged down the fairways.

11

When you were a threesome, and the one guy came up on you why didn’t you just invite him to form a foursome?
I get all nervy in these situations too. I’m a duffer at best. I played a lot of beer golf when I was 20-something, but I was never very good. I just picked the game back up over the course of the last couple of years. And I play a lot of solo golf. What always makes me nervous is when someone offers to let me play through … I get the shanks right off, so nervous that I’m going to be the dork holding up four people.

12

As far as inviting the single to join, the sequence of events would be that we would be on the green, the guy would be pacing around his ball in the fairway. We would complete our putts and move on to the teeing ground. While we were on the tee, the single would be lining up his putt. There was never a time when we were on the tee and he walked up to us.

Now, it could be that he was practicing his putting or whatever, but I’ve been that guy before. Many, many times I’ve been the single wanting to motor around a mostly empty course, and end up playing a few balls while I wait for a slow group who refuses to waive me on or let me join.

13

I do tend to take a lot more mulligans when I’m behind Hume, Wilford and the boys.

14

I would ditto both of these comments. Though I was never taught that singles have no rights, I kind of play it that way when I’m a single myself. If the group ahead of me is slow and doesn’t want me to go through, screw it, I’ll just play two balls and take my time. :stuck_out_tongue: Usually though, I get an offer to play through, and I just hustle a little to make sure they don’t regret it.

15

No. Think about it. You’ve described the situation as:
Group A is on the green
Group B (you) is on the tee
Group C is waiting.

If you shift Group C in between Group B and A, then you have:
Group A on the green
Group C in the fairway waiting
Group B waiting on the tee

Play has not sped up (except for one shot by Group B).

Frankly, as long as you’re on pace for a round of 4-4.5 hours, the positions of other groups is meaningless. You’re playing at expected speed

BTW, I play with a foursome of 2 guys consistently over 100 (one of whom is, unfortunately, me) and 2 guys in the mid-90s. We play most rounds in less than 4 hours. Slow play is not the result of the quality of the shots, it’s the golfers not doing things to speed play (ready golf, take multiple clubs to distant balls, provisional shots, etc).

16

I resent this. I played yesterday and shot a 103. That’s a slightly better score then normal for me. However, I can fly through a round, I did so yesterday in under 3 hours. Yeah a lot of people who suck play slow, but so do a lot of people who play really well. It’s slow if I’m ready to putt, but someone wants to look and see who’s away.

I don’t think you would have done much good letting the foursome past. You could have waited on the green of a par 3 for the single and see if he wanted to join you or not.