Rory McIlroy: Speed up golf to attract more young players

Completely with Rory on this . 4 hours is plenty of time to play most courses , even with a card being marked . Rory knows its the pros who have set the bar on the slow play , and the rest of the golf world have followed like sheep .  Most of the guys I played alongside a good few years ago dont bother playing in the Saturday competition any more , they all reckon 5 hours plus is not worth it  , and nobody will wave you on these days .  Slowest common denominator applies .

just ban old golfers

My experience is that club golf rounds have got much slower these last ten years. The main reason appears to be the youngsters who, aping the pros, take forever over their shots, aligning and re-aligning, having spent an age on club selection too. Some of them may be better golfers for it, but by no means all. Mostly Sunday mornings at our club is 4 ball better ball, older members, and it's rare for any round to take more than about 3.5 hours.

Some courses are just set up for slow play, and pushing groups off every 7 or 8 minutes only makes it worse.

My home course is set up for fairly fast play, as a junior there  in the summer holidays about 6 - 8 of us would play 72 hole tournaments each day, start about 8am and be finished by 5pm as some had to be picked up by parents on way home from work, the rest of us would play a bit more golf till it got dark

You might find this site interesting , some good articles about pace of play.

http://www.popeofslope.com/paceofplay/index.html

behind behind a womans 4 ball is enough to give up the will to live.

Strangely enough the women in our club play faster than the men , the ladies go out in 3 balls .

rory seems to have all the anserws and is bigger than the game

stupid comment...do you think he calls a press conference solely to deliver these pearls of wisdom? of course not, he's f00kin obligated to give press time when he gets asked a million and one stoopid questions and this was his answer to one of them..if he refused to answer or was monosyllabic, you'd no doubt be the first person to call him a prima donna too

The majority of slow play regardless of gender or age is down to players not being ready for their shot, so how about a compulsory etiquette module for each club member to complete every year to coincide with membership renewals as a starter...

I generally only play competitions knock outs etc. there are various reasons why play has got slower. The average age has increased and the old boys 65 plus arent as quick as they were especially at the end of rounds. Courses are in the main longer thus take longer to walk. At my course unless you go out first or at the end of the field with a gap its a minimum four hours for a round. In reality it is probably only 15 - 30 mins longer than 20 years ago.

Participation has dropped off in the last five years but i suspect that the financial crisis and a drop off from the tiger effect has had as much impact as time.

There are many more courses than the 80s and I suspect the numbers playing are much higher.

Ten Commandments
“Thou shalt keep the “Etiquette of Golf” in mind at all times i.e. your responsibility to the golf course and to other golfers.

Thou shalt be prepared to step up and hit your ball immediately it is your turn to play.

Thou shalt not take more than one practise swing.

Thou shalt not allow space to develop between online pokies your match and the match ahead.

Thou shalt try to shave 10 seconds off the time it normally takes you to hit a shot. (If all players in an average four-ball were to achieve this, they would cut one hour from their usual round).

Thou shalt pick up your ball at all times when you are “out of the hole”.

Thou shalt carry, from time to time, a light bag with ( if necessary to reduce weight) a lesser number of clubs.

In non-competition “friendly matches”.
Thou shalt agree to leave the pin in the hole at all times – until any player wishes the pin to be removed.

Thou shalt agree to a one stroke penalty only, for a ball lost or out of bounds.
A ball to be dropped in the semi-rough within two club lengths of the point of entry to the area being searched. (Thus there is no need to play a provisional ball or another ball from the tee or to go back under the stroke and distance rule)

Thou shalt agree that only the player shall need to look for his ball – 3 minutes maximum search time”.

so how about a compulsory etiquette module for each club member to complete every year to coincide with membership renewals as a starter...

Its a good point rob but clubs are in no position to make that compulsory they are all desperate for members

so how about a compulsory etiquette module for each club member to complete every year to coincide with membership renewals as a starter...

Its a good point rob but clubs are in no position to make that compulsory they are all desperate for members

Somehow though MW it needs to be tackled, as slow play may be driving members away - it completely ruins the experience for many competent golfers, going to extremes perhaps clubs could employ a few marshalls with yellow & red cards to hurry things along

Our club have been trying to speed up play for a good while , have tried various things , but the "clog" factor is invariably the same group of 4 balls who have been playing together for years and years . Their status / longevity within the club , past captains and council members etc means they are untouchable , only way to eliminate the problem is to insist on a seperate draw each week , no more cosy 4 balls .  I was always against the "my 4 ball " or "your 4 ball " concept , little mini club within total club , but some members wanted it that way .

Some clubs insist on mixing up the players each week , might annoy some as there are plonkers out there no matter how you cut it , and some of them should probably not be taking up space on the golf course . But even if you succed in eliminating the slow 4 ball ( thou shalt not pass , it is an affront to our dignity ) , new partnerships dont always work out as a fast group .

adding length doesnt help for club members who are more likely to wait for a green to clear, then miss it, and then not up and down it, all taking time


moving tees well forward can help, but makes it less attractive to better golfers, and is unsatisfactory for most competitions


rory is talking about getting new players started, there are some cracking par three courses about, and make great
fun where length is taken out of equation somewhat, and take less time to play

let the bangers play on the range !


wont suit everyone, but little things can help improve things for new players


juniors aged up to 14 played from ladies tees on our course, and nobody minded

I would have said the opposite Donny, shorter holes slow the play down, I find when you get a run of longer holes you free up play.
When you have tee times every 8 minutes which seems to be the norm nowadays every one is jammed up and as soon as you get to a par 3 there is normally a log jam on that hole, you are not going to play a par 3 in 8 minutes, committee starts blaming everyone when they are causing the problem in the first place.
The courses that start with a par 3 never have 8 minute starting times, they have to give at least 10 minutes maybe even 12 and they always seem to flow better.

a lot of private clubs are now semi private where public have a couple pf access days a week.

this has got to be due to lack of money coming in so they need the extra income from public walkins and prob dont have time to give everyone an etiquette lesson.

etiquette should be left to the golfer to learn in his/her own time. it's on us imo.

but what can a particular golf course do?

more marshalls would help, but ultimately, if you are on a public course (or even private) you will find sh1t golfers. sh1t golfer simply cannot hit a ball 50m straight and then by the 6th hole they have lost concentration and hit less straight and take more time in order to be less sh1t.

i think if you are not a member and play anywhere, its just a case of pick your time.

example, i know that at my local golf course, if you go at 8ish in the morning there is a huge line because everyone thinks they are getting there early. but the only real guys getting early times are the ones pre 8am.

but if you get there about 10.30 then you are on the tee by yourself whenever you want to tee off, because the 8am mega line has just finished.

private courses would have their own individual idiosyncrasies like above based on their own comp times etc. one just has to learn them.

just know your times and if you are in prime time and your opponent is whinging about the long wait, just accept it and know that you have got the game won already mentally.

as soon as my bro whinges about the wait i know i got him :)

number of 16-25-year-olds playing the game regularly almost halved between 2009-10 and 2012-13.

The clue is in the year.........lack of money.......two mates quit playing when the membership fee (yearly) went up from £170 to £340 for two courses.....leaving me all on my lonesome

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/golf/article-2879872/Rory-McIlroy-admits-took-year-grips-Nike-golf-clubs-ahead-trophy-laden-2014-season.html

Well Rory boy........we all knew that after a few games and laid you.

there are some cracking par three courses about, and make great fun where length is taken out of equation somewhat, and take less time to play

Not in Oz Donny They never took off here. Would love a few decent par 3 courses to choose from, great fun, great practise and great for time constraints. Only problem is I may not return to full length courses if there were some good ones to choose from.

Mission Hills has one that is all replica holes, copied 17 at Sawgrass and holes like that. That would be awesome.

One thing I'd like to see is courses that are more forgiving off the tee.  Nothing more infuriating than spending half the day wading through waist-high grass looking for your tee shot.  There are other ways to make a course challenging without holding up play and costing the player 5-6 balls into the bargain.

KR
Nothing more infuriating than spending half the day wading through waist-high grass looking for your tee shot.
The key there is. . hit the Fairway...or stop 20+hcppers using the Big Dog,just because you have a license doesn't mean you can drive F1...man's got to know his limitations,or in this case. .improve.

Well that's Tiger gone as well then?

Tiger's problem was not reversing the F1 quick enough out of his driveway as the 2 iron hit.

good article bt geoff ogilvy on his perfect course here makes many good points

http://www.golfaustralia.com.au/perfect-course-geoff-ogilvy/

'courses like Cypress Point, Augusta National and Royal Melbourne are playable for all'

No they're not Geoff you nitwit. Nobody can get on them which makes them pretty bloody unplayable IMO. It is a good article though, basically just saying bring back fun. The game is meant to fun, it is a game. Many new courses are built by masochists. One near me was built in the last few years is called Yering meadows. Beautiful track in a more beautiful setting out in wine country. The problem is, it is way too difficult for the target customer. Members have walked away, as this course was built as a replacement for another when they sold their closer to the city land to developers to build this mega golf club. The place is struggling big time, in spite of its awesomeness because they forgot that one thing that the game is meant to be fun.

its staggering that they dont cater for all abilities

i know there are plenty of golfers that like a good test

but most just want to take a few quid off their mates

The key there is. . hit the Fairway...or stop 20+hcppers using the Big Dog,just because you have a license doesn't mean you can drive F1...man's got to know his limitations,or in this case. .improve.

Exactly the attitude I am talking about.  Fair play to you, you are obviously a scratch golfer or thereabouts.  But you have to remember that NOT MANY PLAYERS ARE.  Of course there should be some really hard courses about for the pros, or the very good amateurs.  But the vast, vast majority of people playing golf every day, paying money and keeping the whole show on the road, are not that good.

You may say, the sensible thing to avoid losing a ball is to take iron off the tee on a par 4, lay up, then try to make bogey.  But where is the fun in that?  Reminds me of when I was a kid starting off in tennis, one of my friends used to serve underarm because he would get more of them in.  He was right in that sense, but people want to play a game how it's supposed to be played.  I want to serve overarm.  I want to reach a par 4 in two shots.  I don't want to tee it forward and hit 7 iron, but equally I want to miss the fairway off the tee and have a more difficult shot as a result, not 5 mins looking for it.  And to be honest I've watched the pros a lot and they miss a ton of fairways too; without marshalls their game would be incredibly different.  Some of the balls they find are ones I wouldn't even bother looking for.

I spent a lot of time on 2 pitch and putt courses when I was a youngster and learning the game . Part of the result of that is that from under 100 yards in I would seldom be beaten scorewise .

The reason Seve was so good as an upper and downer was because he practised it , invented shots without the formal use of specified holes .  Golf was an adventure for Seve , not a numbers game like it is for a good lot of the pros , throw in a bit of uncertainty wind wise and they flounder .

Golf courses have become too long nowadays , longer time to play a round , more walking etc . Reckon they should listen to Jack , change the ball criteria so that 300 plus drives are impossible  , give us back a lot of our older courses where skill was the factor instead of power . Simple , and more practical than extending courses , and looking after more real estate just costs .

Tiger was talking recently about the fact that he learned to play with clubs unlike the present ones available , he doubts many of the younger pros could play with persimmon woods . But the club manufacturers / suppliers want sales , £300 used to get you the best set of clubs available , nowadays its one club .

Power is ruining a whole lot of games , not specifically golf . Rugby used to be a game of power and skill , 50-50 probably .  Now its 90% power , and we sit watching in vain for the other 10%.

Soccer too has become too physical , most games I see players are trying to hurt/ kick each other under the guise of a "tackle" .

I wonder what data Rory is basing his 'viewership in golf is up' claim on.

Maybe I'm the type of player Golf is trying to get rid of or send to the range or par 3 courses only in that I play 4/5 times a year (used to play of 14 when played regularly but now around 28 as haven't played regularly for 15 years) and if this is the case so be it.

In my experience since the golf channel so called experts have pressed the call for faster play marshalls and better players have felt the right to hound you into playing faster. Now when I was playing regularly i'd finish in 3.5 hours and now its 4 hrs 15 to 4hrs 30mins ave but I'm hitting 20% extra shots a round (and losing more balls) so is that any surprise?? For a player like me nothing is worse than feeling people are rushing you to play. Golf for me is a social game enjoyed with friends played at your own pace enjoying the company and the game. Off course I'm cognisant that other people are playing and I'm ready to play once my group have hit but I'm not gonna run to my ball between shots or abandon a ball in the rough after looking for 30 secs. I'm a bad player and accept it but enjoy playing the game and accept it will take me 4 hrs 30 to finish a round and enjoy it.

When I'm forced to rush it may save a few mins but makes me feel the round was a waste of time and makes me NOT want to play again. So Golf can lose me as a player and therefore my son who is interested as he likes the day out with dad or have 15 minutes a round faster. I'm not alone in feeling like this as have seen many people give up the game as they feel harried - a Sunday afternoon round of golf shouldn't leave you feeling that way!

Its the serially slow players that are the problem , particularly those who hold up other playing combinations . This applies to pros as well as amateurs .

Occasional golfers ( less than 10 rounds a year people ) generally are happy enough to "get out of the way " as they are generally not marking cards and only want a days fun . I am an occasional golfer these days , and my pace of play a la racing gurus post is geared to my enjoying the day out as against posting a score .  If I hit a rank bad shot I reload and play a second ball , but I am careful not to be holding anyone up . I wont go near the course at prime times , not enjoyable if you have to wait on tees ( short holes mainly ) .

But Rory is not talking about me , its the slow boats , who are wll known in their clubs and on the circuit that he is targetting , rightly .

Very few courses in the world are busy all the time , except the likes of RCD where prime times are booked out already this year .  Most courses are only too glad to be doing deals and adjusting members slots to accomodate visiting parties to bring in much needed revenue .  Slow play is a killer though , and the younger people especially are less likely to participate if play is funereal .