Course managers fight it day after day, and players hate it. Can anything really be done about slow play? The answer is yes. Working with private clubs, high-end public courses, resorts, municipal courses and even the R&A Championship Committee on the 2002 Open Championship at Muirfield, I have proven that golf course management teams can consistently improve the pace and flow of play, resulting in increased revenue, more valuable starting times throughout the day, more satisfied customers, and higher volume opportunities in their other profit centers. Now players can find the golfing experience they have been looking for, one that is relaxed and free of delays.
The good news is that every course can solve the problem of slow play. All it takes is a strong management commitment, and the ongoing cooperation of the players. The solution sounds simple, but it is buried within two age-old myths: that every round of golf should take four hours, and that players are the primary cause of slow play. Add to that the fact that the real solution plays into every manager’s greatest fear; no wonder this problem has plagued the game for decades.
To solve the slow play problem, I use a “management/player equation.” On one side are all the management operational elements, and on the other side are all the player elements. Until now, most slow play tools and solutions have focused on fixing only the player’s side of the equation, where small improvements could be made but radical and consistent change was impossible. Today, using my Pace Manager Systems approach, we create a partnership in which management and players share the responsibility and the problem can be solved.
First, managers must learn how to properly load the course. Poor loading and overcrowding cause players to slow to a crawl like cars on a congested freeway. Finding the right rhythm for the course maintains a smoother flow onto the course and makes it possible in many cases to accommodate more groups, dispelling a manager’s greatest fear. Secondly, managers must provide and use tools to monitor and manage the flow of play from sunup to sundown, day after day.
When I work with a course, they learn to do just that. Over a decade of helping courses improve their operations, I’ve catalogued all the seemingly hundreds of things that cause slow play into five functional areas. The “Five Cornerstones that Impact the Pace of Play” are: 1) management policies, 2) player behavior, 3) player ability, 4) course maintenance and setup, and 5) course design. My training helps courses define these areas and identify strategies for improvement. We also use a USGA Pace Rating and its eighteen individual hole “time pars” for the course to compare their actual time with the “should take” time to play eighteen holes. Not only does this objective measurement tool bring expectations in line with what the course can actually deliver (dispelling the myth of the four-hour round), but now we can determine which groups really are “slow.” Now management teams can create effective monitoring tools, look for specific problem areas on their course, make changes, and directly quantify the improvement.
I use my computer simulation program to determine the optimum starting interval for each course, one that will allow maximum course loading (without overcrowding) and optimal flow of play on the course. With this in place, average round times plummet even on the busiest of days, while revenue and the player’s experience and perception of value soar. Management teams can now control and deliver a consistent high quality golfing product day in and day out.
Players have a responsibility to themselves and to every other player on the course. When a starting time is issued, a “contract” has been created between management and player: management guarantees a starting time, access to a well-conditioned course, and a smooth uninterrupted pace of play, and the player agrees to arrive in time to check in, warm up and be on the first tee ten minutes prior to starting time. At the best managed courses, a group’s starting time is “the time the group’s first ball is in the air.” When a foursome honors their part of the contract, they help ensure that they tee off exactly when scheduled.
Don’t settle for delivering less than an excellent golf experience. When management teams and players partner to take the lead in the slow play challenge, wonderful things happen. The battle against slow play can be won by any course wanting to do so.
Bill Yates is chairman and CEO of Grey Town LLC and has helped lower round times on more than 90 courses worldwide.
The good news is that every course can solve the problem of slow play. All it takes is a strong management commitment, and the ongoing cooperation of the players. The solution sounds simple, but it is buried within two age-old myths: that every round of golf should take four hours, and that players are the primary cause of slow play. Add to that the fact that the real solution plays into every manager’s greatest fear; no wonder this problem has plagued the game for decades.
To solve the slow play problem, I use a “management/player equation.” On one side are all the management operational elements, and on the other side are all the player elements. Until now, most slow play tools and solutions have focused on fixing only the player’s side of the equation, where small improvements could be made but radical and consistent change was impossible. Today, using my Pace Manager Systems approach, we create a partnership in which management and players share the responsibility and the problem can be solved.
First, managers must learn how to properly load the course. Poor loading and overcrowding cause players to slow to a crawl like cars on a congested freeway. Finding the right rhythm for the course maintains a smoother flow onto the course and makes it possible in many cases to accommodate more groups, dispelling a manager’s greatest fear. Secondly, managers must provide and use tools to monitor and manage the flow of play from sunup to sundown, day after day.
When I work with a course, they learn to do just that. Over a decade of helping courses improve their operations, I’ve catalogued all the seemingly hundreds of things that cause slow play into five functional areas. The “Five Cornerstones that Impact the Pace of Play” are: 1) management policies, 2) player behavior, 3) player ability, 4) course maintenance and setup, and 5) course design. My training helps courses define these areas and identify strategies for improvement. We also use a USGA Pace Rating and its eighteen individual hole “time pars” for the course to compare their actual time with the “should take” time to play eighteen holes. Not only does this objective measurement tool bring expectations in line with what the course can actually deliver (dispelling the myth of the four-hour round), but now we can determine which groups really are “slow.” Now management teams can create effective monitoring tools, look for specific problem areas on their course, make changes, and directly quantify the improvement.
I use my computer simulation program to determine the optimum starting interval for each course, one that will allow maximum course loading (without overcrowding) and optimal flow of play on the course. With this in place, average round times plummet even on the busiest of days, while revenue and the player’s experience and perception of value soar. Management teams can now control and deliver a consistent high quality golfing product day in and day out.
Players have a responsibility to themselves and to every other player on the course. When a starting time is issued, a “contract” has been created between management and player: management guarantees a starting time, access to a well-conditioned course, and a smooth uninterrupted pace of play, and the player agrees to arrive in time to check in, warm up and be on the first tee ten minutes prior to starting time. At the best managed courses, a group’s starting time is “the time the group’s first ball is in the air.” When a foursome honors their part of the contract, they help ensure that they tee off exactly when scheduled.
Don’t settle for delivering less than an excellent golf experience. When management teams and players partner to take the lead in the slow play challenge, wonderful things happen. The battle against slow play can be won by any course wanting to do so.
Bill Yates is chairman and CEO of Grey Town LLC and has helped lower round times on more than 90 courses worldwide.
Explore the May 2003 Issue
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