Suggestions for speeding play

Our golf league, the Montgomery Golf Association, has taken steps this year to try to speed play. At the league’s annual meeting earlier this year, league President Dave Keightly (the undersigned), Vice President Kevin O’Connor, and Treasurer Joe Ochotny decided we could improve the enjoyment of the members if we could find ways to speed up play. Under the direction of league administrator Eric Holmquist, we have tracked the time spent to play various matches, and are evaluating the data as it comes in.

This ongoing process has given me the impetus to write down some suggestions for players on how to speed up the play. These ideas have been compiled from memories of some 35 years of caddying, playing, and watching golf. I hope other folks will chime in with other ideas.

First, hit the ball in play. If everybody hits their ball in the fairway, on the green, or somewhere else where it is easy to see and find, the single greatest time waster, looking for wild shots, is eliminated. Don’t go accusing me of hypocrisy here: I know I can hit some of the most ridiculously errant golf shots ever seen. But still, if everyone knows where their ball is, things move more quickly.

Second, if you do hit your ball somewhere ugly, don’t spend a lot of time looking for it. If you stink at this game, like me, you don’t need to play with expensive golf balls. Throw down another ball, and get on with it.

If your ball is somewhere where the cart can’t be taken, for whatever reason (cart path only, another fairway, too wet), and you are not sure what club you need, take a few clubs with you and use the one you decide on. Don’t walk back and forth to the cart a few times.

Once you are done with the hole, get the heck off the green, and away from it, so the next group can play. There will be plenty of time to write the scores on the card at the next tee.

You don’t need to re-arrange your golf bag after every shot, especially not during the middle of the hole. Just put your club back in the bag, get back in the cart, and move on. Your cart mate probably wants to get to his ball and hit, not wait for you to fiddle with your clubs.

Put your clubs or bag down in the direction you will be going after the shot is finished. If you have a wedge that you used, and now you are putting, put the wedge in the direct path you will be walking to the next tee. Not only will this save time, but it will help to prevent losing clubs.

Get a Sharpie. Put your initial or some other mark on every ball you use. This helps in several ways. First, there will be no doubt whose ball it is. I write a K on every ball. Others use dots. One friend even writes his full name, which really eliminates any doubt. Marking your ball will also hopefully eliminate the dunces on the other hole who come across your ball from picking it up. A plain Titleist Pro V 1 x is easy to confuse. The same ball with “Dave” written on it is not. Marking your ball may also prevent an ugly incident like I just heard of, where a player forfeited a hole because he hit the wrong ball. It wouldn’t have happened if he had marked his ball.

Listen, I know I am not the fastest player out there, so don’t get all over me about that. But I do know some ways to speed things up. It is not meant to insult you. It’s meant to help you and the others on the course.

League leaders, fellow golfers, readers, and friends, I’m asking you, please: Send in your suggestions for speeding up play. We will pass them along. Thanks.