Pace of Play

I need EVERYONE to help me with pace of play. I don't just mean complaining, that doesn't help. I mean help me observe, help me teach. Help you fellow golfer look for their ball (for a very short time), help them be aware of the gap between them and the group in front. But do so in a respectful manner. And if you are constantly in a group that is behind, look to some of these ideas to pick up the pace.

  1. Ready Golf. You don't have to always way for someone that is away to play. If someone is further from the stick than you, but they are not ready to golf. Go ahead, take your shot. Don't interfere with their routine, but you don't have to wait on them.
  2. If you've got a long routine, start it while others are hitting. If you think you have to walk the green fives times, and take 14 practice strokes before putting, please don't start that routine when it is your turn to putt. Get all that out of the way early.
  3. Pick up on max score. If you've reached the max score on a hole, just pick up the ball and move on. Get it out of your head, and do better on the next hole.
  4. Don't spend forever looking for lost balls. Just take your punishment and move on. You shouldn't have hit it over there to begin with.

There are plenty of other ways to keep pace of play moving, but those items address the biggest things I see every week and year. Please help me in this area.

Max Score

I need to reengage with the captains, but I think our Max Score is double-par plus one. So on a par 3, max is 7. On a par 4, max is 9, and on a par 5 max is 11. Now, it might be just double par, but I play in so many leagues with different rules I just don't remember for sure. If anyone has any input on this let me know.

Gimme Putts

Gimme distance for this league is inside-the-leather. This means that if you place the head of a putter inside the cup, if any part of the ball is closer to the hole than the low end of that putter's grip (meaning, the part closest to the head of the putter), then the putt may be conceded. This still means the stroke counts for score, but you don't have to actually make the putt.

The main reason for this rule is pace of play. So if you have a putt within that distance, pick up your ball and move on. If you do putt it, and miss, then then that counts as an extra stroke. If you don't want to take the gimme, then you deserve what you get.