Where was the golf tip about playing behind slow-paced players? Every golfer experiences the frustration and annoyance out on the public golf course when the guys ahead of you slow to a crawl...sizing up their clubs...doing practice swings all in a ritualized preparation that leads to a goof-ball dud of a shot.

Slow play has always been confined into the role of a we-all-understand-it-but-wish-it-would-go-away sort of golf abstraction, politely discussed with drinks after 18 holes. However, the reality torments focused and fast golfers. What to do, when the foursome ahead of you, golf at a pace that will result in over 4 hours to play a round of 18 holes? Do you have the time or patience or do you have to tell them to 'move your %?@# game from a dead man's pace or whatever'?

Is 'slow play' really a respectable pace as some players opine, or does it merely mask sports skill and course management deficiencies? Given the growth in golf's popularity and some open space environmental constraints restricting new

Golf Rules For The Slow Guys - Getting Later Tee Times.

In most private golf courses, members learn to know each other's game, sift and sort out doubles and foursomes based on similar style games. Result? Most players get in and out of the golf course in under 3 hours...and this is with the aid of golf carts! And the slow players? Players who are destined to absorb 4 to 5 hours on a round typically get the later tee times. If they didn't then the entire day's schedule would be backed-up...which would generate some seriously miffed players, plus show in declining revenues for the club on the day.

Meanwhile, public golf courses take a 1st-in-best-dressed approach to tee times. Result? Any combination of fast or slow guys can tee off, and then throw the entire day off the rails as literally hundreds of golfers have to stand by and wait for the "bottleneck" to reduce.

What's The Slow Player's Golf Game?

Unlike the fast players, the slow player is what might be politely described as somewhat anal, drawing out each shot obsessing over every detail, seeking unrealizable perfection.

However, like the alleged fast players, the slow player's golf game is similar in one respect...most if not all of everyone's excruciatingly planned shots have a snowball-in-hell chance of actually landing where planned. That is to say within 20 yards or so of the "best spot" for the lead-up shot. This permanently-above-par reality does nothing to inhibit the mental gnashing, the preparation, obsessing over the best club, trying to bend the knees just so, adjusting his stance, re-setting the grip...and for what? Not addressing the ball, rather taking one or two practice swings!

On Making Things Equal Out On The Golf Course.

No surprise that golf, like life, mirrors the many individual differences. Golf pro, Ned Vare, once observed in a philosophic aside "I can tell everything about a person and his or her character from the way they golf ". True, but the real-time needs of golfers scream out for practical solutions to make the game a fair access and trade between players with different skills and different mental approaches.

* Golf Tip #1 - Instruction.

At its root, the slow player problem owes much of the resulting frustration to a simple cause, namely the inadequate skills of most players. Poor technique, poor sense of the game only leads to exaggerated and confused play. Solution? All serious players, particularly you slow guys and gals, need to take-in some practice play and buy some golf instruction. Your game will naturally pick-up.

* Golf Tip #2 - Scheduling Smarts.

You want to avoid "traffic jams" on the course? If so then manage your course like you would any commercial inventory. Tee times should be firm and fair. All players should receive a "code" that allows for simple yet true grouping into several speed categories such as slow, medium, fast. Fast players get early tee times and slow players get the later times. Running a public or private golf course like a disciplined business will result in a lot more happy faces and polite conversation and drinks at the 19th hole.