9 Tips To Beat Slow Play

9 Tips To Beat Slow Play

Slow play is one of the biggest problems golfers face. Spending what feels like endless hours on the course watching others play can be extremely frustrating and whilst a round of golf will always take a certain amount of time, there are plenty of things we can all do to keep the pace up.

In the video below, Neil Tappin runs down Golf Monthly's 9 top tips to beat slow play. He looks at everything from preparing to play to the basics relating to your scorecard and where to leave your bag.

9 Tips To Beat Slow Play

9. Be ready to play when it is your turn

This is probably the single most important piece of information in this video. If you are first in the group to play there is little you can do here because you need to take into account yardage, wind, and several other factors before playing.

It is on the other people in the group to work out what they are going to hit, what the wind is doing and so on, whilst the other people are playing their shots. That way when it is your turn, you are ready to step up and play.

8. Leave your bag on the correct side of the green

The simple advice here is that you should leave your bag on the same side of the green where you exit in order to get to the next tee. That way you do not have to walk back and forth after holing out which wastes a lot of time.

7. Mark your scorecard at the right time

There are two big mistakes to avoid here. Do not fill out your scorecard on the green immediately after you have finished a hole. Also do not fill out your scorecard when it is your turn to play.

6. Pay close attention to where your ball goes

When you hit your golf ball into an area of the golf course that might be a bit of trouble, it is very important to watch it all of the way to find out exactly where it has finished.

This will help your score because you're obviously more likely to find your ball and avoid a big score, and it will also help your pace of play too. Many golfers when they hit a bad shot simply turn away which means they have no idea where it finished and therefore spend more time looking for it.

The key here is to watch the flight of the ball, watch for bounces and importantly make sure your playing partners are watching out too.

5. Play ready golf whenever possible

Whoever is ready to play should go first because this can make a huge difference to playing times.

4. Keeping pre-shot routines in check

The key piece of advice we give here is to keep pre-shot routines short and simple.

3. Putt with the flag in from long range

At the moment everyone is putting with the flag in regardless, but usually a good piece of advice for speeding up play would be, wherever possible, to putt with the flag in.

What can slow play down is when some players want the flag in, some want it out. From longer range though putting with the flag in can save a few seconds.

2. If in doubt, play a provisional

If you think you have hit your ball into a spot of bother it is really important to hit a provisional because it can speed play up massively.

1. Wave faster groups through

If you are playing in a slow group then letting faster groups behind through is something to think about especially if there is a difference in the number of players in each group.

Speaking from experience there is nothing more frustrating than playing in a two-ball and getting stuck behind a four-ball who wont let you play through.

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