Greetings Golfers,

A year ago I wrote about how driving back from the PGA Show reminded me of traffic on a golf course. On a freeway, you can pass… a golf course has only one lane.

At the Show this year, Callaway had a huge tank on display. Harvey Silverman – a golf consultant – suggested that our Rangers use those tanks at Deer Run.

Pace of Play definitely needs to be talked about. Some people feel that paying a green fee entitles them to play at whatever pace they want to play.  No… they paid for a slot on the course … if they want to pay for 10 slots (10 tee-times), they can play at a very slow pace. Otherwise it isn’t fair to the people behind them.

Down in South Carolina, I like to play at goofy little Par-3 golf course with hound dogs hanging around the driveway. That’s not my only option. The Pros and owners down here have been very generous and let me play their courses non-gratis. I hope that I don’t over-use my privileges, but that’s not why I play the Par-3. I just get a kick out of it. It’s like restaurants – I like a whole variety, and up in Charleston there are some phenomenal restaurants. But I also love the Waffle House – seriously.

So, back to the issue of pace of play. The woman who owns the Par-3 was telling me about her problems with Pace of Play. She told one of her slow players that they should play a hole in 13 minutes. Well, later on that day, that same player was holding things up on the course – the player thought she meant 13 minutes a shot!

So you wonder why Pace of Play is an issue. Think about 13 minutes a shot. People like that probably need those tanks.

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com