Opinion & Analysis

Montesano: Slow play is here to stay

Published

2 years ago

Nov 25, 2024

If your goal is to make an impact on the world, let not slow play at golf be your Maginot Line. There is so much else that deserves your attention, your sweat, your suffering. Waste not one more syllable on the amount of time that it takes to play at golf!

That’s the quick read, for all of you time-obsessed folks that tune in to my prose, hoping for guidance and enlightenment. The slow read is more fun, more poignant, and more fulfilling. If you plan to stick around for that, buckle up with a beverage.

Slow play is here to stay…in recreational golf, at least. For so many reasons, it is a part of recreational golf. It doesn’t have to be a part of professional golf, but it is. If it seems complicated, add a few more syllables and you’ll have scratched the surface of slow play and its place in golf.

In order to define slow play, one should cast some shade on the fastest players of the game. They always seem to be the haughty ones, the cast that proclaims that all who fail to match their standard, are flawed. If that were the case, we’d be all-in on speed golf, although the X-C element would certainly dissuade 99% of golfers from returning to the speed golf course.

“They” say that four hours is the properly-alloted time for a round of golf. Four hours over which course, at which distance, surrounded by which meteorological conditions, accompanied by which amount of fellow golfers on the course? I’ve always wondered why a lane of 10 cars cannot simultaneously hit the accelerator and go through the light. If everyone accelerates at the same moment, at the same speed, there should be no collisions. That’s not how it works. I’ve always wondered why the six a.m. flight out of Buffalo always takes off on time, but as the day progresses, the flights move farther away from their scheduled departure time.

Golfers are flawed. They lead human lives, wherein interpersonal relationships at work, on the bus, and at home, impact their mental, emotional, and spiritual balance. When these golfers secure the opportunity to escape their wives, their lives, their husbands, and their chains, to jump into a cart with some adult beverages, snacks, and tunes, the last thing on their mind is hitting a target timeline.

They could spend their money at the movies, or gambling online, or at the opera, or on a gym membership. They choose golf, they choose camaraderie, they choose life. The problems arise when some project their standards on all. That sort of parenting doesn’t fly when it’s adult vs. adult.

Golfers are flawed. They can’t/won’t/don’t practice their game during the week, the weekend, whenever. They don’t take lessons, and they don’t arrange their chakras to align with their ideal arc. They come out to the golf course to put their worries away, in a locked box.

What to do? Play your golf early if you can, and you’ll get in your 18 holes, and then some. Play foursomes (alternate-shot) in the morning, then go out for another round of individual ball, later in the day. Join a lower-end, private club. We have them in western New York. The golf courses weren’t laid out by Ross, Travis, or MacKenzie, but their supers keep them in nice shape. How much is peace of mind worth to you? Is it worth $3000 a year, without assessments?

If fast and proper golf is your salvation, you’ll need to adjust your schedule for it. If you have children to watch, parents to guard, or any other life choice that supersedes golf in importance, you simply cannot have it all, so …

Guess where there’s no slow play? The short game facility. The practice bunker. The driving range. The putting green. Perhaps it’s time to develop an affection for practice, preparation, training, rehearsal, or whatever you wish to call it. Why is the score so all-important, to begin with?

Is it time? Do you have but two, or three, or four hours, for your golf? You’re plenty smart. You either have advanced degrees, work wisdom, and experience, or both. Figure it out. Play different courses and find out which ones offer the pace of play that makes your heart go zing. Play at different hours, and ascertain which tick of the clock offers the best bang for your buck. You’ll stress less, and smile more. Your friends and family will appreciate this.

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Ronald Montesano

Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

19 Comments

Ronald Montesano

Dec 3, 2024 at 12:20 pm

Thanks to everyone for your comments. Don’t hold back. Happy Holidays

rm

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Andrew J

Dec 1, 2024 at 12:28 pm

Her’s the solution to rid of slow play on greens. It’s expert greenreading in large pics & font in my book for only $27 in link. A smoking deal for a lifetime skill and as more putts disappear, so will slow play anxiety. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJT2YLL9

I have a putting studio in Augusta GA where I teach Expert & Quick Greenreading.

Also, details on my website below signature.

Reply Report comment
XPat

Nov 28, 2024 at 2:25 pm

There could not be a more American golf viewpoint than this. It’s a problem because Americans think it’s a game, and requires alcohol and stroke play.

The world sees this as dumb.

America will wave its flags, take pride in ignoring the metric system, shoot guns, and crow about how this is the best way since it’s the only way they know.

This isn’t a chronic problem outside America. I’d say think about that, but I have realistic expectations.

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Eric

Nov 26, 2024 at 6:46 pm

If we were serious about speeding up play we would make ball retrievers illegal.

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Ha

Nov 26, 2024 at 3:16 pm

Can’t wait for the circus that is the WM in Phoenix, that oxymoronic pun of managing wasted people just kills me
LOL

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Greg V

Nov 26, 2024 at 9:16 am

The more that slow play is condoned, the worse it will get. So I say don’t condone it in the first place.

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Saturday

Nov 26, 2024 at 7:12 am

“They could spend their money at the movies, or gambling online, or at the opera, or on a gym membership.”

YES! YES! YES! That is what so many of you could be doing and that is what so many of you SHOULD BE DOING!!!

So many of you are just out there to mess around and drink beer and hang with the bros. There are so many cheaper and frankly more fun ways to do that, because as you have no doubt discovered there is nothing fun about bad golf and with your approach to the game you’ll never be anything but bad.

Leave golf to golfers.

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- Eric
  
  Nov 26, 2024 at 9:49 am
  
  Good lord get off your pedestal. “Leave golf to golfers.” Unless you’re a professional you are no more of a golfer than the guys out there just wanting to drink beer and have a good time. If you want to control the people on the course with you then join a private country club, otherwise stop gate keeping the game of golf just because you hate that some 20 year olds have more fun than you on the course.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Saturday
    
    Nov 26, 2024 at 2:29 pm
    
    It’s tough to be a club professional these days, with the phone ringing in the clubhouse from calls asking for someone to please come out here and throw these clowns off the course, and dealing with course damage and wrecked carts caused by entitled brats who were never taught how to behave.
    
    Reply Report comment
  - Decent Player
    
    Nov 28, 2024 at 2:21 pm
    
    Stay on that pedestal. Eric is that guy that slams beers on the course and shoots a 115 with gimmies.
    
    Reply Report comment
NorthTexasGlfr

Nov 25, 2024 at 10:03 pm

May be the worst articles I’ve ever read. Other than that, it was good.

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Brandon

Nov 25, 2024 at 9:45 pm

Every single person who writes articles for WRX is a total dipshit.

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- curt
  
  Nov 28, 2024 at 12:28 pm
  
  Well said Happy Holidays to all!!
  
  Reply Report comment
John

Nov 25, 2024 at 6:48 pm

Ill let slow play to shrink the game. Theres just too many golfers these days.

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ericsokp

Nov 25, 2024 at 5:59 pm

Mr. Montesano – Please tell me this was written “tongue in cheek”! “Slow play is here to stay…in recreational golf, at least.” Spoken like one of the old, retired guys at my local muni who aslo say things like, “if people are in a hurry, they shouldn’t be playing golf”, or “if you want to go fast, take up running”, or my favorite, “I’m retired so I don’t care if it takes me all day”. Of course, these self-absorbed individuals never think that not all of us are retired and have all day to spend on the golf course! I assume they’re also the individuals who get in the fast lane of the freeway and go exactly 65 mph and then yell at the cars that are passing them that, “I’m going the speed limit!”

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Curt

Nov 25, 2024 at 3:05 pm

This has got to be the worst joke of an article by an elitist hack who we see every week taking his sweet time and @#$#% the people behind him. Please there are so many other things to worry about? This is why people hate the media they know what’s best for you and they will tell you how to think and feel. Any wonder why Trump was elected? Selfish jerk of a person telling ME to slow down instead of playing the pace of play which should be under 4 hours. Ive been playing over 30 years and NEVER has golf taken so long. Im still missing the point of said article.Please advise us

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Prime21

Nov 25, 2024 at 2:36 pm

“If fast and proper golf is your salvation, you’ll need to adjust your schedule for it.” Only people who DON’T care about pace of play “lead human lives, wherein interpersonal relationships at work, on the bus, and at home, impact their mental, emotional, and spiritual balance”? Everything written in this article can be reversed and applied. “You either have advanced degrees, work wisdom, and experience, or both. Figure it out. Play different courses and find out which ones offer the pace of play that makes your heart go zing. Play at different hours, and ascertain which tick of the clock offers the best bang for your buck.” Why don’t SLOW players take your advice and get out of the way? THIS is exactly what the problem is, the idea that we can play at whatever speed we choose because it is our “right”. Standards for pace of play have been established and players should be held accountable for them. Take a survey, let the %’s decide. Slow players would NOT be the majority. Should I start reading slower too? Perhaps drive 30 in a 45? Miss my work deadline by a day because it is my right? Slow play makes golf WORSE, no matter how you want to try to dress it up. Fortunately, in golf, proper etiquette would allow for your slow play, simply wave the group forward and get out of the way. Heck take 7 hours for all that I care, just GET OUT OF THE WAY of those who keep pace to an agreed upon time limit set forth by the majority of the general golfing public. Slow play is here to stay? Only for the selfish who prioritize themselves over all others.

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Pfft

Nov 25, 2024 at 12:48 pm

This was a horribly written article, I kept waiting for some valid point to be made, was this proof read?

Reply Report comment
Simps

Nov 25, 2024 at 12:46 pm

LOL
This is like saying “murder is here to stay, but you’ll get away with it like OJ so don’t worry”
Slow play is symptomatic of the ills of society and the poor behaviour and lack of education , the teaching that isn’t being disseminated by those in charge of the game to help the players control themselves and control the image of the game in public

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