There are times when I hit the course and find myself less than grateful. I am all psyched to be there, then suddenly our smooth comfortable pace comes to a screaming halt. We are behind a group who seems to not be aware of their surroundings and ignores that we are waiting on every shot. I feel like I am in a dentist chair! This situation happens often on my course because we are fast players and many are not. But, this is not the whole story!
Actually, what happens is that our course has very busy times and others where we own the links. It is a feast of famine thing and during busy times, we slow down and adjust our playing speed because this is one of the aspects of golf we all accept. We end up chatting more and take more time searching for golf balls. I remain very grateful during those times, because we are going nowhere fast. It is the other times that is frustrating, but we have an easy solution that works every time.
When the course is empty, we play the 9 holes out of sequence. Yup, we scoot by the group and play the other 8 holes and come back to the hole we missed. Most of the time we finish 3 holes ahead of the group we passed and everyone is happy. They do not feel pressured and we can play at a comfortable pace.
I think this is a perfect solution to the challenge of two groups playing at different speeds. Now, I will clarify and say that if the hole in front is not completely open, jumping ahead is not an option. This solution will annoy everyone else and that is not fair either. I realize that many traditional golfers would not find this solution a good one, but it works for us and it does not hurt anyone.
Not all golf courses are designed so that my solution is possible and that is the way things our. But at Osprey Links, it is a very player friendly track and skipping holes is easily achievable especially on the wide open front nine. I will emphasize that we do not jump holes unless the course has very few players in front of the slow group.
Do you think that skipping holes to maintain a comfortable pace is a reasonable solution?
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
I see no problem with it at all. I used to do it often, but lately I try not to even when playing as a single because keeping my game going under slow play conditions is something I want to be able to deal with better and I figure the only way I can get better at it is to bite the bullet and practice being patient. So I’ve gone out a lot as a single and done my best to learn to be patient even behind truly slow foursomes a lot over the past year and a half or so. I do things like practice chipping and lob shots around the tee box, add practice swings to my routine, or sometimes put my feet up in the cart, close my eyes and just relax while I wait for the fairway to clear. I still have work to do, but I think I’ve made pretty good progress with it.
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Kevin,
Great to hear that things are going well with your plan to improve during slow play. I will do that sometimes as well, however I do not mind hopping around because it is like playing a different course. Always a good thing happening to my game when I can shake things up.
Cheers Jim
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