Raspberry Falls: Doing My Part to Battle Slow Play
It’s sad but true, more and more golfers are giving up the game year after year. The case of simple numbers is that more people quit than are being attracted to the game. The reasons, while numerous, can be boiled down to two simple facts:
And while correlation does not imply causation, it seems that the better the deal you find on GolfNow, Groupon, Living Social, or whatever website, the slower your round seems to be. Just like rounds at twilight, when the rate dips by 40% or more, are much slower than morning rounds. Some of those tee times are filled with the people who only get out four to five times a year and have a lack of knowledge (or general disdain) for the rules and etiquette of golf. And ladies and gentlemen, it only takes ONE to ruin a good day of golf. Therefore it is up to us, the avid golfers and champions of the game to bring these miscreants in line.
Which brings us to Sunday:
Date: Sunday 4/27/2014
Location: Raspberry Falls Golf and Hunt Club, Leesburg, VA
Score: 86
Excuses: Another Car to Third Tee Box adventure (no warmup), Three nice but SLOW golfers
Course Conditions: Very good. Greens were fast but not as lightning fast as usual, fairways were green and the rough was lush. The only reason the course doesn't get an excellent is the condition of the bunkers. Most of them were just simple hard packed dirt instead of sand.
The Good: Good solid birdie following a disappointing double bogey
The Bad: Four highly preventable double bogeys, including one after landing a great drive 70 yards from the green.
The Ugly: 5 hour round and I started playing with my group on the 3rd hole!!
For the small backstory, I got caught in traffic and did not get to the course until well after my 1:45PM tee time. Sadly, it was 2:10PM. Even sadder is that a women members tournament had started at 2:00PM. The starter gave me a choice (actually not much of a choice) to either wait until 4:30PM or go join the group and just finish the last two holes when I come back around. I opted to join the group. One of the nicely dressed staff members drove me out to the teebox of the third hole where we caught up with the other members of my tee time. The three guys I was paired up with were all buddies from college and two of them seemed to have some golf skill while the third had a lot of room for improvement and clubs from the mid 1970's. And to top it all off, there was some skin in the game... Long story short, there were some extra unnecessary balls hit from the tee, too much time being spent looking for errant tee shots, too much time on the cell phone, and too much time waiting for other people to shoot.
When the ladies tournament started to catch up to us, I took it upon myself to institute some ready golf initiatives. Before the guys would break up into their "search parties" I would recommend they hit their shots first and then help look, that way we don't have to go all the way back to our balls and then hit. Then, if their balls were lost off the tee, I would recommend provisionals or point out the red stakes and give them the option. Lastly I would recommend everyone go when they were ready instead of simply waiting for the person who was out of the running for the skin to finish. Magically we finished just ahead of the first group of ladies and I had just enough time to play the first two holes before the dark of night.
Memorable Moments:
1) After skulling an 80 yard pitch from the middle of the fairway on the sixth hole (and taking a nasty double in the process), on the next hole, I fire a 7 iron to within six feet and get a nice birdie.
2) Raspberry falls is known for having the meanest bunkers in the land. So mean in fact, the meanest ones have names (Grant's Tomb, Satan's Foxhole, Deep Cotton, The Raspberry, Lee's Bunker, Motley's Revenge). I ended up in The Raspberry and Motley's Revenge, escaped them both in one stroke, and put myself within 10 feet of the cup. Sadly I didn't make the putts...
Overall a beautiful day, just wish I would have left earlier to give myself time to practice. I definitely would have shot better. But had a fun time nonetheless and the guys I was paired with were actually cool guys to be around. Hopefully in their next round they take some of the suggestions to make them faster golfers.
Until then, back to the Range, Putting Green, and the GYM! And GET TO THE COURSE ON TIME!
Next Stop: Queenstown Harbor (Tournament)
1) Golf is too Expensive
Way back when I started this blog, I wondered if golf is only for the rich. The reality is the economy is putting the squeeze on our wallets. And with the prices of equipment; apparel; greens fees and even lessons – it’s easy to give up the game. In my opinion, this is just another problem facing the golf industry. Not only is there very little going on for the average hack like myself and my golfing buddies, but there is also very little for beginners. How do you expect to attract new players to the game, when you price most of them out of it right from the start?
2) Golf is too Slow
In golf, you have to have patience. The reality of golf is it takes 4 to 5 hours to play 18-holes. And in that time, you’re actually only golfing for about 3 minutes. The rest of the time is spent waiting for others in your foursome to hit or the group ahead of you to hit (who are undoubtably waiting for the group ahead of them). However, on really bad days lately, that number is tipping the scales at 5.5 to 6 hours. And while correlation does not imply causation, it seems that the better the deal you find on GolfNow, Groupon, Living Social, or whatever website, the slower your round seems to be. Just like rounds at twilight, when the rate dips by 40% or more, are much slower than morning rounds. Some of those tee times are filled with the people who only get out four to five times a year and have a lack of knowledge (or general disdain) for the rules and etiquette of golf. And ladies and gentlemen, it only takes ONE to ruin a good day of golf. Therefore it is up to us, the avid golfers and champions of the game to bring these miscreants in line.
Which brings us to Sunday:
Date: Sunday 4/27/2014
Location: Raspberry Falls Golf and Hunt Club, Leesburg, VA
Score: 86
Excuses: Another Car to Third Tee Box adventure (no warmup), Three nice but SLOW golfers
Course Conditions: Very good. Greens were fast but not as lightning fast as usual, fairways were green and the rough was lush. The only reason the course doesn't get an excellent is the condition of the bunkers. Most of them were just simple hard packed dirt instead of sand.
The Good: Good solid birdie following a disappointing double bogey
The Bad: Four highly preventable double bogeys, including one after landing a great drive 70 yards from the green.
The Ugly: 5 hour round and I started playing with my group on the 3rd hole!!
For the small backstory, I got caught in traffic and did not get to the course until well after my 1:45PM tee time. Sadly, it was 2:10PM. Even sadder is that a women members tournament had started at 2:00PM. The starter gave me a choice (actually not much of a choice) to either wait until 4:30PM or go join the group and just finish the last two holes when I come back around. I opted to join the group. One of the nicely dressed staff members drove me out to the teebox of the third hole where we caught up with the other members of my tee time. The three guys I was paired up with were all buddies from college and two of them seemed to have some golf skill while the third had a lot of room for improvement and clubs from the mid 1970's. And to top it all off, there was some skin in the game... Long story short, there were some extra unnecessary balls hit from the tee, too much time being spent looking for errant tee shots, too much time on the cell phone, and too much time waiting for other people to shoot.
When the ladies tournament started to catch up to us, I took it upon myself to institute some ready golf initiatives. Before the guys would break up into their "search parties" I would recommend they hit their shots first and then help look, that way we don't have to go all the way back to our balls and then hit. Then, if their balls were lost off the tee, I would recommend provisionals or point out the red stakes and give them the option. Lastly I would recommend everyone go when they were ready instead of simply waiting for the person who was out of the running for the skin to finish. Magically we finished just ahead of the first group of ladies and I had just enough time to play the first two holes before the dark of night.
Memorable Moments:
1) After skulling an 80 yard pitch from the middle of the fairway on the sixth hole (and taking a nasty double in the process), on the next hole, I fire a 7 iron to within six feet and get a nice birdie.
2) Raspberry falls is known for having the meanest bunkers in the land. So mean in fact, the meanest ones have names (Grant's Tomb, Satan's Foxhole, Deep Cotton, The Raspberry, Lee's Bunker, Motley's Revenge). I ended up in The Raspberry and Motley's Revenge, escaped them both in one stroke, and put myself within 10 feet of the cup. Sadly I didn't make the putts...
Overall a beautiful day, just wish I would have left earlier to give myself time to practice. I definitely would have shot better. But had a fun time nonetheless and the guys I was paired with were actually cool guys to be around. Hopefully in their next round they take some of the suggestions to make them faster golfers.
Until then, back to the Range, Putting Green, and the GYM! And GET TO THE COURSE ON TIME!
Next Stop: Queenstown Harbor (Tournament)
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