I started playing golf as a youngster more than 35 years ago. In the early 1990s, though, I walked off the public course I normally played and didn't pick up a club for about five years. Why? Neither my temperament nor my personal life could handle taking 4 1/2 to 5 hours or more to play 18 holes.
For that reason, W. Eric Laing's America! What Have You Done to the Auld Game? should be right in my sweet spot. In it, Laing, a self-described "grumpy old Scotsman," uses a semi-autobiographical approach in lamenting and attacking how long it takes play a round of golf in the U.S. these days. While I wholeheartedly agree, Laing tends to overclub.
Laing starts where every golfer should — the rules of golf. Laing builds his case on Section I of the rules. It is entitled "Etiquette" and the first entry is "consideration for other players." Laing hits it straight and true when he points out that much of the slow play today results from ignorance of simple courtesies that speed the game along for everyone on the course. Laing tells of personal experiences many of us have shared.
There's the guy who's walking back and forth on the fairway in range of the tee box talking on his cell phone while the rest of his foursome is up near the green. There's the foursome that sees a twosome catching up to it and, through ignorance or spite, refuses to let the twosome play through. There's the guys that look over each putt from four or more angles, plumb bob it each time and then start the same several minute procedure over again each time they run the putt past the hole because they never saw the line to begin with.
Where the overclubbing occurs is in repetition. For example, the book repeats the following basic argument in several chapters: Pro golfers play to put food on their table. Therefore, each shot and putt is critical to them. That is not so for amateurs. Thus, amateurs should stop imitating all the things they see the pros do during televised tournaments. Similarly, Laing repeatedly says match play (where the winner is decided by who "won" the most holes rather than total score) would speed things along. I'm a huge fan of match play and that is undoubtedly true. But after having realized Laing's interest in this alternative, the reader tends to weary of having it repeated and repeated. It becomes too much like the mulligans he (rightfully) condemns.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
gawd, there are so many 'lack of consideration' problems. like: in a foursome, more than one person really can hit at the same time. also, standing around on the green and recording scores is a great way to make yourself a target.
and, my biggest pet peeve (and sort of related to the last bit)...leaving your bag on the wrong side of the green.
it all adds up.
p.s. i don't play anymore. i lost it out on the course a few years ago, snapped a bunch of clubs over my knee.
2 - Bliffle
Yup, it's slowed down horribly since back in the days when my buddy Arnie (Smith, not Palmer) and i could play 2 rounds before dark if we started at 4PM on lovely city courses. That was in the 50s before TV golf ruined things. Now I just play a nice little par 3 9 holer within a short walk of the house: it goes up and down like crazy, but all I need is a 2 iron, 8 iron and putter (optional: you can use the 2 iron and putt lefthanded) and a couple balls in my pocket. Makes a nice heart-healthy hike too, as the hills are frequent and steep.