Laing also lays blame on his belief that America treats golf as a business. Having paid their money, people figure they can take as much time as they want in a round. Likewise, courses fail or refuse to takes steps to speed up play for frear of irritating "the customer."
All of Laing's points are legitimate. But Laing also seems to have a slight bias against golfers like me, those who never have and never will play to a single-digit handicap. For example, in asserting that more golfers should use match play to speed things along, he says, "The average amateur has no business worrying about how many strokes he is taking for eighteen holes until his official handicap is less than ten." There's a couple problems with that.
First, the handicap is what makes match play most fair. It tells the golfers who, if anyone, is entitled to a stroke or two on any particular hole. Yet a golfer's handicap is generally based on the best 10 of his last 20 rounds of golf. While the handicap system does allow a golfer to record their "most likely score" on a hole they do not complete, that may not produce the most accurate handicap. After all, how many of us have not two-putted from 5 feet? Granted, posting full 18-hole medal scores isn't crucial but those of us with handicaps between 10 and 18 still enjoy those rare occasions where we legitimately broke 80 (or other magic number).
Second, my personal experience is that low handicap players are the biggest offenders when it comes to spending an inordinate amount of time over a ball or putting. I have waited more often on those players than people at my level of play. We mid-handicappers tend to view the game as just that — a game played for enjoyment. We're not out there worrying about our handicaps or some convoluted betting game like many single digit handicappers.
At bottom, though, Laing is on a crusade I wholly support and many more golfers need to join. Moreover, he hits the ball squarely in starting with and reiterating the importance of consideration for other golfers. While the increasingly slow pace on golf courses likely correlates with the upsurge in the number of people playing, I don't blame it on numbers alone. When I learned to play golf, the teaching pro at my municipal course made sure you not only learned the mechanics, you learned courtesy and etiquette and your impact on the people playing behind and around you.
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.