To build on new awareness and momentum created by the USGA’s “While We’re Young” campaign, more clubs and courses are devising player-friendly solutions to help support the need for a faster pace of play.

In virtually every broad-based consumer survey taken in recent years involving golf participation (or the lack thereof), the overwhelming reasons cited for not playing, or not playing more, have been time, money and difficulty—in that order. To address the leading obstacle, the United States Golf Association (USGA) has put its money where the mouths of frustrated golfers have been for years, with “While We’re Young” televised TV and video spots. And more clubs throughout the U.S. are following the USGA’s lead and answering the call for a faster pace of play.

SUMMING IT UP Consumer surveys have identified slow pace of play as the number-one obstacle to getting more people to play more golf. Only five percent of public facilities have implemented formal pace-of-play programs, but private clubs are more aggressively pursuing initiatives and marketing their successes. “Carrots” in the form of incentives and rewards for playing faster rounds are proving as effective as “sticks” that sanction golfers who are slow in getting around the course.

The majority of initiatives seen to date have been at private clubs—at a USGA-sponsored industry symposium in November, it was reported that only five percent of all public facilities in the U.S. have any sort of formal pace-of-play program in place. Private clubs, however, have seen benefits from monitoring pace more closely—through peer pressure if nothing more formal—and are promoting their success as a benefit of membership.

Finding the Pressure Points
Many of these programs employ a combination of the carrot and the stick, with players who meet or beat a posted time goal receiving a reward, and those who lag paying a penalty that can range from verbal “encouragement” by course marshals to loss of playing privileges.

Few private clubs wield a bigger stick than the policy in place at The Country Club at Castle Pines, outside Denver in Castle Rock, Colo., where members are expected to complete their rounds in no more than four hours and 20 minutes. Groups failing to hit that mark receive a letter from the club’s Golf Committee notifying them that a second over-limit round will result in their names being posted in the clubhouse for all to see, along with a suspension of playing privileges for a period of time.

“We hardly ever have to give a second letter,” says Brian Nishi, the club’s Director of Membership and Communications. “Our members are usually not mad if they get a first letter; they’re embarrassed more than anything. We give potential members an orientation before they join, and our pace-of-play policy is part of that.

“To tell the truth, I think it’s actually worked to our benefit, with some of the players from high-end daily-fee courses in our area joining here because they like our pace of play,” Nishi adds.

Hawthorn Woods (Ill.) Country Club, run by KemperSports outside Chicago, has a similar but slightly kinder and gentler program. Enforced only on weekends, the target pace is 4:10 during the first two hours of tee times, 4:20 for those in the third and fourth hours, and 4:30 for the remainder of the day. Players receive 10 minutes of leeway, but if their round exceeds that amount over their allotted pace, each member of the group receives a written letter of warning. If any of the group lags a second time, they are required to play future rounds in a time slot that fits their sluggish pace.

There are presumably more painful penalties for a third offense, but Head Professional Joe Titus says that has never been necessary. “Generally, when a group gets a first letter, at least one of them will come in or call me to discuss it,” Titus says. “Since we have records of their start time, turn time and end time, there’s usually not much debate. Since we started doing this, the pace has been significantly better.”

A Hard-to-Miss Message
In an attempt to make marketing lemonade out of slow-play lemons, Troon Golf, the world’s largest golf course operator, has implemented its “Troon Values Your Time” program at its courses worldwide. Course staffers wear that slogan on their shirts, and it is prominently displayed throughout courses as well as on websites, marketing materials and scorecards. Each Troon course has individually determined “Time Pars” to apprise players of the pace expected.

The Troon-managed Indian Wells (Calif.) Golf Resort has lopped anywhere from six to 11 minutes off the average round at its two courses since the program’s inception—a noteworthy achievement for a resort property where the tendency is for guests to “stop and smell the roses” more frequently. The resort has added other touches to speed play, including suggestions on tee sets based on player handicaps, cart GPS system reminders (including “While We’re Young” videos which play twice per round), and a variety of agronomic and maintenance fixes to the six holes that have been determined to be the slowest-playing on each course.

The resort’s Pace of Play Committee, comprised of members of the golf, agronomy and F&B staffs, also came up with a win-win home run, reports Director of Golf Joe Williams. “Time Par” at one of Indian Wells’ courses has been set at 4:33, and players are given a card with their start time and the promise that if they finish in less than 4:33, the card can be redeemed for either an appetizer or cocktail priced at $4.33.

“We actually have people asking our marshals during their round if they think they’re going to make the Time Par,” Williams says. “If they’re running behind, they may even skip a hole, just to make sure they get their cocktail! Our guests enjoy it, and it works for us, because they have to come into the clubhouse for their appetizer or drink, and that gives us additional opportunities for F&B or pro shop revenue. It has definitely worked for us all the way around.”

FarmLinks Golf Club at Pursell Farms in Sylacauga, Ala., the world’s only research and demonstration course, staged a special “living lab” experiment in November to test various strategies for speeding up play. The course attracted 65 players for $99 each (nearly 30 percent off the normal weekend rate), with the goal of having everyone finish in three-and-a-half hours. In addition to getting logoed “3.5 Club” apparel,  players were schooled in pace-improvement practices that included cutting time searching for lost balls to one minute or less; playing “ready golf” (hitting after reaching your ball, even if not away); and eliminating needless ball-marking on the green.

FarmLinks staff marked pace at various checkpoints and interviewed players during and after their rounds. “They felt the biggest thing that helped was playing ready golf,” says FarmLinks Director of Golf Terry Davis. “They thought they’d have to run between holes to make it in 3.5 hours, but realized they didn’t. We tried to sell it as, ‘If you can play in three and a half hours, you’ll have more family time afterward.’ ”

Taking It Public
Daily-fee courses must walk a tightrope between alienating slow-playing (but paying) customers with repeated admonishments, or ignoring the frustration of the groups behind the laggards. In El Paso, Texas, the Butterfield Trail Golf Club has been successfully balancing these challenges, reports General Manager Val D’Souza, by approaching pace-of-play improvement as part of a larger service initiative.

“Two years ago, we began scripting our starter on what to tell customers, keeping a pace clock on carts, and generally training our on-course ‘hosts’ to be more proactive than reactive,” D’Souza reports. “Our hosts introduce themselves to players on the course, and let them know they’re there to manage the pace, but also to serve the players by ordering F&B or helping them with anything they might need.”

The Butterfield Trail staff offers lots of smiles, but there is a firm fist beneath the velvet glove. The course employs a three-strike system, D’Souza says. The first warning comes when a group is determined to be out of position. If that group is still behind two holes later, the on-course “host” offers to serve as a quasi-forecaddie, to help with finding balls, raking traps, tending the pin, etc. If, after two more holes, the group is still lagging, the host will ask them to skip a hole to catch up.

If that becomes necessary and the group has to interrupt their play to either catch up or quit, the course will offer a rain check to come back some other time, even if they keep playing after skipping a hole. And when golfers are moving swiftly through their rounds or exhibiting best practices for fast play, Butterfield Trails staffers are authorized to reward those players with a cooler of soft drinks or a chit for free appetizers after their rounds.