Pace of Play

A round of golf is meant to be played at a prompt pace. (Rules of Golf: Rule 5.6.). Each player should recognize that her pace of play is likely to affect how long it will take other players to play their rounds, including both those in the player’s own group and those in following groups.

HGC ‘Time Par’ for a 3- ball stroke play competition: (Reference Appendix E - COVID-19 - RETURN TO GOLF GUIDE (v13 )

Players should aim to complete a 3-ball stroke play competition round in 4 hours or under:

- After 1 hour you should be on or beyond the 6th tee;

- After 2 hours you should be on or beyond the 10th tee;

- After 3 hours you should be at least halfway down the 14th

Simple Measures to Speed up Play

1) Ready Golf (except for Matchplay):

• Hitting a shot when safe to do so if a player farther away faces a challenging shot and is taking time to assess their options or walking to their ball
  
• Shorter hitters playing first from the tee or fairway if longer hitters have to wait
• Hitting a tee shot when you are ready – do not wait for the person with the “honour”
• Hitting a shot before helping someone to look for a lost ball
• Putting out even if it means standing close to someone else’s line
  
• Marking scores upon immediate arrival at the next tee, except that the first player to tee off marks their card immediately after teeing off
  
  

2) Be Aware of your position on the course: your place on the golf course is immediately behind the players in front, not in front of the players behind.  If your group is holding up a group behind, move on briskly or call them through. It is your group’s responsibility to keep up with the group in front.

3) Speak Up: If your group is falling behind a special effort needs to be made to catch up. It is everybody’s duty in the group to be aware and speak up.

4)  Pick Up: If you have used up your quota of shots or can’t improve on your partner’s score, pick up and move on.

Did you know? If each player in a four-ball takes 5 seconds less to play each shot, the round time can be improved by over 25 min

https://www.randa.org/en/pace-of-play-manual/rules/2-management-practices/subrules/5-ready-golf

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