dlwicks@sbcglobal.net

In discussions on pace of play several issues come up including:

• Members Age (we are “seniors” after all)
• Course Difficulty (Rating and Slope)
• Course Crowding – Number of players
• Course Conditions (Path Only, Rain, et al)
• Players’ Skill as measured by Handicap Index

The Pace of Play Logs are giving us lots of data on Pace Time.  Flights, scores, handicaps, tees played, and course rating and slope by tee are in OurGolfStats.  Plus we have players’ age data in our membership database.

Combining this data gives us lots of opportunity for analysis.

I wanted to better understand why Division 1 had 10 to 15 minutes slower pace the Division 2-5.  I have summarized the Division and Event data for the first 11 weeks (through 6/22/17).  This is 53 rounds representing over 4300 individual rounds of golf.

Summary Data By Division

Observations

Average Player’s Age

There is no clear relationship between pace and average age of players either by Division or by individual events. We range in average age of actual players from 68.6 to almost 73.  Division 5 is our newest and youngest.  But, Division 4, our oldest, plays at the same pace.

Course Difficulty

There was no relationship in course difficulty (Rating, or Slope or even a combination or Rating and Slope).  Why – with many of our members playing forward tees, the average slope and rating for most courses get reduced.  By averaging the actual rating and slope of tees played, the Divisions’ ratings were essentially 66+ Rating and 112+ Slope.  Even looking at events’ averages, the data was very scattered.  Other factors were far more important.

Course Crowding

There was no clear evidence of course crowding on average pace.  Most events ranged from 75 to 100 players.  At this level number of players is not a major factor on slow play.  This is why Division 5 was formed – to keep average players around 100 at most.  One event with 132 players (tee start) did slow play, but the average for that event was still better that 4:30.

Course Conditions

Although we had a lot of rain and wet conditions at the start of the season, there is simply not enough data to show any clear directions.  On many of the rain or path only events, we had fewer players.  That may have compensated for slower Path Only conditions.

Player Skill (Handicap Guide and Gross Scores)

Player Skill as measured by Handicap Guide or Gross Scores is by far the strongest factor for Division and Event Pace of Play.  There is almost perfect correlation  by Division and very strong correlation by Event.

Every 3 strokes added to the Average Gross Score for all players adds 7 minutes to the average Pace of Play.

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Now more questions

Why is Div 1 Handicap Guide so high?

Why is Div 2 Handicap Guide so low?

Are more Div 1 players playing back?  Fewer low handicap players?

The Pace of Play results are continuing to show significant improvement over 2017.  This is especially good since the wet weather and path only conditions early in the year were expected to hurt the pace.

Thanks for your cooperation on the Pace Logs.  The data is important in helping better define issues with courses, starts, conditions and differences between divisions.  More data and analysis needed, but this will lead to changes in courses and probably rules and starts.

Division 2 and 3 are especially fast, even with more players per event.   Almost all tee groups are doing a great job of keeping up with the group ahead.

The division and course summaries for 11 weeks of play are summarized below.

Key Points YTD

• 53 Events to Date
  • Average Play Time = 4:30
  • Average Fastest Times = 4:02
  • Only 4 rounds averaged over 4:55
• Division 1 is running 10 to 15 minutes slower that Division 2 – 5
  • Average Gross Score Div 1 is about 5 strokes higher
  • Average Handicap is about 2 to 4 points higher
  • More Shotgun starts than Div 2, 3, 4
  • More 5+ hour max times
• Shotgun Starts are about 10 minutes slower than Split Tee Starts
  • Reverse Shotgun – leaving holes open is slowest
  • Spreading out the B Tee Groups leads to faster overall play
• Courses difficulty, conditions and “newness” slightly increase times
  • Florissant (new, hills and blind shots)
  • Acorns (new, lots of water)
  • Bear Creek (hills, narrow, and Reverse Shotgun)

Division VPs have had discussions with a very few of our most frequently slow groups and players.  We have received some complaints.  However, we are working for cooperation and improvements. Saving 1 minute per hole for our slowest groups could virtually eliminate pace of play problems.

Keys to speedy play are:

• Staying aware and keeping up with the group ahead
• Being ready to play whenever it is safe to hit
• Helping your group move to the balls quickly and eliminate time wasters
• Using rules – Max 9 Strokes, lateral hazard drops, minimal ball searches

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Metro Seniors – Great Job!

Pace of Play for 9 weeks (about 1/3 of the season) has improved significantly over 2016.  Averages across all Divisions and courses is running about 10 to 15 minutes faster.  Tee Starts and Shotgun starts are both running faster.

Our fastest players averaged just over 4 hours across 43 events, even with the weather and path only conditions.  All players averaged 4:31.

Our 5 longest times were at Bear Creek (2 times), Florissant (new course), Belk Park and Prairies.  Bear Creek and Florissant are our most difficult courses.  Bear Creek requirements for Reverse Shotgun start creates significant crowding increasing times.  Florissant was new, had several blind tee shots with lost ball opportunities.

We still have work to do.

• 15 of 43 events had several groups that finished in over 5 hours.
• 5 of these rounds had groups finishing in 5:30 to almost 6 hours.
  • Slowest groups were
    • 30 to 60 minutes longer than the average
    • 1 to 1 1/2 longer than the fastest groups
  • Slow Pace affected increased the average pace (all players) to 4:52 – 5:08 (vs 4:30 typical)
  • Weather, Course, Conditions were factors but many groups still played at 4:30 or less.

After the first 8 weeks, only 9 members repeated in 3, 4, or 5 slow groups.  They lost significant time against the group ahead and finished with a hole or more open ahead.   They typically delayed several groups behind them.

These frequently slow groups have been asked to work with their VP to improve pace.  With improvements of as little as 1 minute per hole, we should faster averages with less delay for groups behind.

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