Our goal is to play our round of golf in 4:30, and that means we need to play Ready Golf. This means playing ready golf and/or continuous putting which are both allowed in stroke play. Keep in mind that while there are no penalties under the Rules of Golf for violating order of play.
Official Policy
Before any tournament round is started, each group is considered to be warned.
Once each group tees off the first hole of the tournament - each group is on the clock. Each group will have their finishing times recorded, when the last member of the group has holed their last shot.
If the following group does not finish within 15 minutes of the group in front of them - EACH MEMBER OF THE GROUP WILL BE PENALIZED 2 STROKES.
Each group will receive an offical "Pace Monitor" within their group to monitor the group's pace and assist with ready golf. This monitor will be a randomly chosen player in the group and will be assigned by the tour director.
Course Officials (Rangers) will have full authority to notify groups when they have fallen behind to speed up their play. They have been instructed by tour officials to be polite, friendly, but direct and firm with players. Any actions taken against a course ranger will be consider actions taken against a tour offical and will not be tolerated. Their role is to assist the pace of play.
Pace of Play Committee: Andy Bischoff, Karen Ford, & Mark Wilson - The committee has been formed to provide an educational awareness to the membership to better understand how to play ready golf. Please seek them out at tournaments for questions. In addition they will be volunteering their time after their tournament rounds to monitor the pace of play on the course.
2016 Tour Policy
Each group will be
expected to finish within 15 minutes of the group in front of them. All
groups will be timed for their completion times. If a group
finishes outside of the 15 minute time limit a 2 stroke penalty will be applied
to EACH member of the group, no exceptions. Slow play will not be tolerated, consider yourself warned
on the first tee box.
Ready Golf defined
Our goal is to play our
round of golf in 4:30, and that means we need to play Ready Golf. Ready Golf is
simply defined as HIT WHEN READY. If you reach your ball and are ready to hit,
while other members of your group are not yet prepared, then go ahead and hit.
Keep in mind that while there are no penalties under the Rules of Golf for
violating order of play in Stroke play. Course Rangers will have the ability to issue
warnings to slow groups. Pace Monitors in groups will have authority to
encourage faster play within groups.
TRIPLE BOGEY
The maximum score on any
hole is triple bogey. Players MUST pick up their ball and help their group finish
the hole as quickly as possible.
WAVE UP PAR 3s
If your group has not
removed the pin from the hole on ANY par 3 and a group is waiting on the tee
box, please wave them up.
CONTINUOUS PUTTING
All players are encouraged to play ready golf and to finish their putting
and not mark short putts. Players should announce their intentions to
finish and confirm their playing partner’s acceptance.
MOVE QUICKLY
All players should play
ready golf and move quickly and diligently throughout the round.
WORK AS A TEAM
Rake bunkers for your
playing partners, help them look for lost balls, pick up clubs, play ready
golf, be positive. Be respectful – but play when ready.
CART PROTOCAL
DRIVERS of carts should DROP
OFF their partners, let them CHOOSE their clubs (take
extra ones if required), DRIVE to their own balls, and
then get READY to play. DRIVERS
should NOT wait for their partners to hit the shot and then drive to their own
balls to make their shots.
Here are some useful tips provided by the USGA to improve pace of play
Tips for improving pace of play
- Each member of a group should proceed directly to his or her ball. The group should not travel as a pack, going to first to one ball, then the next, and so on.
- While walking (or riding) to your ball, use the travel time to begin thinking over your next shot - the yardarge, which club you'll use, and so on. Begin preparing before you get to your ball.
- If sharing a cart, don't drive to the first ball, wait for the first player to hit, then head to the second ball. Drop the first player off at his ball, drive on ahead to the second ball. The first player should walk over to the cart as the second player is playing his shot.
- When using a cart on a cart-path-only day, be sure to take a couple of clubs with you when you walk from the cart to the ball. This way, you won't have to return to the cart if you discover you didn't bring the appropriate club.
- Carry a few extra tees, ball markers and a spare ball in your pockets so you don't have to return to your golf bag to retrieve them, should you find yourself in need of one.
- When you think your shot might have landed out of bounds or be lost, immediately hit a provisional ball. Don't walk ahead to search, only to have to return to the original spot to replay a shot.
- Limit your search for lost balls. If you're not following the rules anyway, don't spend more than a minute searching - or just immediately play your provisional. (If you are playing by the rules, wave through any group behind that is being held up by your search.)
- Never hold up play because you're in the middle of a conversation. Put the conversation on hold, take your stroke, then continue the conversation.
- On the green, begin lining up your putt and reading the break as soon as you reach the green. When it's your turn to putt, be prepared to step right up and take the stroke.
- Leave your bags or golf carts to the side of the green, and in the direction of the next tee, never in front of the green.
- Never stand on or next to the green after holing out in order to write down your score. Write it down when you reach the next tee.
- If all else fails, try playing "ready golf," which simply means that order of play is based on who's ready, not who's away.
- Use the groups ahead of you and behind you to gauge your pace. If the group that teed off directly in front of you is pulling away - putting a full hole's distance between them and your group - you need to speed up. If there's no one in front of you holding you up, but you are holding up those behind you, either speed up or allow the trailing group to play through.
Pace of play can be boiled down to two simple phrases: be prepared and be ready to play.
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