"Slow Play a Shared Responsibility"

"Slow Play a Shared Responsibility," by David Newbery in the September 2016 issue of Inside Golf Australia, interviewed pace of play expert Bill Yates during his July 2016 visit in Australia to work with courses and speak at various venues.

Newbery describes myths that Yates has exploded about slow play and its causes, course management, player responsibility and behavior, course loading, and others, even down to hole sequence on a course. Yates explains, for example, how a par 5 followed by a par 3 creates an immediate slow play problem as the three groups accommodated on a par 5 hole have nowhere to go when they get to the par 3 hole. Newbery cites Yates’ insights about pace and flow from his research and his experience consulting with the world’s major golf associations and their championships, and with several hundred courses.

[excerpt] "When I suggested to Yates that a good game is a fast game, he nodded politely and then suggested, ‘A good game is a smooth game. We are not trying to make people go faster, we are trying to make them go smoothly around the course. What everybody hates on the golf course is waiting....The trick of golf is to get the right flow. That starts by getting the correct starting intervals for the course.’ At Mission Hills Country Club in California, Yates suggested that the club needed three different tee times for its three courses – 8 minutes for one course, 9 minutes for another and 10 minutes for the third, and it now works wonderfully well.” --Author David Newbery

Click to see the full article.

Testimonials

"We cut more than 30 minutes off our average 18-hole round."

Dane Bohrer, PGA, General Manager
"Our pace of play is much better and our members love it."

Alice Plain, PGA, Director of Golf
Vail Golf Club, Colorado
"Bill Yates is the Guru of pace of play."

Paul Spengler, Executive VP
Pebble Beach Golf Links, California
"Bill Yates unquestionably provides the most enlightening analysis of pace of play I have ever seen."

Terry Florence, Director of Golf
Wild Dunes Golf Resort, South Carolina
"What Bill did for us was fantastic. Every golf course should adopt his approach."

Rod Cochrane, General Manager
Predator Ridge Resort, British Columbia
"I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for us."

Shawn Smith, Director of Golf
Pebble Beach Resort, California
"It’s the best money I’ve ever spent. It’s like you’ve given me an additional course to use."

Perry Cooper, Golf Manager
Jasper Park Lodge, Canada
"We have now put 3:57 on all our range balls."

Alan McGregor, General Manager
St Andrews, Scotland
"Your training sharpened our focus on quality."

Nathan Stith, Director of Golf
Doral Golf Resort and Spa, Florida
"Thanks to Pace Manager, we can now communicate with each other and our guests with facts."

Brian Shaw, Head Golf Professional
Doonbeg Golf Club, Ireland
"Our members and guests couldn’t be more pleased!"

Cary Corbitt, Director of Sports & Operations
Harbour Town Golf Links, South Carolina
"Your program was not an expense; it was a sound investment."

Terry Boldt, Golf Division Manager
City of Calgary Municipal Courses, Canada
"Magnifique!"

Alexis Davet, General Manager
Golf de la Grande Bastide, Provence
"You’ve made a great difference. I always recommend you to other courses."

Frank Jemsek, Owner
Cog Hill Country Club, Illinois
"Thanks to you, we have experienced two magical years of smooth flowing golf and exceptional pace"

Steve Harker, Mgr. Performance Excellence
Osprey Ridge at Disney World, Florida
"We continue to see marked improvement and exceptional quality."

Gregg Lindquist, General Manager
Desert Willow Golf Resort, California
"Thanks to you, the pace of play was better than it’s been in years, even during the Thursday and Friday rounds."

Dawn Coe-Jones, LPGA Tour Player
U.S. Women's Open Championship, Pumpkin Ridge, Oregon
"The pace of play in this championship was better than it has ever been."

David Pepper, R&A Championship Comm. Chair
The Open Championship, Muirfield, Scotland