"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
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"We cut more than 30 minutes off our average 18-hole round."
"Our pace of play is much better and our members love it."
"Bill Yates is the Guru of pace of play."
"Bill Yates unquestionably provides the most enlightening analysis of pace of play I have ever seen."
"What Bill did for us was fantastic. Every golf course should adopt his approach."
"I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for us."
"It’s the best money I’ve ever spent. It’s like you’ve given me an additional course to use."
"We have now put 3:57 on all our range balls."
"Your training sharpened our focus on quality."
"Thanks to Pace Manager, we can now communicate with each other and our guests with facts."
"Our members and guests couldn’t be more pleased!"
"Your program was not an expense; it was a sound investment."
"Magnifique!"
"You’ve made a great difference. I always recommend you to other courses."
"Thanks to you, we have experienced two magical years of smooth flowing golf and exceptional pace"
"We continue to see marked improvement and exceptional quality."
"Thanks to you, the pace of play was better than it’s been in years, even during the Thursday and Friday rounds."
"The pace of play in this championship was better than it has ever been."