Position of Bags or Carts
When players are approaching the green, golf bags or carts should be positioned to allow for quick and efficient movement off the green towards the next tee.
Marking Score Cards
While it is strongly recommended that players remain at the green to watch the other players in their group hole out, the marking of score cards should not be done at the green if this may delay play of the group behind. Mark score cards on the way to or at the next tee. That said, the player who is first to play from the next tee should play first and then mark the card.
Playing a Provisional Ball
Ball searches and lost balls are a feature of golf, but they do cause delay. However, the delay can be significantly minimised if the player whose ball might be in danger of being lost has played a provisional ball. A player should play a provisional ball if they think that their ball may be out of bounds or if there is any possibility that it may be lost, other than when it is clearly in a water hazard.
The result of playing a provisional ball is that the player will not have to return to the spot of the previous stroke to put another ball into play. Another practical result is that often, having played a provisional ball, the player is less concerned with taking the full five minutes to search for the original ball in the knowledge that the hole can be completed with the provisional ball.
Watching the Flight of the Ball Carefully
The problem of lost balls can be significantly reduced if all players in a group make a conscious effort to watch each other’s shots and their own shots as carefully and as often as possible. This will result in less searching time and fewer lost balls.
'Ready Golf'
Playing “ready golf” is permissible in stroke play and can improve pace of play. Even if the management at a course has not made a request for players to play “ready golf”, players in stroke play can agree to do so.
Choosing an Appropriate Form of Play
The vast majority of golf is not overseen by a committee or other administrator, which means it is the golfers themselves who decide how many players will be in their groups and what the form of play will be. The choices that are made will impact on how long it takes to play.
If golfers wish to play a form of stroke play, then it is best if they don’t play in four-balls when the time taken to play is a concern. Similarly, pace of play is likely to be better if they use a modified form of stroke play such as Stableford or bogey/par.
As stated above, if players wish to play quickly, they should consider playing in smaller groups and/or playing match play, which tends to be a faster form of play.
Choosing an appropriate time to play
If golfers want to play quickly, they should attempt to get one of the first starting times of the day and set the pace or choose a quieter time of the day when the course may be under-utilised -
While all this info may or may not be useful to you, take away from it what you can, remain aware of what you can do, as an individual player to "keep the game moving" and as always the ultimate goal is to, "enjoy the game" Happy golfing, Lisa GFGC ctte