Improving the Pace of Play

In having a quite small membership of our social club we are quite fortunate.
We do not have to wait for hours after our round for the final group to finish and we can usually get around the course quite briskly, get the presentations done, then get on with our Sunday.
Speeding up the pace of play is a huge problem for the professional tours. That is probably understandable where Professional's income is on the line. It should not be a problem for amateur players and absolutely should not be a problem for our social golf club.
It is not a huge problem for our members, however there is no doubt that we can be guilty on occasions.
The USGA has launched a "While We're Young" campaign featuring Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer, Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Clint Eastwood. Have a look at the videos :-). They offer some useful tips to speed up the play.

For our club, I think the main things we can do are:

• Speak up - let players know (in a polite way) that the player or the group needs to speed up.
• Pick up your ball - there is a reason we are playing stableford and not stroke. If you can't score on a hole, there is no shame in picking your ball up and assisting your group finish the hole. "I need the practice" is not a reasonable excuse - that should happen away from our social event.

Let's not turn this into an issue for the club.

Ian