TPC Pace of Play

1. TPC Pace of Play CREATED BY: Pace of Play Committee

2. Contents • Objectives • Statistics • Key Indicators • Day of steps • Best Practices • Tips for slow play

3. Objectives • To educate both the members, guests and Professional staff of the TPC Network on proper pace of play practices and procedures. • Provide statistics involving pace of play from the TPC courses as well as local area golf courses. • Illustrate several “best practices” that are currently being used throughout the network. • Recognizing a potential problem and ways of being proactive in dealing with them.

4. Statistics Private Daily Fee / Resort • 4:10 average pace of play • 17 – 30 thousand rounds per year depending on length of season. • 11 of 12 TPC Private Courses have beverage carts. All believe they slow the pace of play. • Currently, 10 of 12 clubs feel that pace of play is an issue at their course. The problem mainly arises when they exceed 100 rounds or when they hold a tournament or golf gathering. • 4:30 average pace of play • Two course facilities: 80,000+ rounds • 25,000 rounds played from other network daily fee facilities. • All six daily fee courses have beverage cart; 5 of 6 believe that they slow down the pace of play. • Currently, 5 of 6 clubs feel that pace of play is an issue at their facility. The problem mainly arises due to the difficulty of the golf course.

5. Stats. Continued Private Daily Fee / Resort • Tee Time Intervals: 10 of 12 have 10 minute intervals; the other two courses base their interval on the time of day. • 90 rounds is considered busy by the TPC Private clubs; 135 “busy” days per season average. • Only 2 of 12 clubs put players on a particular tee box based on skill level. • 100% of clubs don’t limit the number of rounds per day. • Tee Time Intervals: average tee time interval is 9 minutes. • 150 rounds is considered busy by the destination and daily fee courses. • Course Advisors are a greater presence in the Resort Clubs. Sawgrass has 15 course advisors on staff and all clubs utilize multiple advisors each day. • No Destination club puts players on particular tee boxes based on skill levels. However, they do suggest prior to the round.

6. Analyzing Statistics • Pace of Play is 20 minutes longer for the Destination and Daily fee courses. - This is likely a result of larger number of daily rounds. • Beverage carts are used at all but one TPC course and most believe that they slow the pace of play down. - Beverage carts are a necessary evil on the golf course and although they may slow down the pace of play, proper training of the beverage cart staff can help the pace. • Private clubs have a pace of play issue when they exceed their normal number of daily rounds (90) while the Destination clubs have a pace of play problem due to the difficulty of the golf course. - Private clubs may need to be more proactive in scheduling a second course advisor on days that are above 100 rounds.

7. Reasons for Slow Play • Tee time intervals to close together. • Not playing “Ready Golf”. • Players playing from the wrong set of tee. • Course design. • Course maintenance and setup. • Playing a crowded course as a twosome. • Trying to put to many players on the course.

8. Signs there may be an issue • One week prior you are already at a number of rounds level that you would consider a “busy” day. • High number of “unaccompanied” guests on the tee sheet. • Having to go to “cart path only”. • A golf gathering shotgun fit in the middle of regular guest play. • Members that are known “pace of play” problems in the middle of a large number of tee times.

9. Day of Procedures • What you’ve done to be prepared for an issue is the first step. • Communication; Communication; Communication! - Golf professional communicates to the outside staff, the outside staff communicates to the guests and the outside staff communicates to the professional staff any potential issue on the course. - Example: If the starter witnesses a group that has a real issue getting off the 1st tee, he needs to communicate that with both the course advisor and professional staff so action can be taken before a pace of play problem develops. • Approach with players - The approach you have with golfers will have a direct effect on not only the speed in which they play, but also the type of experience they have at your facility. - If all that you do as a staff is berate and reprimand players for slow play, their day will be negatively effected and may be less likely to return. Many times, players want to play faster but may just need information on how to improve their pace of play.

10. Day of Procedures • The outside operation staff has the most direct contact with the members and guests. Properly training the staff on pace of play expectations and how to communicate those expectations is vital. • Don’t wait for a problem to occur, be Proactive not Reactive!! • They way you have interacted with the members and guests will, in many ways, dictate their willingness to improve their pace of play.

11. TPC Pace of Play Best Practices A look into what the best facilities are doing to quicken the pace of play.

12. Best Practices • Personal Rangers: a small device that is placed on the steering wheel of the golf cart. This device tells the players where they should be on the golf course at that particular time. For example, it will say 2:15 minutes / 10th Fairway; this lets all parties (players and staff) know that this group should be in the 10th fairway. • Pace of Play Clocks: clocks set on the golf course that are set in such a way that they will always read the time in which you teed off provided you are on pace. For example, if you tee off at 10:00 all the clocks you see on the course should read 10:00. If the clocks begin to read 10:10, 10:22 and 10:34 you know that you have fallen behind the expected pace of play. • Forecaddies: A forecaddie can assist pace of play in a number of ways. For example, they often know where golf balls are before the players get to their golf balls saving time looking for lost balls. Also, having someone in a group that knows the golf course is a tremendous asset in the effort to maintain a good pace of play.

13. GPS • Pros of GPS: - Allows players to know distances to the pin and hazards which save time looking for sprinklers and walking off yardages. - Has the ability to display the pace of play so the players will see how many minutes they are behind or ahead of pace. - Allows the professional staff to send messages to the players via the cart to inform them of a need to speed up their play. - Over the past three years, GPS has become an industry standard for many high end resort and private golf courses.

14. Tips to Speed Play • Always be prepared to hit when it is your turn. • Leave your bag or golf cart on the side of the green nearest the next tee. • If you are holding up a group behind you and there are holes open ahead of you, let others play through. • Be on time to and ready to hit at your starting time. • Try and pair up if you are a twosome on a busy day. • Use the proper tees for your game. • Move golf cart to back of green before going to putt. • Record score at the next tee box not the green.

15. Conclusion • Purpose of an effective pace of play? - Remember, the purpose to an effective pace of play is to make the golfing experience the best possible for all of the golfers that day. If a group is playing very slow but they aren’t holding any other groups up they aren’t a pace of play issue. Plan Communicate Communicate Proactive, not Reactive!