8 minute tee time intervals, too close?

DonM

My new course uses 8 minutes between tee times. It's a busy course, and rounds are on the slow side. I've never paid too much attention to the tee time intervals. What does your course use? What's the best balance between revenue and happy golfers?

SMT

DonM What's the best balance between revenue and happy golfers?

COMPETENT Rangers

Par4QC

SMT LOL, you should know by now, there are no rangers out anywhere. Maybe a country club, but even there, that would be kind of foolish also.
Courses are just too packed any more to have a ranger go around and tell players to 'speed up'; no one is going to do it and no one can play through anyway. And....no one is going to get kicked off a course, not in my area.

5somes are a big thing now at almost every course. Why would they have a ranger????

SVonhof

My local muni does 8 minute spacing and it's too close and causes slow rounds. I think even going 8, 9, 8, 9... would help.

From what I have seen, rangers these days rarely do anything to speed play other than maybe going back to look for a club somebody left behind.
The only exception was a tournament I was in last Jan when the ranger was ON our group as we were holding people up severely. They made one group skip a hole, but it should have been 6 groups skipping a hole. My group was second and we were on the 16th green and the last group (8 groups) was on the tee box of 11. The final group finished 1:30 after my group finished.

Typhoon

SVonhof The final group finished 1:30 after my group finished.

Like I was saying, people don't give a shit if they are holding people up. the mentaily is, ' I paid my money, I'll do what I want"

Typhoon

We do 10 minute tees times. We could do 8 but nobody is ever on time. Until we start telling people you missed your time, tough shit go home, it won't get better. And until people learn something about playing the game it won't get better. I've gone out and people are just clueless because they don't know anything about when to hit, where to stand, letting groups play through. And these new golfers also don't give a shit about anyone other than themselves.

We don't have a ranger. And to be honest, I can't believe people don't complain. People come in and all you hear is what a great time they had, how nice the course was, how friendly everyone is and they can;t wait to come back. I just scratch my head...5 hour rounds in carts on a short course with 1 hill. I look over at the 10th tee and see a 3 group back up because they all go inside for a hot dog and beer to go but wait 20 minutes for a hot dog... and they don't mind!🙄.

Walterjn

Typhoon wait 20 minutes for a hot dog.

What the hell is wrong with the snack shack?? Why don't they have dogs ready??

SMT

Typhoon Like I was saying, people don't give a shit if they are holding people up. the mentaily is, ' I paid my money, I'll do what I want"

Agreed.
You absolutely can do 10 minutes times, 12 minute times 15 minutes or more. But the cost to play jumps wildly.

Golf is still a business. Businesses have rules. If you want 15 minute spacing and are willing to pay out your butt for it, there is still the limitation that if you fall too far behind, you will be asked to pick up or leave.

SVonhof

Typhoon SVonhof The final group finished 1:30 after my group finished.

Like I was saying, people don't give a shit if they are holding people up. the mentaily is, ' I paid my money, I'll do what I want"

I was the tournament director and in the results e-mail, I had scathing words about how bad it made our league look to the course that we were guests of and how we CANNOT ever let it happen again. Things have been better this year at the rest of the tournaments. Still a few slow people, but overall it has improved.

It always shocks me that people cannot realize that they have not seen the group in front of them for 2 holes and they don't attempt to go any faster at all.

sdandrea1

Typhoon Like I was saying, people don't give a shit if they are holding people up. the mentaily is, ' I paid my money, I'll do what I want"

THIS is the problem.....and it only takes 1 group.

DonM

Par4QC We in a huge gated community. The "rangers" are neighbors and friends of many
other golfers, so they are not going to do anything to make enemies.

I'd like to see a technology solution. For instance an app. the starter logs you in on his tablet as you tee off. You can check the app and see if you are behind. The reason you might actually do that is that at the end, you have to have the starter log you as round complete. With some good modeling in the app, the course could find out who is slowing things down. This is especially true for the 325 members. We already have a points system that gets you or loses you priority in bookings. For instance if you make a booking and are a no show, you lose points.
But if you were a slow player, you'd lose points. Or maybe you'd lose access to some prime times. Other operations could do something else with the data. Maybe just send a friendly email that evening saying "your group took 4:46 to play but the group ahead of you only took 4:15. This backed up everyone behind your group. If you would like some easy tips on how to play faster without really trying, please see (our website page on it)."

Just my thoughts on how someone could make a lot of money writing a slow play app for courses to subscribe to.

I have seen that some clubs are buying or heavily discounting the on-cart GPS systems for installation in their members private carts. Because it lets the course track them, send automated messaging that they are behind, etc. I'm betting that's really an expensive proposition.

Par4QC

DonM I have seen that some clubs are buying or heavily discounting the on-cart GPS systems for installation in their members private carts. Because it lets the course track them, send automated messaging that they are behind, etc. I'm betting that's really an expensive proposition.

1 muni here has that. It tells you if you are behind & all kinds of other 'goodies'.
Plus, the damned cart slows almost to a stop if you even get close to where you should not be(too close to green), or off the cart path. Look up at the screen, and it's like Mom, staring you down, shaking her fist.

You'd think they all(a couple do) would have the menu screen come up, where you can order food, and pick it up without a long wait, at the turn......where all holdups/backups occur.

garyt1957

DonM carts with GPS do that
They'll tell you how many minutes behind you are. Not sure it does any good, the slow ones likely will blame someone else.

Jelopster

DonM I'd like to see a technology solution. For instance an app. the starter logs you in on his tablet as you tee off. You can check the app and see if you are behind. The reason you might actually do that is that at the end, you have to have the starter log you as round complete. With some good modeling in the app, the course could find out who is slowing things down.

garyt1957 carts with GPS do that
They'll tell you how many minutes behind you are.

I hear the Disney courses do this and are pretty strict in enforcement. I’m playing the Palm on 12/1. Will let you know how it goes

Sneakylong

Most places we play do 8 minutes apart.

accufitgolf

Our Rangers are older, retired guys that get compensated with free green fees and free golf carts. Some are more active as in keep things moving then others are. Some do not like confrontation and will not say anything. The member groups I play in have set tee times so typically the public is not playing when we are and as we all know each other we will come down on slow play.

bogeypro

8 minutes between foursomes?

Sometimes it seems like it takes 8 minutes between tee shots for the guys IN my foursome

Typhoon

bogeypro
Yeah, takes people FOREVER to tee off. I go inside the shop and I come back out and think its another group theyre so friggin slow. And I'm a proponent of shortest hitter goes first... still something that doesn't register in the minds of most here.

DC300

Typhoon yep, when I golf with others, I just send them to the tee if there’s a group in front of us, if we wait for them to clear my range, most of the time that’s the whole group hitting second and third shots, then I hit, then my group hits, just more of a log jam. That’s not so much indicative of my game as it is of how bad the people in front of us are. One bonus of using a hybrid off the tee is I can usually hit after they get to their second shot. Finding a decent golfer on a public course right now is like a needle in a haystack.

DC300

Ya just have to accept it, it’s going to be slow, the plandemic got a whole new generation of first timers out there and they still want to play. They suck, they have no etiquette and they look for every damn ball. If you let it get to you, your day will be ruined.

Typhoon

DC300 You are sooo right on all counts there Darren.

garyt1957

DC300 Finding a decent golfer on a public course right now is like a needle in a haystack.

I resemble that remark!

Typhoon

Walterjn What the hell is wrong with the snack shack?? Why don't they have dogs ready??

We’ve been wondering that all year!

Typhoon

sdandrea1 One of the older guys went out because there was a huge gap at the turn. He went out and the group, with their big American flag attached to the back of the cart , told him we paid our money…. We threw them off the course and gave them a refund for the unplayed holes.