The "Be Ready" Campaign

Over the past couple of years, I have somehow ended up on the mailing list of roughly 100 golf newsletters. Because of this I am constantly getting bombarded by the newest literature from the PGA Tour, which means this month I have been reminded numerous times that the next time I go to the golf course I should "Play It Forward." You see, golf courses are being hit particularly hard during the bad economy and they are trying all sorts of ways to get people to play more golf. (Well, almost all sorts of ways. The high-end courses are not about to do anything crazy like lower the price of a round of golf. That would be silly.) Anyway, the idea behind the "Play It Forward" campaign is that out of ego and pride, people are playing from tees which are too far back and we would all have more fun (and speed the game up for everyone involved), if players would simply hit from tees which are better suited for their abilities.

First off, this is never going happen. No guy is going to play from what have been known for 300 years as the 'Ladies Tees'. Our egos simply won't allow it. That ship has sailed and as such the idea is a non-starter. Plus, at the end of the day it's one shot. What about the 3, 4 or more shots that follow that tee shot on any given hole? Also not going to fly is the idea that rounds should be shortened to 12 holes. I don't care that Jack Nicklaus is the one who put it out there, it's not going to happen. Besides, I don't think chopping 6 holes off is going to make a big difference, because I don't think the time it takes to play those holes is the problem anyway. Instead, I have my own idea that I want the PGA Tour to get behind which I think is going to help speed up play. It's called "Be Ready When It's Your Turn."

The concept came to me on Saturday when I was playing golf on the Cape. At first I was happy the people ahead of me weren't ready to go when it was their turn because they had a group of four going off and as a single I was going to be waiting behind them all day long. But then one guy from the group was running late and I was able to go off before them, enjoying three holes of waiting-free golf before running into the threesome ahead of me. This was where the "Be Ready" campaign first came into my head.

I like to think I play golf like a normal person: I think about the shot I have to hit while on my way to it, make a decision about what club to use before I even get to my ball and swing quickly once I get there. Too often I think people out playing a Saturday round think they are one step away from being on the pro circuit. As such they agonize over every shot like it could be the one that propels them to the Masters, when that is far from the reality of the situation. Let's be honest, when you are 12-over through six holes, does it really matter whether you hit your 5-iron or 6? Just hit it already.

For six holes I had to wait while the woman in the group ahead of me would come out and inspect her lie, then walk off a distance, go back to the cart and choose a club, come out and take a practice swing, walk back to the cart to get a different club, only to chunk her shot 20 yards, walk slowly back to her cart, make sure everything was in its proper place before driving the 60 feet to her ball and then repeating the process. Not surprisingly, my 3-hole buffer from the group behind me was gone by the 7th hole.

Fortunately, that threesome was only playing nine holes. But, lest you think I'm picking on that one group, it also happened later. On one hole I came around the corner to find the twosome in front of me sitting in their cart, just having a chat. Their shots were in the fairway, but they didn't appear to be in any great rush to get to them and were more interested in finishing their discussion first. It was ridiculous.

So, with that in mind, here are the basic principles of the "Be Ready" campaign:
-Pick a club and go with it.
-Pay attention to the group ahead of you and play once they are out of range.
-Remember that the outcome of your game doesn't really matter.
-You can say "Hold on a second", play your shot, then finish your conversation.
-If you don't want to do these, at least let the people who do play through.

Those principles are what I think is going to help speed up play at the local courses, not playing fewer holes or from closer tees. I think if we all just stopped acting like how we play really matters then we can all relax and have a lot more fun out there. (Oh, and if you wanted to lower the price of 18 holes, that wouldn't be such a bad thing either.)