For years, one of the most predictable conversations in the golf shop happened after a slow round. A golfer came through the door irritated and ready with a scouting report. He knew which player took too many practice swings, which cart stayed in the wrong place and exactly how long the group ahead spent on the eighth green.
He wanted to know why we had not fixed it.
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Sometimes he was absolutely right. One foursome had fallen behind, and staff should have stepped in sooner. I also learned during my years running golf operations, including serving as head professional and general manager at Winter Park Golf Course, that the group everyone could see was not always the group that created the wait.
My first questions were about position. Was there open golf in front of them? Where had the backup first appeared? Then I wanted the starting sheet.
Those answers changed the conversation. A foursome standing on a par 3 tee with two carts behind it looks painfully slow. The picture looks different when the green is occupied and every hole in front of that group is full.
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Golfers do waste time. Golf courses also make promises through their booking sheets, and a full Saturday exposes promises the property cannot keep.
Avoid Slow Play sign on a golf course. Credit: Edgar Espe.
Every Empty Box Looks Sellable
The temptation inside a busy golf shop is easy to understand. An open starting time represents revenue, and another group wants to play. Put the names in the box and the morning is full.
Nothing on the booking screen warns the shop about the sixth hole. The green has to clear there before the next group can play. The long trip from No. 9 to No. 10 and the forced carry that sends recreational players back for another ball are missing from the grid, too.
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Those details determine how a course moves. A short par 4 may have two groups playing at once. A long par 3 can bring the entire line to a stop. If the booking interval keeps feeding golfers into that stop, the waiting area gets busier as the day goes on.
The USGA saw the effect during its study of Rancho Park Golf Course in Los Angeles. Researchers measured an average actual starting interval of 8 minutes, 10 seconds. The USGA also reported that a 90-second difference in flow had added 90 minutes to round times by the 60th group.
USGA Rancho Park study
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A small gap kept growing
Actual starts
8:10
Average interval between groups
Flow difference
90 sec.
The difference reported by the USGA
By group 60
+90 min.
Increase in round time
Read it carefully: Rancho Park shows how delay can compound through one busy day. It does not establish the correct interval for every golf course.
Source: United States Golf Association, Rancho Park Pace of Play study.
I would not copy Rancho Park’s interval and plug it into another tee sheet. Courses are too different for that. I would pay close attention to how quickly those 90 seconds piled up.
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Golf operators know why tighter spacing is attractive. The revenue from one more foursome is visible immediately. What happens after a five-hour round is scattered among the restaurant, the bag drop, the parking lot and the golfer’s decision about where to play next weekend.
That is difficult arithmetic. It still belongs in the calculation.
What I Wanted From a Ranger
A radio call about a slow group rarely included the history of the slowdown. The message usually identified a hole and perhaps a shirt color. The ranger had to do the detective work.
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An open hole gave the ranger something useful to address. I wanted the players told exactly how far they had slipped. Then the ranger could stay nearby long enough to see whether they began closing the gap. “Play faster” was easy to say and much harder for a group to act upon.
If the 11th-tee group was sitting on the heels of the next foursome, I did not want them chased. They might save 30 seconds and give it right back while waiting on the approach. The ranger had to keep driving until he found open ground. That was where the delay had a chance to be fixed.
We did not need to watch every shot. A handful of times from different points on the course usually revealed where the spacing changed. Without those notes, the foursome nearest the complaint attracted the ranger, whether it deserved the visit or not.
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I am not interested in making a course defenseless on busy days. I am interested in knowing what version of the course we put in front of the people on the tee sheet. A club championship field and a Saturday collection of members, guests, juniors and occasional players will not move through every setup the same way.
Ranger check
Do not stop at the group named in the complaint
Find the gap first
1
Check their position
Is there an open hole ahead, or are they waiting on the next group?
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2
Keep moving forward
If the holes ahead are full, follow the line until open ground appears.
3
Make the message specific
Tell the group how far it has fallen behind. If the course is full ahead, do not blame that foursome for the queue.
The operating question: Where did normal spacing disappear?
The Golfer Who Waits to Get Ready
Golfers watch the hole ahead during a busy Tuesday at Fort Myers Country Club in Southwest Florida. Courses in Fort Myers and Naples had seen a sharp year-over-year increase in December play, the kind of demand that can expose tight tee-time spacing and recurring bottlenecks.USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
I have watched this scene more times than I could count. One player stands beside the cart while his partner hits. Only after the shot lands does he walk to his own ball, pull out the rangefinder and start the club discussion. The group just spent a minute doing almost nothing.
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The practice swings get blamed because everybody notices them. Much of the waste came earlier, while nothing was happening.
Only one golfer hits at a time, but the other three do not have to freeze. One can move toward his ball. Another can settle a yardage. Somebody on the green can begin reading a putt. When his turn arrives, he is ready without feeling hurried.
Of course, I never wanted anyone to hit into the group ahead or step through a playing line to save a few seconds. Nor did I want a golfer rushing over the ball because another cart had rolled into view. Preparation takes pressure out of the routine. Panic usually puts it right back.
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I never liked telling golfers to “keep up.” It gave them nothing to work with. Tell them where they should be at the turn. Let them know which hole usually causes trouble. Later, the ranger can tell them whether they have fallen behind or are stuck in the same backup as everyone else.
After the final group comes in, somebody should look back at the day. When did the first wait appear? Did the same hole keep showing up? Was the starting interval realistic once the course filled? The answers will not all point toward the golfers.
After the last cart returns
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Five notes worth keeping from a busy day
01
First recorded waitNote the time and the hole where spacing first changed.
02
First open holeRecord where the ranger finally found open ground.
03
Starting intervalsCompare the booked times with the groups’ actual starts.
04
Repeat bottlenecksMark any hole that repeatedly gathered two or more groups.
05
Setup conditionsAdd the tees, rough and hole locations to the day’s record.
Use the record: If the same problem returns, the course has something more useful than another complaint about a shirt color.
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The customer will still walk into the shop looking for blue shirt and a white hat. I cannot blame him. Before I send the ranger after either one, though, I want the tee sheet open beside me.
PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent “The Starter” on RG.org, where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his newsletter or visit his MuckRack Profile.
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This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Sep 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the Golf section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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