Faster golf, not rushed golf

I lost six shots on the back nine once because I let someone rush me during a tournament round.

It was a local stroke play competition. I was walking, she was riding, and we were level after nine. Then she started pulling away to the next tee while I was still coming off the green, parking up, and waiting. Every hole.

So I hurried. Nobody asked me to. She never said a word. But you feel somebody sitting there watching you walk, and you stop doing the things you were doing on the front nine, and six shots later the round is gone.

Here is what took me years to work out. I did not play faster that day. I played rushed. They are not the same thing, and the difference is the whole purpose of this post.

What actually takes the time

Almost none of it is the shot.

A golf swing takes about a second and a half. Even if you take two practice swings, stand there, back off, and start again, you are talking about a minute a hole at the very worst.

The time goes everywhere else. Walking to the wrong ball first. Getting to your ball and only then starting to think about what club. Leaving the cart on the far side of the green. Walking back to the tee because nobody hit a provisional. Standing on the green filling in the card while the group behind waits on the fairway.

The good news is every single one of those can be fixed without touching your pre-shot routine or hitting a single shot faster.

The things that actually save time

Think while you are walking

Pick your club on the way to the ball, not when you get there. By the time you arrive you should be deciding between two clubs, not starting from scratch. This one is worth more than all the others put together.

Always hit a provisional

If there is any doubt at all, hit one. Walking back to the tee is the single biggest time loss in golf, and it is the one that makes you feel most watched. Thirty seconds now, five minutes saved.

Park on the way out

Leave the cart, or your bag, on the side of the green you will walk off towards. Not where you arrived. You would be amazed.

Read your putt while she putts

By the time it is your turn you should already know the line, and you are just confirming it.

Card at the next tee

Nobody needs to write the scores down on the green. Walk off, write it on the next tee while somebody else is hitting.

Play ready golf

Whoever is ready, goes. This is normal now, it is not rude, and in most competitions it is actively encouraged. You do not need to stand about working out whose honour it is.

The one that is not about speed

Here is the rule that would have saved me six shots.

Your job is to keep up with the group in front of you. Not to stay ahead of the group behind you.

If there is a clear hole between you and the group ahead, you are slow and it is worth getting on with it. If the fairway in front of you is full and somebody behind is hovering, you are not the problem, and you do not have to absorb their impatience.

That distinction is the whole thing. It tells you when to get a move on and, much more importantly, when to ignore somebody entirely.

When you can feel somebody behind you

You feel watched. Your routine gets shorter. You stop taking the second look at the putt. You hit before you are ready because being ready feels like an imposition. And then you play badly, which takes longer, which makes it worse.

Three things help.

• Do your routine. All of it, every time. If you built one over the winter, this is the day it earns its keep.
• If a group genuinely is faster than you, wave them through on a par three and let it go. It costs two minutes and it buys you the calm to play your best for the remainder of your round.
• Remember that you have paid the same green fee as the person behind you.

And if somebody is using the pace to get into your head — which does happen, and happened to me — then recognise it for what it is, which is a tactic, and go back to your own rhythm. She is allowed to try. You are allowed not to fall for it.

The short version

Be quick between shots. Take your own time over them.

Everything that makes a round drag happens while you are walking, deciding, looking for balls and writing things down. None of it happens during the part where you are actually trying to hit it.

Sort the first lot out and you will finish earlier than the group behind you, take longer over your putts than you do now, and shoot a better score. All at the same time.

The 2027 GIR Club Classic at Hammock Beach runs April 11–15, and the Fingerlakes Open at Turning Stone follows on July 18–22. Fields are capped, so join the waitlist and you will hear the day registration opens.