Etiquette: Pace of Play By Ed Ibarguen As a PGA professional one of the things that we love to see is people out playing golf and having fun. One of the biggest problem s in golf is the amount of time that a round takes. That is called pace of play and I want to go over a couple of tips that will help you be the player that does not slow the group down. What you want to try to do when you play golf, you want to just keep up with the group in front, we don't want you lagging, we just want you staying up. If that first group is staying on a good pace and getting trough then you can get through a round of golf in about three and half hours, three hours and 40 five minutes if you are keeping up with the pace of play. So let's start with a few tips. Number one is, be sure, I know you have a lot on your mind, you are thinking about your own shots, but whenever someone in your group is hitting a shot take a minute and watch that shot. Watch where it went. If they hit it off line then you have it spotted along with three other players in your group. Hey, that ball went here, it is right by this tree. So the group pulls up, finds the ball and play keeps moving. That is really very important to try to say let's all watch the shot, let's help each other get through. Another thing is I know if you are playing in a heavy match or on the putting green you do not want to miss the short putts but sometimes you knock it up there and you are two feet away and the guy that you are playing with does not want to give you the putt, but it is so close, go ahead and finish it. Say, ?ey, May I finish??Go boom, you finish the hole. Now he can sweat it out and see what he can do. This really saves a lot of time. If everyone is marking their shot the way that it is on the PGA Tour, that is one of the things that really slows down play. Those are a couple of pace of play tips, I hope you will try them out on the golf course and play a very fast round of golf, and a fun round of golf, the next time you are out.