There are dates and moments in a golfer’s life that will be forever etched in time. I remember mine clearly: August 31, 2024. It was the day I discovered I was a slow player.
As part of a small group of journalists attending media day at GrayBull, the Dormie Network’s seventh club (and the first to be built from the ground up), I was chatting after dinner with the course’s architect, David McLay Kidd, who played with us earlier in the day. That was the moment the affable Scotsman dropped the bomb on me.
“You’re a player,” he told me. “You have a good game. But you are slow.”
I was still thinking in my head about the best way to accept his compliment when that dreaded “S” word showed up. Suddenly all my thoughts came to a standstill.
“Painfully slow,” he added, emphasizing his point.
It was a total gut punch. It was also hard to believe. So much so that I was pretty sure I wasn’t slow.
I’d played with quite a few slow players over the years – guys who wagged more than Kevin Na or Brian Harman – but I knew my pre-shot routine was tighter than that. A lot tighter. I knew that for sure years ago.
I also knew that David liked to play fast. The faster the better – that seemed to be his motto. So maybe, I suspected, I’m not slow by average standards, but only by comparison to the pace he likes to keep.
“Well,” I began, “I’m methodical.”
“No,” was the answer. “You’re slow.”
But his explanation about this Why I was slowly cleared of any doubts.
A wind check; lasering the distance to the flag, a bunker surface or the edges of the putting surface – these all take time. This also applies to selecting a club and judging a lie. In fact, they all take more time than you realize. And as I learned, I was guilty of waiting too long to do any of these things.
Over the years I had made it a point to always be aware of what my playing partners were doing and where they were on the course. I never wanted to distract or disturb them during a swing. Apparently I had gone too far with those good intentions. By waiting until it was my chance to assess conditions and confirm yardages, I made the players in my group wait several minutes even before I started my pre-shot routine with club in hand.
David was right, I was slow. Just the thought of it made me squirm; but luckily I knew how to solve the problem. In fact, in less than a month I would be playing golf with the architect again.
When David arrived at Tributary in Idaho on the evening of September 18, I had already played a round of golf with other visiting members of the media. And you can bet that over the course of those 18 holes, I was focused on getting an edge in the analytical steps of my process. My intention was to have a bat in hand, ready to start my pre-shot routine as soon as it was my turn to hit.
“Who played with this man today?” he asked the group, pointing at me with a wry smile. “And how slowly did he play?”
“Slowly?” one of my playing partners said in response. “He’s not slow at all!”
The response was both affirmative and relief. Anyone who plays golf knows that correcting most mistakes takes time. But ironically, if the mistake takes time, the solution can be quick. Of course, it helps to have a playing partner like David McLay Kidd, who doesn’t shy away from drawing attention to the matter. From there, all you need is the dedication to change a few bad habits.
#Easiest #Avoid #Slow #Play #Guilty