Sharing the Road

Sharing the Road

Greetings Golfers,

Can’t believe how fast the Summer goes!

Though I want it to slow down so I can enjoy it … I was also hoping that August meant that most of the road closings that started in April would be completed.

My former drive from home to Deer Run used to be 15 minutes. Now it’s 4 hours. Well … I’m exaggerating … but not much.

Fortunately, I found a new route that’s pretty good. But, it has 10 roundabouts. This time I’m not exaggerating. Roundabouts aren’t terrible … but they demand a basic level of common sense.

A few weeks ago while I was Rangering … a golfer told me that he noticed that my blogs had two themes:

• Common Sense

• Respect

That made me happy. It wasn’t my plan … or agenda … I don’t have an agenda … I just write about what I’ve been thinking about. And, if themes of respect and common sense run through … well, that’s not a bad thing.

Which gets us back to the Roundabouts. I see shocking examples of a lack of common sense and respect. Mostly, a lack of common sense.

Well … that carries over to the golf course. Last week I wrote about a player who wasn’t satisfied with a 4-hour round … this time I’ll talk about a player who lectured our staff that a 4-hour round is too fast and that we should post a disclaimer. Oh yeah … our pace-of-play should be a legal issue.

Since 1997, when we started FastPlayFriday … our culture has naturally evolved into 4-hour rounds. Even on a full golf course on a weekend day. I would think that people would respect that … and appreciate it.

It didn’t happen easily. Before we instituted FastPlayFriday … we were SlowPlayEveryday.

The reason it worked is because we enforced it. After it became successful, we got a lot of publicity. Golf magazines wrote about it … and I got calls from all over the country about how to install it. However, after I explained how to do it … the course would always say that they couldn’t enforce it. Hmmmm. I would then reply that it wouldn’t work.

Fortunately, most of our golfers get it. My speech is that we’re a one-lane road. And … we want everyone to play in 4 hours … which is like 60 mph on the road.

Some people think they have a right to drive 75 (last week’s blog) … some people think they have a right to drive 45 (the disclaimer folks).

No … we SHARE the road! 65 mph is a reasonable pace for everyone. And an enjoyable pace. Sometimes … there are little slow-downs … just like on the freeway … but it evens out.

This is not rocket science. This is basic respect and common sense.

But … for narcissists … respect and common sense are irrelevant.

It’s all about them.

Well … I have to put up with them on the road … but we don’t have to put up with them at Deer Run.

Golf always has the answer.

Cheers!

Tom Abts
GM/Head PGA Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com