Forums

Help › Forums

Timeout and Stroke Penalty due to slow play

Wed, Jan 20 2010 7:41 AM (13 replies)
  • PAGES
  • 1
  • 2
  • NormH3
    214 Posts
    Mon, Jan 11 2010 11:23 AM

    After the second clock passes and the player is penalized a stroke, play should go to the next person. Seems ridiculous to have to wait again for them.

  • JoelWhite
    101 Posts
    Tue, Jan 12 2010 7:06 AM

    I was accused of trying to "force" my idea of faster play by another member with my suggestion of a shorter shot timer. I see no reason to give 90secs x 2 to a player standing over a 2-foot putt.....or any shot, for that matter. Slow play will kill a golf game, real or cyber. Your idea of a penalty is a good one, along with my idea of a 60 second timer, followed up by a final 30 second time period. I was playing in a foursome the other day...one of the players took forever lining his shots up (I'm talking both 90 second time periods). Finally, he said he had a toilet overflowing and was trying to deal with it between shots.  After the 3rd hole,  I politely wished all a good round, and promptly left the game. IF I quit a game, it's due to slow play, not trying to preserve my average.

  • NormH3
    214 Posts
    Tue, Jan 12 2010 7:49 AM

    I left 2 separate foursomes yesterday because of slow play. I actually try not to join a foursome if I can. For me, a threesome is plenty. I agree...a 90 second clock is WAY too long.

  • Doublemochaman
    2,009 Posts
    Tue, Jan 12 2010 8:06 AM

    I like the idea of the 60 (or even 45!) second clock.  Then allow maybe 2 free passes per player per round for fetching that second glass of wine or working on the plumbing.  As far as chatting with other players the best time to do that is to do your typing while the other golfer(s) is playing.  Trust me, he/she won't hear your chattering keyboard during his backswing.  Never use your own shot clock to chat it up.

  • wallydawg68
    46 Posts
    Sat, Jan 16 2010 6:04 AM

    Doublemochaman:

    I like the idea of the 60 (or even 45!) second clock.  Then allow maybe 2 free passes per player per round for fetching that second glass of wine or working on the plumbing.  As far as chatting with other players the best time to do that is to do your typing while the other golfer(s) is playing.  Trust me, he/she won't hear your chattering keyboard during his backswing.  Never use your own shot clock to chat it up.

    You hit the nail on the head there. Also how about for drives a 30 second clock. I have played with some players who have used the whole 90 seconds out of the tee box. Most ppl have played this game long enough to know where they are gonna aim there ball. Maybe 30 seconds for Masters and Pros and 45 sec for Amatuers and Hacks?

  • TDHarvey
    433 Posts
    Tue, Jan 19 2010 12:01 PM

    Slow play is definetly no fun, however I'm not sure about shortening the shot clock. With the current meter being so choppy, sometimes it may take 3-4 even 5 swings that i let go without clicking. I shouldnt be penalized for waiting on a smooth meter that isnt jumping. Plus some putts require a few more seconds. Also approach shots such as on bp 15, KI 4, plus chip and pitch shots, or even trouble shots you have to analyze lie, where you planning on hitting, good places to miss, what the roll will do or will it check up, what hazards to avoid, how much more or less club is needed, how much wind, do i need ts or bs, those eight things will take only a few seconds most times, but sometimes one,two or more of them may take 10 secs, I think 90 sec is about right.

  • Faterson
    2,902 Posts
    Wed, Jan 20 2010 12:22 AM

    Do it like TWO does. They give the game host the option to choose a timer: 30 / 45 / 60 / 90 seconds / no timer at all (!).

    I guarantee you if you forced everyone to use a shorter timer, such as 60 seconds, we'd get to read countless posts in the forum in the line of, "Why am I no longer allowed to line up my shots properly? Why must we hurry all the time?"

    Give the user the freedom to choose what suits him or her best. Freedom.

  • tibbets
    1,043 Posts
    Wed, Jan 20 2010 12:59 AM

    Nonsense.  In a multiplayer game, it is not about having the freedom to take however long you wish.  There is an opponent and his/her time to consider. If you desire that kind of freedom, play a single player game.  You can take as long as you wish.

     Besides, the 90 second timer was set up arbitrarily by WGT in the very beginning, and since then people have begun to use it as a crutch to chat and such.  It was not based on any real-time experience, it was simply a number chosen.  If the arbitrary time chosen had been 60 seconds as opposed to 90 seconds, people would have adjusted their game accordingly.  Experience through over a year of multiplayer game play has shown that the 90 second timer(plus a few timeouts) is too long a default time for matches.  Most of us have been at odds with the default time since the beginning.  No one ever complains about people playing too quickly, only that they are too slow.  That alone speaks towards lowering the default timer amount.

    Try visualizing your shot before it's even your turn to shoot.  That way you'll be well prepared with club selection, spin, and power and all you'll have to do is adjust the aim accordingly and go.  I hit most every shot within 10 seconds, putts included.  Even with a practice swing or two, there's no reason a shot should take more than 30 seconds, outside a difficult putt here and there.  Therefore, lowering the shot clock to 60 seconds would give ample time to both set up the shot, give a practice swing, execute the shot, and have about 30 seconds to include a chat comment.

    Consider also that an extra 30 seconds per shot multiplied times an average of 36 shots per 9 hole round equals an extra 18 minutes of real time game play.  That is a considerable figure, and I believe the arbitrary figure needs to be adjusted downward.  Even a 75 second timer over the course of an 18 hole round would reduce the real-time amount of a match considerably.  This is definitely a must for the future to keep the game viable and moving along in a timely fashion.

  • Faterson
    2,902 Posts
    Wed, Jan 20 2010 1:16 AM

    tibbets:
    In a multiplayer game, it is not about having the freedom to take however long you wish.

    Don't misinterpret my statements, Tibbets. I was talking about the game host's freedom to choose whatever length of the timer he or she prefers. Then other players can join that game host's round based on whether they like the selected game options or not.

    This works very well in TWO, and WGT should employ it here as well.  

    tibbets:
    Experience through over a year of multiplayer game play has shown that the 90 second timer(plus a few timeouts) is too long a default time for matches.

    That is only your personal opinion, and other players may have other preferences. See the post by TDHarvey above.

    Precisely because every player is different, it would make perfect sense if WGT employed variable timers, to be selected by the game host. Don't force the same thing for everyone. (Also applies to the current 90-second solution.) I'd be OK with 60 seconds as the default timer, but the game host should always be allowed to change that to 30 / 45 / 90 seconds / no timer at all.

  • tibbets
    1,043 Posts
    Wed, Jan 20 2010 1:42 AM

    With all due respect, none of the other posters have even 1/10th the amount of multiplayer experience that I have.  It is not simply "my opinion", it is a fact that the game has always played far too slowly and that the issues surrounding slow gameplay have incurred numerous additional issues such as quitting and poor, uninterested gameplay.  Considering your opinion about that issue and how "your time is wasted" by people quitting, I submit that people taking 90 seconds on every shot wastes everyones time unnecessarily.

    Also, giving too many options to create a game is problematic.  Choice in such things is a hindrance towards people coming together to play.  The more options there are, the more the issues of contention.  We need to be concerned with bringing people together here, not subdividing them further and further apart.

    As I stated, if the default timer is reduced, people will adjust their game.  It is only the inexperienced who will find a way to complain about it.  Eventually they too will adjust their game, and begin to visualize their shots prior to beginning their turn.  Becoming more of that type of golfer is what helps things move along and better scores to be had.  This indeed is the essence of true golf, and as Bobby Jones once stated, “Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course...the space between your ears.”

    Lose the caddy and the time-crutch, and that "space between your ears" is what's left to use. :)

  • PAGES
  • 1
  • 2
RSS