The pandemic made golf more popular.

.. and because of the "boom," rates are staying at peak levels. Sucks. Even the "goat tracks" are charging prime season rates here.

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I don’t like what has happened if I’m being honest. It’s mostly a bunch of weekend warriors that slice their ball into oblivion. Gotta start somewhere but it slows down play really bad when little Johnny is exhausting the 3 min rule and taking 20 practice swings each shot.

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You kind of sound like one of those people that buys a place on the beach and then complains when tourists come in or others buy a place on the beach after you. You were slow and sliced the ball at one time too.

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membership at a more restrictive/exclusive club.

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It is more crowded than ever at our private club.

I use to easily finish on the weekend in 3.5 hours at most.

Now it’s 4 and change for Saturday.

I don’t mind people playing bad, but slow play is not good.

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I don’t mind people playing bad, but slow play is not good.

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This is exactly right and it has nothing to do with skill. As a 20 handicap i can play a round in 3 hours given no hold ups. Do you know who are some of the most frequent hold ups? Single digit handicaps who are playing municipal courses on Saturday's spending 5 minutes on each putt lining it up like they are playing on the pga tour.

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Folks, this right here is exhibit A of reasons why people are hesitant to try out golf....the douche bags who don’t allow beginners to learn the game. Like the poster above said, grab your more exclusive package somewhere else to save you the trouble of having others enjoy the game

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That’s what driving ranges are made for. Beginners should spend 90% of their time on a driving range before clogging up a course and ruining it for everyone else.

Not all slow players are bad.

Not all bad players are slow.

It’s weird. I walked 18 with a man who shot 95 or so in just over 3 hours.

Then I walked 9 with a man who shot 38 or so and it took over 2 hours.

People play at different paces. I like skins format for getting groups moving.

I like golf, but the emphasis on medal play in the United States makes us much slower than the Scots who mostly play four ball or skins.

Does this bode well for TopGolf? Wasn’t too long ago courses across the country were closing with virtually no new ones being built. This was when TopGolf was sort of taking over and the younger consumers would rather go there than an actual course.

I dont care if you suck! I only ask that you realize you suck and you have some common courtesy on the course and play as efficiently as you can. Slow golfers, people who don’t rake bunkers, and people who don’t fix ball marks are the ones I can’t stand and wish wouldn’t ever play the game.

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Folks, this right here is exhibit A of reasons why people are hesitant to try out golf....the douche bags who don’t allow beginners to learn the game. Like the poster above said, grab your more exclusive package somewhere else to save you the trouble of having others enjoy the game.

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I'll kinda take the other guy's side a bit here.

Beginners should play the beginner type courses. I get a little pissy when I play nicer courses like Bryan or Mill Creek and beginners are costing me an extra hour for the round. When I would take my son, who is still a beginner, I would take him to beginner type courses. And I told my son this. He started out shooting in the 120s. Now he can shoot in the 90s and I now take him to nicer courses.

Plenty of lower end courses for beginners. Work your way into nicer courses as you progress.

I dont like 5 1/2 hour rounds.. not gonna lie..

Our club has been a bit weird with all of this.

Yes, we’ve had a ton more activity than we did prior, but our pro shop closed early on and has still not reopened, which is annoying.

We had a concession building right off the range and 9, so they changed that to where to golf staff now works out of. On one hand it’s great for them because they can now see who all is heading to 1, and apparently there was an issue with members bringing guests and not having them check-in with the pro shop before playing in years past.

On the other hand, if we want anything from the pro shop we have to ask to be let in and we lost a quick way to get a drink and some food at the turn, as we now have to go in and place an order with the kitchen.

I don’t mind the increase in activity, but a lot of the older folks will be gone by early afternoon here soon enough in Central Texas. I don’t mind playing when it’s 105, so the course is usually pretty wide open those days.