Play “ready golf”: when you are ready and it is safe, you hit — you do not wait for the person who is officially “away”. Keep up with the group in front, not just ahead of the group behind. That is the whole secret. Everything else on this page is just small habits that make it easy.
Let me show you why it matters, and how a beginner can play at a good pace without ever feeling rushed.
Why does pace of play matter, and whose job is it?
A comfortable round of 18 holes is a lovely way to spend a morning. But the average round has crept up to about four and a half hours — the slowest ever measured. When an R&A survey asked 56,000 golfers, 60% said they would enjoy the game more if it moved faster. So a good pace is not a rule to make you nervous. It is a kindness — to the group behind you, and honestly to yourself.
Here is the part beginners love to hear: slow play does not help your score, it hurts it. Golfers who take 4.5 to 5 hours make more than a stroke more per round than those finishing in 3 to 3.5 hours, and higher handicappers feel it most. When you keep moving, you stay warm, you stay in rhythm, and you think less. That is good golf.
Whose job is pace? Yours, a little, and the course’s, a little. If the club sets tee times too close together, no single golfer can fix the traffic — that part is course management. Your part is simple: be ready, and keep up with the group ahead. That is all anyone asks.
What is ready golf, exactly?
Ready golf means you play when you are ready and safe, instead of always waiting for whoever is furthest from the hole. In stroke play the Rules fully allow this — there is no penalty, as long as you are not doing it to give one player some clever advantage. The NGF liked it so much they ran a national Ready Golf campaign at Dutch clubs; the Dutch even use the English words directly.
One small thing to know. In match play (one-on-one, hole by hole), the order still matters — your opponent can ask you to replay a shot you hit out of turn. So ready golf is really for stroke play and friendly rounds, which is almost everything a beginner plays. When in doubt, just say to your partners on the first tee, “let’s play ready golf today.” Everyone relaxes.
How long should one shot take?
Once it is your turn, the R&A and USGA suggest 40 seconds as a maximum — 50 seconds if you are first to play, for example first to tee off on a par-3. Forty seconds is plenty. You do not need it if you prepare early.
And this is the real trick, because slow play is rarely one big delay. It is 10 to 20 extra seconds added quietly before nearly every shot. Over about 70 shots, that is more than 23 minutes glued onto your round without anyone noticing. A marshal once timed a four-ball where everybody blamed everybody else — and found each player was adding 15 to 20 seconds too much. Nobody felt slow. Together they lost half an hour.
So do your thinking while others hit. Walk to your ball with your glove already on, look at the distance, pick your club. When it is your turn, you only have to step up and swing.
I think about one beginner story a lot, because I hear the same thing every week. A new golfer said the scariest thing on the course was not the water on hole 7 — it was the feeling of people watching and waiting behind her. Her coach gave her one tip: choose your club and picture the shot while your partners are still playing. Suddenly she was ready every time, and the fear just left. A lot of my own students tell me exactly this.
What if my ball is lost?
You get 3 minutes to search — this changed from 5 minutes in 2019 to speed things up, because a ball not found early is rarely found at all. If you think your shot might be lost or out of bounds, hit a provisional ball right away, before you walk forward. If the first ball is gone, you simply carry on with the provisional instead of the long, sad walk back to play again. That one habit saves so much time.
How do I leave the green faster?
The green is where beginners lose the most time, and it is the easiest place to win it back.
- Leave your bag or trolley on the side of the green nearest the next tee, before you putt. No walking back.
- If you have a short putt and it does not disturb anyone, just hole it out. Do not mark it and wait.
- Write your scores at the next tee, not on the green. Walk off first, count after.
Do these three and you clear the green while the group behind is still on the fairway. It feels great.
When can I pick up my ball and move on?
When a hole is going badly — and every golfer has these holes — you are allowed to pick up. In the “Maximum Score” form of stroke play, added in 2019, your score on a hole is capped at a set maximum (often double par), and once you reach it you lift your ball and go to the next tee. This exists exactly to protect pace and to protect your good mood. No shame in it at all. I tell new students: take your max, smile, walk on. The next hole is a fresh start.
What about the Netherlands — baanpermissie and speeltempo?
In the Netherlands, pace of play is not just polite advice — it is part of the qualification. To earn your baanpermissie (the card that lets you onto a full course before you have a handicap), you must show you understand speeltempo alongside safety and course care. So Dutch beginners learn a good rhythm from day one, which I think is wonderful.
When you play here, the guidance matches the world standard: about 40 seconds a shot, walk ahead to your own ball, finish short putts, keep up with the group in front. If you already know the wider rules of golf in simple words and the everyday etiquette on the course , pace becomes automatic. It even fits together with the relaxed Dutch dress code — comfortable, easy, ready to play.
None of this should make you tense on the tee. Good pace is really just being ready and being kind, and both get easy fast. If you would like, I will practise the small ready-golf habits with you during a lesson, so your first full round feels calm and happy — you can see how we work together on the pricing page. Come play. The course is waiting, and so is a very good morning.