Your group must finish the round within15 minutes of the group in front of you. A penalty stroke will be assessed at the 16 minute mark. Two Strokes at the 21 minute mark.
The penalty will be waived if:
. Your group plays in 4 hours 30 minutes or less.
Or
. Your group is within 15 minutes of the group in front of you after holing out on #13 AND you play the last 5 holes in 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Dear Bayview Membership,
The tournament committee has met with PGA Head Professional, Colin Gants, to discuss the time clock rule. The ‘Time Clock’ rule was put into place because the general membership consistently requested the tournament committee to speed up tournament play. We all agree that the initial launch of the ‘Time Clock’ has been an overwhelming success while shortening the average round by almost 60 minutes but it is not perfect. After one full season of use, we have received numerous suggestions as to how to change the rule to be fairer to the field.
The major complaint was the fact that players felt they were rushed to play the final 5 holes. They felt that despite being in position through the entire round that they were struggling to keep up as other groups fought to get back into position in front of them. After Spring Field Day, your Executive Board and Head Golf Professional made it a priority to modify the rule so that players do not feel like they are in a track meet for the final 5 holes.
Some suggestions included abandoning the clock altogether but I am sure you agree that we are not anxious to return to a 6 ½ round for the final groups in Field Day. The modified ‘Time Clock’ rule directly responds to your requests to fix the rule.
Your group must finish the round within15 minutes of the group in front of you. A penalty stroke will be assessed at the 16 minute mark. Two Strokes at the 21 minute mark.
The
penalty will be waived if:Your
group plays in 4 hours 30 minutes or less.
Or: Your
group is within 15 minutes of the group in front
of you after holing out on #13 AND you
play the last 5 holes in 1 hour and 20 minutes.As
you can see, we have added a second caveat to the
rule. We
are still asking all players to finish their round
within 15 minutes of the group in front of them
but now there is no penalty if you complete your
round in less than 4 ½ hours OR your
group is ‘in position’ after
holing out on #13 (within 15 minutes) and you play
your final 5 holes in a hour and 20 minutes or
less. Now,
as long as your group is no more than 15 minutes
behind after playing 13 holes, you may take up
to 1 hour and 20 minutes to finish your round.
This will completely alleviate the feeling of trying
to run to catch the group in front of you. Please
keep in mind, for example, that if you are out
of position on hole #13 then this will act as your ‘pace
of play warning’ and
your only way to avoid the penalty is to finish
your round within 15 minutes of the group in front
of you. For
those of you that are playing behind this group
that seems to be running to try to catch up; let
them go, you no longer have to run to keep up with
them. You
simply have to play the last 5 holes in less than
1 hour 21 minutes. That is more than 15 minutes
a hole and I am sure we can all agree that this
is a pace that no one should feel rushed.We
will monitor this modification for the next few
events and we are happy to field further suggestions
that will improve the overall tournament experience
for our membership.
Stuart Tolkkinen - President, Bayview Golf Club