PACE OF PLAY

Tournament play can often be slow, but it honestly SHOULDN’T be.  Remember… “you can suck, just suck fast”.  But seriously, on tour we have fun and we drink and talk shit a lot, but ultimately no one enjoys a 5 hour plus round and we want golf courses to invite us back to play, so PLEASE make sure you follow the guidelines below for keeping pace at 4-4.5 hours a round:

1. PLAY READY GOLF: This applies to the tee box, in the fairway and on the green.  See breakdown below
   1. Tee Box: If you are ready to tee off, then go.  There is NO rules preventing this.  Even if your playing partners are on a different tee, if they aren’t ready to hit, then you can put your ball in play and move out of the way for others to go.
   2. Fairway/Rough: If you get to your ball and your playing partner(s) are looking for their ball or taking their time selecting a club, you don’t need to wait.  If you’re ready just hit your shot even if you’re well in front and move out of the way if your in their line of sight.
   3. Green: ALWAYS make sure you are behind your ball ready to putt or at least around your ball reading the green.  If it’s you’re turn to putt, you shouldn’t be on the other side of the green waiting for others.  And yes, the rule is the furthest person away from the hole goes first, but if you’re on the green ready to putt and the playing partner(s) are not ready, then feel free to putt away.  And so long as you don’t step in your playing partners line you SHOULD finish out the hole after your first putt. IF you aren’t ready to finish, then mark and wait for your next turn.
   4. TAP IT IN: Just adding this tip here one more time.  We find some groups lose up to 5 mins a hole by waiting to finish out 1-2 footers and letting all others putt.  Just TAP IT IN.  Don’t rush it, but just tap it in please.  IF your in contention to win on the last couple holes, then sure take your time, but if your out of it and/or it’s early in the round just TAP please.
2. Limit your ball searches.  Yes, when you’re ball goes into a hazard or into a area of play that is hard to search, you have 2 mins to search for your ball.  BUT, please remember some tips when your ball goes out into a hard to find place.
3. We encourage other players to help find each others ball to cut down on time when it won’t slow down overall pace.
4. BE REALISTIC.  If you know it’s highly unlikely you find your ball and even if you do you won’t be able to hit it, just take the penalty drop.  Just remember you follow the proper rules with your drop.
   • Was the ball in a restricted environment area like a water hazard or local restricted area. Then drop your ball within 2 club lengths of where the ball entered the hazard. 1 penalty stroke.
   • Was the ball in a marked hazard (Red or yellow stakes)?  Then drop your ball within 2 club lengths of where the ball entered the hazard. 1 penalty stroke.
   • NEW IN 2026: To help the recurring pace issues, Hittin Links has a new local tournament rule, No more 2 stroke OB or E5 Lost Balls penalties.  Instead every stake and every hazard is to be treated as a lateral drop.  This applies across the entire course.
     • If you hit a tee shot or any other shot OB or internal OB, no need for a provisional, just take your drop within 2 club lengths of where the ball last went out for 1 stroke.
     • If you hit a shot you see bounce and was clearly in bounds but you cannot locate it, confirm the last known location with your playing partners and drop within 2 club lengths for 1 stroke.
     • Any and all other situations where the ball goes out or cannot be found, please consult with your playing partners for the last known location in play.  Drop within 2 club lengths no closer to the hole for a 1 stroke penalty.
5. Make sure you keep up with the group in front of you.  If you look behind at the group behind you and they are always waiting and you cannot even see the group in front of you, then you are behind. Let’s make sure we follow all the tips above to ensure that you keep pace with the group in front. There are always going to be “bad holes” but please try to adjust using the tips above to increase pace on the following hole to keep pace.  Golf is a rhythm game, so pace is key.
6. FOR BEST BALL EVENTS ONLY: If a player is having a Very bad hole PLEASE pickup on a hole ONLY if your partner is going to score lower than you.  Once picked up please enter the score you “would’ve shot” as per USGA rules with a max of net double bogey.
7. Be smart with your golf cart. You have the cart so be efficient with your playing partner. Drop one player off at their ball before driving over to your ball to play.  Go back and pick them up or they meet you at the cart or walk to the next shot.

2026 Season – PACE OF PLAY WATCH LIST

• Starting in 2026, to address pace issues we will be placing the following players, who were in groups that caused pace issues during an event will be subject to temporary enforcement to play in the final groups until pace of play issues are resolved.  This is not a penalty and we take pace of play adjustments on case by case situation, but we just want to make sure players are aware of when they are playing in a slow group that is causing full field backups. We will check in after each event and update the Tour on PACE during event and where the problem groups are.  The list is maintained by Hittin Links management and if you have any questions or concerns please reach out to support@hittinlinks.com.
• Current List
  • Micke Grove: Group 18A (25-30 mins behind)
  • Micke Grove: Group 17A (20-25 mins behind)
  • Micke Grove: Group 16A (20-25 mins behind)

Handicapping Process

Now obviously, we’ve all had bad rounds that we really didn’t want to post or maybe we took some scores that probably weren’t 100% accurate when we were out playing with buddies. BUT, in order to make the handicap system work for you, you SHOULD post every round and even more important you SHOULD post every score hole by hole. Posting only lower score rounds, even if it’s an ego boost (and we’ve all been there), it only hurts your ability to play well and win tournaments as your handicap is not indicative of your play. And opposite, if your continuedly posting higher scores in casual rounds to keep your handicap up, there are measures in place to protect the field such as USGA Caps that will stop a players handicap from going up too quickly AND the Tour uses a Tournament Scoring handicap system as well. Players will either use their standard USGA handicap OR their Tour Tournament Handicap for each event. Whichever number is lower will be used as the event handicap.

To keep in line with all things proper handicapping please review the below…

1) Make sure you download the USGA app or bookmark the USGA posting site (https://www.ghin.com/login). The USGA app has a lot of fun extra features so you should check it out. This is where you will post all of your scores. If you ever post an incorrect score please let us know and we can change it. And try to make sure you always post your scores as “Hole by Hole” and not “total score”. Please feel free to take a picture of your scorecard after an event to do this. We do this so that the USGA can properly adjust your net score to be conducive with your handicap. Sometimes score discounts will include things like course conditions, weather, course slope and adjustments.

2) Remember in all Tournaments it is “BALL IN HOLE” meaning you cannot pickup your ball unless you reach max score. Max score on any hole is a 9.  NOTE: We are all human so if you accidentally pickup your ball out of frustration on a bad hole during one of your first tournaments you may agree with your playing partners on the score you “would’ve” shot. BUT, second offense and onward will result in a player being assessed the max score of 9 for picking up a ball without reaching max score.

3) For ALL rounds (casual or competitive) being posted, the USGA handicap system will cap your hole score at a Net Double Bogey to count towards your handicaps. For example, For a player with a 10 handicap on a par 4 hole with a stroke index of 10, the player’s maximum hole score for their handicap is 7. Double bogey (6) + 1 handicap stroke = 7. So even though we require a max score of 9, note that on your handicap you may see the USGA cap your hole score lower at net double.

4) In an effort to be more digital (I work in tech so wasting paper always irks me) we will be using Unknown Golf app as the Official Scorecard of each event this season. This app is available for everyone to view on the course and it will show each player how many strokes you get on each hole. It also shows a live leaderboard for each division and skins so you always know where you stand. We will use the course paper scorecards as backup cards just like the NCGA does and players are encouraged to write their scores and partners scores on the physical scorecard or any other app like 18 birdies. However you can best track your scores please do so, but know that that score entered on the Unknown Golf app is the score of record so make sure at least 1 player in your group can use the app for scoring and that everyone double checks ALL scores before closing out your event. I’m here to help everyone out with use of the app. Check out our site for more info on the app: https://hittinlinks.com/ezgolf-live-scoring-tournament-management/

I know the handicap system and scoring can feel like a lot and get confusing. If you ever need to talk about it and get clarification you can reach out to me anytime.