One of the reasons some golfers like myself stay away from playing on the weekends is five-hour or longer rounds. I just can’t concentrate that long.
Angel Park Golf Club, a 36-hole facility in Las Vegas, has found a solution with it faster play program on Saturday mornings called “Express Lane.” Golfers sign a pledge to play in 3 hours and 45 minutes, giving the staff the right to make a group skip a hole or even move to the other course if it is not maintaining the pace.
Greg Brockelman, director of golf at the courses managed by OB Sports, indicated that the golfers are averaging less than 3:30. “We’re not reprogramming these golfers,” Brockelman said. “They’re generally fast golfers who are gravitating to those tee times because they want to play with other fast golfers.”
The Express Lane tee times are rotated between the Mountain and Palm Courses and usually reserved for the first 10 earliest ones. Plans call for extending the program at Angelo Park to Fridays and Sundays in the future. In addition, other OB courses will add it, too.
This is a great idea that other golf courses should definitely consider and may get a few of the golfers who play ready golf to come back out on the weekends.
