Anyone else want to go beat up on that poor old dead horse?

Wow...I haven't been on this site for some time now, and as I skim through the post to catch up, all I am reading is.... BITCH...MOAN...COMPLAIN...BITCH...WHHAAAA....SNIFF, SNIFF.....etc.

Sorry D flight, but truth be told...you guys are last because of the flight you fall into...LAST. If you wanna change that, I suggest PRACTICE, LESSONS, DVD's, working on your game. LEARN the rules of golf, or at least the SIMPLE ONES. Know your basic drops, play ready golf, leave your ipods and cell phones at home, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.....

I'm terrible behind a guitar, but I LOVE music and I can strum 5 chords. Do you think the ROLLING STONES are going to let me record a song with them just because there is a chance I could get better.............NO!!!!!!!

Oh and by the way, we live in LOUISIANA.... IT'S HOT FROM 7AM to 7AM, 24 hours a day.....no matter when you tee off... STICKY HUMID NASTY SWEATY HOT F'ing WEATHER ALL THE TIME. I don't think ERIC has that kind of pull with GOD to change our climate.

There are too many guys on this tour who take this stuff WAY TO SERIOUS, which gets them very nervous, which leads to GRINDING over every shot, which means they take their time, which leads to SLOW EXTENDED DRAGGED OUT rounds of tournament golf.

Anyone who has ever played in a Louisiana Golf Association event knows that if you get behind, you are immediately on the clock, and it is mandatory and fully expected that you complete your round in 4hr 10m....PERIOD. But this is not the LGA.

When I rarely play in these LAAGT events, I free up the whole day because I know how long these events are. If you do not have this luxury, or your whipped and have to get home, or you hate golf and wanna finish as fast as possible..... DON'T PLAY IN ANY OF THESE EVENTS. Stick to playing on the weekends at your local golf club for .25 cents a hole with the graveyard hacks.

Bottom line is that this is just a VERY AMATEUR TOUR to get the average golfers competitive juices flowing and make them feel like they belong to something. It's supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be friendly, it's supposed to be competitive. I guess 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Here's some helpful advice: If you don't like it, DON'T PLAY! Eric, Britt, and Mike do the best they can and NOBODY pays them to put up with all this stuff that you blame them for. You wanna play early and stay cool, go get a lesson put in some practice or buy a bowling ball... life is full of choices so make one.

Guys, lets just play golf, and stop complaining. It is what it is course and tee times. We all play the same course, and putt on the same greens, we all tee off about the same time as the rest of the guys in our flight. So no one is getting any advantage over any other player.

Assistant Director you and others constantly compare tournament golf to the PGA Tour and other tours but isnt it true that on those tours the better players tee off last and still get their rounds in and in roughly the same amount of time . To address the time it takes us to play, at Marksville we had 5 D flight groups of 3 to a group and Saturday i was in the first group and we pushed the foursome all day long at least consider if D flight is threesomes move them up because regardless of how many strokes we take when there is one less person it goes much faster.

Britt,

Thanks for your service to our country, I'm thankful for people who have the calling you do(You guys deserve much more than you get credit for)!!!!!

As far as the tee times go I think you are beating a dead horse.. Eric and Mike have explained why the times are set like they are which should be easy to understand(People may not all like it but). I understand how it would suck to play in the dead heat of the day but it only makes sence to handle to the way it has been done. Also I can almost promise you the 90 by the Champ flight guy was alot faster than the 90 from the D-flighter... You are not a 0-6 capper and playing Champ flight for nothing.. You are comparing the Worse round possible(Champ guy) to the Best round ever from the (D-flighter) anyway please do not take this as an attack, it's just another point of view...

Lastly I would suggest that if you would like to play early than you should get with Eric and get one of the Early bird tee times and then you would play @ 730am. But as far as changing times of Flights I just do not see that happening on this Tour. Also Thanks for the update about the Course from Saturday, I was planning on playing there yesterday but its 2 1/2 hour drive and could not make myself do it.

OK fellows you are right. I have played in the D-Flight for 3 years. I have tee'd off in the last flight 90% of the time. So I am holding who up??????

Here we go:
Carter

Champ flight- 1 shot in the 90"s
A-Flight- 3 shot in the 90's
B-Flight- 17 shot in the 90's 2-in the 100's
C-Flight 16 shot in the 90's 3-shot in the 100's
D-Flight 8 shot in the 90'S 5- shot in the 100's

That championship flight 90 was faster than one in the D-Flight???

I(we) pay the same membership fee,same tournament fee and attempt to follow the same rules. If the D-Flight is last most of the time who is holding things up????

You want the complaining to stop. Then you tee off last and finish at 7:30pm in 100 degree heat after an over 6 hour round.
Also I have been placed with A-Flight players(Squirrel Run 2007). They needed a fourth to move tee times so I did. Still wasn't any faster.I am not buying that move up to another flight to play early .

OH and by the way. I serve this country as a member of the United States Navy Select Reserves. 1st Class Peety Officer Britt Latiolais 20th SRG Seabee Unit.

I have been to the Middle East 4 times since 2001. Let me assure you the freedom for you to tee off at 8 am and me at 2pm is no way close to the reason I serve!!!!

Rotate tee times and be fair to everyone. Also ENFORCE THE RULES OF THE TOUR!!!!
Like I said I have never seen or heard of Marshals speeding up play.

You can also do like I have done. Enjoy the time I played on the tour and realize it is not a place for a D-Flight player. This is just me and my choice to move on.

Britt Latiolais

I understand the frustration. Being in the last two or three groups all year I wonder why if the upper flighters are supposed to be faster why are we waiting hit? That goes back to lost balls.

I also believe if you want to play earlier than sign up in the Champ Flight and go get em. Get better, score lower and move up. Therefore you earned an earlier tee time. Congrats.

I agree with Mr. Carey tournament rounds are not going to finish like in a casual round. HAVE FUN! CHILL! Like Mr. Carey also stated we are able to play golf some are not.

Rodney

D flight must work on the amount of time it takes them to get to the green as opposed to time taken "on" the green. That is the most notable difference between the Champ flighters/A-flighters and the C-D Flighters.

It takes on average about 6 minutes for a Champ flighter to play a par 4 (Drive. . . 2nd shot. . .putting). It takes a D flighter approx. 12-15 minutes to play the same hole simply because they are taking more shots and more time to hit those shots. So you can see, just by this stat, why play is slower when we tee off C/D flighters first.

Now, the longer time you see the Champ/A flighters taking on greens is warranted because it takes them less time to get there. For the most part, you will notice that the Champ/A flighters play faster.

Lastly, for the last time on this forum I hope, YOU WILL NOT PLAY TOURNAMENT ROUNDS in the customary times it takes to play your normal Sat/Sun rounds with ya pardners! We've been over this time and time again. You cannot reasonably expect to play in a 85-125 man event in under 4:45 to 5 hours! It's just the way it is in tournament golf.

We need to get these "3 1/2 to 4 hour" rounds outta our heads. It doesn't happen on the PGA, LPGA, NationWide, European, LGA, USGA, Golf Channel Tour, TightLies Tour, etc. It just doesn't happen!!!

When we finally understand this, we can stop whining and complaining and just enjoy the fact that we are on the golf course instead of being at the office or fighting in Iraq (like our soldiers are doing who are protecting your right to be out on the course in the first place).

Let's just play. . . . . . . .OK???!!!!!!!

Matters not the amount of strokes taken. I have watched Champ,A flighters and so on. Take the longest time to hit a shot or line up a put.
I have seen better golfers than myself in a better flight shoot 95,98 even in the 100's. I have a 17.9 handicap and can play a round of golf in 3.5 hours and shoot 90 or take 6 hours and still shoot 90.

Derek is right we all pay the same. Everyone should enjoy the same perks. You tee off at 1pm and finish at 7pm and play in the worst heat of the day.

Enforce the rules and put people on the clock. Have your marshals speed up play. You start taking strokes from people for slow play things will change.
I have never been in a tournament where I have seen someone speed things up.

As a D flighter you start to feel like a step child after awhile.

Britt Latiolais

Admin wrote:

Canova, We have tried every permutation imaginable. D flight first, alternating flights, split tees, shotguns. There are two reasons that we play the Champ thru D in that order. The first reason is number of strokes taken. The average number of strokes taken by a champ flighter vs. D flighter is approximately 22 shots per round. This number is verifiable by averaging the number of strokes taken by the Champ flight compared to the D flight in our events, Tour wide. If you divide 22 by 6 which is the average score per hole of a D flighter, that is equivalent to playing 3.5 more holes per round. Or another way of looking at it would be like playing 21.5 holes rather than 18. On average, on a par four it takes a Championship group of four 6 minutes to reach a green in regulation, and 9 minutes to putt out and replace the flag. Conversely, on average on a par four, it takes a D flight group of four 10 minutes to reach a par four, and 7 minutes to putt out and replace the flag. Over the course of 18 holes that is an average of 36 minutes longer to play the round of golf. The other reason that I place the Champ flight first is because since 2006 I have used my Asst. Dir's Britt Guillory and Mike Carey to start the scoring process. This year I have added more Asst. Dir's so that we can have a presence on the course for rulings and pace of play monitoring. My idea to place a Marshall Banner on the carts roaming the course will simply be a reminder to move around the course. As I said earlier in a previous post, there is one indisputable fact, "NOBODY ever thinks they are slow." I will add another, everyone takes it very personal when I say something to them about their slow play. All I ask is that you move around the course and if you need more time for putting, or getting ready, then build it into your round. Here is an example: If you have a long pre-shot routine, then try to start reading your putts while others are reading theirs. Often times, I'll see guys looking off in the blue sky waiting for their turn to putt. Not until they have the "floor" do they start reading their putt. In reality, they could have been reading the putt the whole time. When it is their turn, they could step up, start their pre-shot routine and pull the trigger. When a ball is lost in a foursome, the player and his riding partner should start looking for the ball while the other cart hits their next shots. Then they can go help look while the third player hits his ball. The player with the lost ball always has help, and when they find it, he will be the last to hit and the group really hasn't lost anytime. When all four players spend five minutes looking for a ball, and it is finally located, all four still have to hit their own shots. That makes for a long hole. I played in the last group for both the North and South Tour Majors, behind the D flight. I resolved to not watch the group ahead, kind of like watching water boil. I kept my clubs clean while waiting and busied myself so that I was not "waiting" to hit. "A Battlefield Promotion." Is truly what it means, graduating to the next flight does mean playing sooner in the round and against more skilled players. And yes, there are some players in every flight that could easily shave 30 minutes off their round by just moving along and being ready to hit. The Commish

Canova,

We have tried every permutation imaginable. D flight first, alternating flights, split tees, shotguns.

There are two reasons that we play the Champ thru D in that order.
The first reason is number of strokes taken.
The average number of strokes taken by a champ flighter vs. D flighter is approximately 22 shots per round. This number is verifiable by averaging the number of strokes taken by the Champ flight compared to the D flight in our events, Tour wide.

If you divide 22 by 6 which is the average score per hole of a D flighter, that is equivalent to playing 3.5 more holes per round. Or another way of looking at it would be like playing 21.5 holes rather than 18.

On average, on a par four it takes a Championship group of four 6 minutes to reach a green in regulation, and 9 minutes to putt out and replace the flag.

Conversely, on average on a par four, it takes a D flight group of four 10 minutes to reach a par four, and 7 minutes to putt out and replace the flag. Over the course of 18 holes that is an average of 36 minutes longer to play the round of golf.

The other reason that I place the Champ flight first is because since 2006 I have used my Asst. Dir's Britt Guillory and Mike Carey to start the scoring process. This year I have added more Asst. Dir's so that we can have a presence on the course for rulings and pace of play monitoring.

My idea to place a Marshall Banner on the carts roaming the course will simply be a reminder to move around the course. As I said earlier in a previous post, there is one indisputable fact, "NOBODY ever thinks they are slow." I will add another, everyone takes it very personal when I say something to them about their slow play.

All I ask is that you move around the course and if you need more time for putting, or getting ready, then build it into your round.

Here is an example:
If you have a long pre-shot routine, then try to start reading your putts while others are reading theirs.
Often times, I'll see guys looking off in the blue sky waiting for their turn to putt. Not until they have the "floor" do they start reading their putt. In reality, they could have been reading the putt the whole time. When it is their turn, they could step up, start their pre-shot routine and pull the trigger.

When a ball is lost in a foursome, the player and his riding partner should start looking for the ball while the other cart hits their next shots. Then they can go help look while the third player hits his ball. The player with the lost ball always has help, and when they find it, he will be the last to hit and the group really hasn't lost anytime. When all four players spend five minutes looking for a ball, and it is finally located, all four still have to hit their own shots. That makes for a long hole.

I played in the last group for both the North and South Tour Majors, behind the D flight. I resolved to not watch the group ahead, kind of like watching water boil. I kept my clubs clean while waiting and busied myself so that I was not "waiting" to hit.

"A Battlefield Promotion." Is truly what it means, graduating to the next flight does mean playing sooner in the round and against more skilled players. And yes, there are some players in every flight that could easily shave 30 minutes off their round by just moving along and being ready to hit.

The Commish

I'm sure Eric will answer your question when he gets some time. Only thing I can speak of is they start me and the A flighters behind the B and C flight players at santa maria and it was by far the slowest and really the only event I have had a problem with.... I understand your concern but I'm sure scoring has to be the main issue...

Till Eric post the reason, hope this helps?

I would like to know why D flight is always last to tee off . We have to suffer the worst conditions heat ,dry unreceptive greens etc. I know what people are going to say you hit the ball more therefore it takes you longer but at Tamakha i believe we were behind some B flight and still took 5 plus hours we pay the same money as everyone else we deserve to be able to play when its at least a little cooler if the higher flights want to keep the early times at every tournament than pay for it .