Let me first say thank you thank you to everyone who helped make our first event go smoothly. Thank goodness for our volunteers especially those of you who have done this for many years and are now tasked with showing the new guys the ropes…..thank you again.

Second big thank you to the weather.  That was nice and well deserved.

I thought Jackson Park was a great place to host a Sub District. I didn’t particularly like (up to 4) yes 4 groups on our third hole tee box so early in the day, but the scoreboard area with the large putting green next to both #9 and #18 greens was a nice set up.

Pace of play was an issue again. This has been an issue for a long time, and one that all of the WJGA Districts struggle with.  That said, I don’t want to just accept 6 hour rounds. I think we (everyone) can do better.

 How long would take each of us with three of our friends to casually stroll 5 miles (8,800 yards) on the Burke Gilman trail? Two hours at the most? Let’s say during the 5 miles each person had to stop (90 times) to tie their shoes, and let’s say each time it took them 30 seconds to do so. That would add about 3 hours to the trip, and you would be done in 5 hours. 

I realize it’s not this simple (some of us shoot more than 90, we need to wait for a ruling, we need time to record scores, sometimes we take 5 minutes to look for a ball), but not everyone is shooting 90, not everyone takes 30 seconds to hit a shot, not every shot takes 30 seconds, and you can always hustle when things slow down (Ready Golf).

This isn’t about  girls versus boys, or younger kids versus older.  Every division can play in 2.5 hours per nine, and I know that you want to and are trying to do this. Any division can also slow us down.  Every one of us (contestant, spectator, volunteer/walking scorer, rules official) on the golf course can help make a 5 hour tournament round happen.

5 hours or less. That’s the goal, and at Carnation (hopefully it dries out a bit) we will achieve this by providing 10 minute intervals. We will also have 4 stations on the course where each group will be timed. Below is an example of what we will be doing….exact spots and times are still being discussed.

Proposed Guidelines (Will be finalized and posted at Carnation)

·         Group Completes Teeing off #4: 1 hour from original starting time         

·         Completing 9: 2.5 hours

·         Completing 13^th hole: 3.5 hours

·         Round Completed: 5 hours

First infraction will be a warning, second will be a 1 shot penalty for everyone in the group, third will be two shots for everyone in the group, and disqualification if your group misses all 4 (not going to happen)

We are starting early at Carnation so no one in front of us. We’ll have 9 holer’s in threesomes starting on the back 9 with no one in front of us.

Hopefully, the weather and course will allow us to enforce this and prove that 5 hours is attainable.

5 hours….let’s do this.

Larry Weiss (206) 612-3824 larry.weiss@ca.com