Pace of play is the number one complaint among golfers, and the Makai Golf Club in Hawaii is trying to address the issue.

Managed by Troon Golf, Makai has incorporated the new the company’s new ʻTroon Values Your Timeʼ programme into its operations. Staff have determined a Time Par – the desired and reasonable period of time in which to play a round of the course – of four hours and 18 minutes. Golfers are encouraged to be under the Time Par but never over, and that is communicated to guests in numerous ways: when they call for a tee time, upon check-in at the golf shop, and again by the starter just before tee off.

“No one likes their round of golf to drag into five hours or more due to slow players,” said Alex Nakajima, the club’s general manager. “On the other hand, no golfers believe that they themselves are slow. The new programme provides us a way to communicate a time goal for golfers and keep them on track for everyone’s benefit. We are showing golfers it is possible to play the game a little faster and still enjoy it.” Nakajima added that the programme has already shaved between 12-30 minutes off a round.

Makai golf professionals monitor play throughout the day, encouraging slower golfers to pick up the pace. Catch-up tees have been created on all par fives, shortening those long holes to only 200 yards so golfers can effectively move ahead in their play if they have fallen behind. In addition, the first six tee times of the day, from 7:00 to 8:03am, are set aside as ʻPacesetter Timesʼ for faster players who will establish a brisk pace of play for the course in the first hour.