THE COURSE
BOOK
A TEE
TIME
M
SPEEDING UP PLAY
New program rewards golfers who finish on time
ost golfers would be
hard-pressed to find a
more hot-button issue
than pace of play.
"It's one of the biggest problems in our industry," says Director of Golf Joe Williams. "We
have to do a better job of getting
golfers around the course in an
expedited fashion. And we are
fully committed to doing just
that here at Indian Wells."
That's the impetus for the
club's new Pace of Play Program. Here's how it works:
There is a "time par" for each
group to complete their round.
For the Players Course, it's 4
hours and 29 minutes. For the
Celebrity Course, it's 4 hours
and 33 minutes. The goal is to
finish your round under par.
"We assembled a Pace of Play
committee made up of all departments throughout the facility," Williams said. "The best
promotion we came up with involved working with the Food
and Beverage department. We
tell players on the first tee that if
they match or beat their
'time par' they can reCLICK
carts plays the USGA's
TO WATCH
ceive an order of nachos
USGA'S "WHILE "While We're Young"
or chicken wings or a
WE'RE YOUNG" campaign on certain
Grey Goose cocktail for
VIDEOS!
holes featuring segments
the reduced cost of $4.29
with Arnold Palmer, Tiger
or $4.33, depending on what
Woods and Clint Eastwood.
course they played."
9 The club identified the six
The promotion is good for the
slowest-playing holes on each
entire foursome.
of the courses and took steps to
But the club's effort to speed
improve pace of play on those
things up on the course doesn't
holes, such as removing excess
stop there. For example:
brush and widening fairways.
9 The GPS system on the golf
Par for the course has taken on
new meaning at Indian Wells.
9 Seven sets of tees on the
Players Course and five sets on
the Celebrity Course encourage
golfers to "Play It Forward."
"So far we're having great success," Williams said. "We've seen
a decrease in the time it takes to
play 18 holes anywhere from six
to 11 minutes on average."
The Pace of Play Program
began Oct. 1 and will continue at
least through the end of the year.
CLICK FOR VIRTUAL TOUR OF CELEBRITY COURSE • CLICK FOR TOUR OF PLAYERS COURSE
