THE FRONT ROW with Mark Nelke July 21, 2013

If the late Rodney Dangerfield's character, Al Czervik, can't do anything about slow play, perhaps it's a lost cause.

Usually, any reference to the classic movie "Caddyshack" is a good thing.

Years ago, the old Hidden Lakes Golf Course outside Sandpoint used to use the song "I'm Alright" from the Caddyshack soundtrack in its radio advertisements.

These days, TV ads are tapping into the movie, addressing the need to speed up play by having current and past pros recreate Dangerfield's great line, "While we're young!" as he waits ... and waits ... on the tee for Judge Smails to finally hit his tee shot.

SLOW PLAY has been an issue for years, it seems. Ask area golf pros about what is plaguing their sport, and invariably slow play emerges as one of their concerns every time.

But still, rounds seem to drag on ... and on. Not sure if it's because players watch the pros on TV, reading a putt from four different angles, checking the wind direction for what seems like minutes at a time, or what.

"Slow play is an issue because people come to expect slow play," said Darrell Hull, course manager at Prairie Falls Golf Club in Post Falls. "We have a 91-year-old gentleman at Prairie Falls who plays nine holes in an hour and 40 minutes. He hits it, gets in his cart, drives to the next shot, gets out, hits it, he's ready to go. I had two guys walking (recently), that were just walking by themselves, and they took 2 hours and 20 minutes to play 9 holes. I think they get in that mode of seeing TV and seeing threesomes playing in 5 hours and they go, '5 hours isn't so bad,' when in actuality a threesome should be 3 hours and 50 minutes, or 4 hours and 10 minutes."

Some courses post signs that say how far along you should be after nine holes, or a clock that lists the time a group should have teed off by the time they reached that checkpoint. Since most people play slower than faster, than can be a hint to speed it up a bit.

"Slow play is a killer and every golf course has this problem," said Tony Cuchessi, head professional at Circling Raven Golf Club. "Most of the time it's just about awareness and bringing it to the player's or group's attention. Golf course marshals or players' assistants work well to keep the pace moving along. Also, signs or clocks work well too. Just a friendly reminder goes a long way. We have GPS on all our golf carts so we can monitor each group and send a message to please pick up the pace."

SO HOW can we speed up play?

"The best way to speed up play is to putt out and play ready golf when it is safe to do so," said David Hobson, general manager at the Coeur d'Alene Golf Club.

Ah, ready golf. Putting out is easier in a casual round where gimmies are the norm for anything close to the hole. But in a tournament, like the local Monday pro-ams, invariably all five players have the hole surrounded. No one can putt out because they're likely standing in somebody else's line. So all five guys hit their first putts, then all five line up their second putts ... and so on.

"Ready golf was a good idea," Hull said. "The trouble was, people didn't understand ready golf. Ready golf is, when it's your turn to hit, be ready and hit. And the average guy is, 'well, I'll wait for the guy to get off the green and I'll let him get to the next hole and then I'll look around and then I'll hit, and then all my buddies and I will walk over to his ball and we'll watch him hit, and we'll walk over to the other buddy's ball and watch him hit' ... when in actuality, once you've hit your shot, start heading toward the green. As long as you're safe, just keep moving."

The Coeur d'Alene Resort uses forecaddies for each group. The forecaddie sprints ahead, down the fairway, to watch the tee shots and usually has a yardage to the green for the golfers when they arrive at their shots. Still, since carts must remain on the cart paths, it is important for the player to carry usually three clubs from the cart to their ball - having to run back to the cart for one more or one less club is a real time-waster.

"Pace of play can definitely play in important role in the overall enjoyment of a golf experience," said Andy Mackimmie, head pro at The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course. "It does become an increasingly important issue when golf courses get busy. At The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course, we tee off foursomes every 10 minutes, which is a comfortable time gap compared to most golf courses. Many golf courses tee off in alternating increments of seven and eight minutes to squeeze in two extra tee times each hour. If every tee time is booked on a Saturday morning at a pace of eight groups per hour, this can lead to 6-hour rounds in a hurry."

MORE AND more, golfers are renting carts rather than walking. On some courses, they have no choice - those are the rules, or the terrain and/or length would making walking next to impossible. On some courses, it's several hundred yards between the green and the next tee - or there's a massive uphill climb that would take forever to walk and, once you get there, a while to catch your breath.

The problem with carts is, if you share one, rarely do you both hit your drives in the same place. So you head toward one of the tee shots, then circle back to where the other one was ... that is, if you remember where it went.

"Sometimes you lose they rhythm of the round," Hull said. "You're playing well, and all of a sudden you've got to search for your buddy's golf ball ... realize it's your turn to hit, you go hit, then go back and help look for your ball ... then you go, 'oh man, I don't even remember where I hit my ball.' I think sometimes, walking, you can walk straight ahead and keep moving, and as long as you play ready golf, I think you can play faster.

"If you do it right, carts can speed up play, but sometimes it can be a deterrent."

In which case, you're likely to hear from Al Czervik.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.