The odd one thinks they are Jordan Spieth though and take for ever over every shot.īeginners tend to lose more balls and spend more time looking for lost balls. Skilled, lower handicappers tend not to hit the ball too far offline, so they spend less time looking for it. If you’re in a five ball, be prepared for some comments. Add another half hour or so for a four ball. A standard 2 ball should get around the average course in about 3.5 hours maximum. The quickest I’ve raced around a course on my own, is a little over 2 hours. On a Scottish links course in February with a 30mph sea breeze swirling around you, mist and or rain, you’re going to find that it takes a little longer. Golf is easiest (quicker) when it’s warm but not too warm, slightly overcast so hitting into the sun isn’t a problem, and with a gentle breeze to cool you down. It depends where you play, but if the area has seasons, this can be a big factor. And finally, if the greens themselves are tricky, that’s more time on the clock. Well protected greens can also slow down play, particularly if they require a high chip shot or pitch shot to land on them. Rough that really is rough means more time looking for lost balls and that’s probably a major factor in time added. Narrow fairways mean more time spent in the trees and that adds to time. Blind tee shots, or approach shots mean more time scoping out the terrain and looking for balls, so that’s a factor. Course difficultyĬourses with lots of elevation will increase the round time, simply because we move slower uphill. Those and 9 hole courses aside, the shortest 18 hole courses tend to be in the 5,000 yard range. There are numerous short courses around the 1.000 yard mark, but to be fair, they are really more pitch n putt type layouts. A uniqe concept, this course has one hole in each of 18 towns spread over 850 miles.

That pales into insignificance though when you get to play the Nullarbor Links in Australia. It does benefit from being 10,000 yards above sea level though which means that the ball flies 15-20% further. You may want to consider that if your normal round leaves you a little short of breath, they actually provide oxygen on one hole. Coming in at 8,473 yards, that’s going to be one long round of golf. The course at the Dragon Snow Mountain Golf Club in Lijiang, China is the longest conventional golf course in the world. It follows that the longer the course is, the longer it’s going to take you to get round. There’s always some boundaries to the available land. Golf courses naturally vary in length based on the terrain that they are laid out in. Things that affect the time taken to play a round of Golf Course Length If a group of players between them take just an extra 5 minutes per hole, that’s a 90 minute addition to the round time.Ĭurrently, golfers are allowed 5 minutes to search for a lost ball. It’s around 13 minutes per hole on average. Here’s why there can be such a variation. I’ve had rounds that have taken anywhere from 3 hours to 6 hours.

Around 4 hours for a four ball (4 players), but that can vary a lot.

Average time to golf 18