The Dreaded Sixsome

The one thing that really bothers me about my home course is that no one enforces “no more than four players to a group” rule. On almost every round I play there, I see groups of five, six — sometimes as many as eight — crowding tee boxes, fairways and greens.

These groups leave the first tee in the approved manner. Then, as soon as they go around the bend, they reform into golf’s equivalent of a pontoon party boat.

I am sympathetic to the sixsomes’ desire to hang out with their buddies. But the course is not the place for a beach party. Large groups gum up the works, making the round slower for everyone caught behind them.

To be fair, the rolling parties have never failed to wave me through when I caught up to them. They are fully aware that they are slow. But I’ve never seen them wave anyone other than a single through. The rest of those poor slobs have to wait. And so does the group behind them. And me, if I get caught behind the group that’s caught behind the sixsome.

Rounds of golf are long enough without creating artificial bottlenecks.