How to Play Through The Right Way

Good morning, friends.

Today, let’s slow down and talk about tempo. Every great round hangs on that quiet heartbeat just beneath the swing. Rush, and the club rebels; wait too long, and doubt seeps in. But meet the ball on its own patient beat and the game opens like dawn over an empty fairway. One calm breath, one smooth takeaway, one balanced finish.

Carry that rhythm off the course. Pause before firing off the quick reply, let conversations breathe, let decisions ripen. A steady pace guards against careless mistakes and clears room for gratitude.

Honor tempo this week, and watch how both your scorecard and your spirit come home balanced and bright. Walk tall, swing true, enjoy every step.

The art of playing through is a delicate balance of speed and finesse, and is often entirely absent at public courses where tee sheets are full and rounds are long.

However, if you’re reading this, I’ll bet that you enjoy quick rounds that go uninterrupted by slow play, and you jump at the opportunity to play through a slow group.

Playing through is more of an art than a science. If you’ve been waiting on every shot for a few holes, ensure you walk quickly to your next shot and place your bag as close to the next tee as possible. A little gamesmanship goes a long way. Make eye contact with the group in front, and use some body language to convey your restlessness. I once played with a guy who walked 50 yards out of the way to put his bag next to the guys who were teeing off on a par 3 in front of us. Hilarious. We played through 3 minutes later.

If you’re at a decent private club, the group in front should let you through pretty quickly if they are slow or if you are playing as a 2/3 and they are a 4. Social awareness is much higher at these types of clubs. If they don’t, it probably says more about the club than the people playing. Fast play should be encouraged at all costs at elite private clubs.

Anyway, now that you’ve been waived through, what do you do? It’s simple. My advice is to be gracious (even if you’ve been waiting for a few holes) and play the hole with some alacrity. If the group ahead of you is smart, they’ll let you through on a par 3. If this is the case and you miss the green, don’t hit more than one green-side shot and one putt. The goal is to get out of there as quickly as you can. If its a 4 or 5, just keep the ball in front of you, and don’t look for any balls that you hit out of bounds. The worst outcome is to slow down the group that just let you play through.

TLDR: Be gracious, don’t grind putts, and get to the next tee as quickly as possible.

I recently started to follow Joe Mayo’s style of short game coaching. It’s helped me a lot around the greens, especially chipping off of tight lies. If you struggle with consistent contact and spin, I suggest you give him a follow and check out this video here.

Here’s a little WITB from Brooks Koepka.

Some interesting notes:

Just a quick meme refresher here:

My intention with BowtiedGolf is to grow it as the elite clubs do — through referrals.

If you’ve improved your look, laughed a little bit, or learned something because of this newsletter… why keep it to yourself?