9 Years of Experience, the Author.

It all started with an Achilles tendon, which left me on the edge of the pitch after an indoor football match that I was never meant to play – life sometimes reserves surprises for us.

One Sunday, a friend asked me to accompany him on the golf course in order to “get things moving because it’s too slow”. And everything became crystal clear !

Having played in several Anglo Saxon countries and seen how marshals went about their task, I became aware of their role with regard to speed of play. I decided to adopt the function, not in exactly the same way, but with a slightly more educational emphasis, considering that the culture and public-spiritedness of golf was not sufficiently programmed into the reflexes of the players that we meet each week.

It was therefore necessary to create, from scratch, all the tables of figures, all the plans, explanations, expected player reactions, the timings for each type of competition. Everything had to be explained right up until the first competition was played – exactly 6 weeks after the positioning of the first clock, in the time calculated and requested – 3 hours 54 minutes for a Medal/Single competition with 3 players.

We also had to convince a club committee, surprised by the virtues of this innovative method, to give to the two people who put it in place, the flexibility to do the best for the club members.

After all the explanations and the help to players to understand the system and the many hours spent on the course (sometimes 12 hours at a time), we were rewarded when the timing promised for the prize-giving was met. The bet was won! Now players are troubled when the pace is slow, when the rhythm is off and the scores are detrimentally affected.

Then my friend left us, worn out by disease; a final round where he could not keep pace, but everything continued. Everything continued, thanks to the methodology and established protocols, except that now I was deprived of the affection of my big brother, as I called him.

But others came, quality people who are now in charge of making it all work; I especially wish them good luck…

Bernard Fajal.