A wise man once said “golf takes as long as golf takes.”
Not really, but if you keep reading you can be wise beyond your years as we fill you with all the info you need before knowing how long does golf take.
Key Takeaways
How long does a round of golf take?
On average, a round of golf takes about 4.5 hours to play. The main factors that affect time of play are 1) the number of golfers on the course, and 2) speed of all the players in the group with weekend rounds usually taking much longer than rounds played on a weekday.
How long does it take to golf 18 holes?
Since there are many factors involved when calculating how long does 18 holes of golf take, we’ll break down the most common scenarios.
Take all of these as averages:
| Weekend | Weekday | |
|---|---|---|
| Foursome | Weekend4.5 – 5.5 Hours | Weekday3.5 – 4.5 Hours |
| Threesome | Weekend4 – 5 Hours | Weekday3 – 4 Hours |
| Twosome | Weekend3.5 – 4 Hours | Weekday2.5 – 3 Hours |
| Solo | Weekend2.5 – 3.5 Hours | Weekday1.5 – 2.5 Hours |
How long does it take to golf 9 holes?
No time to play a full 18 holes of golf? No worries.
Here is another breakdown for how long does 9 holes of golf take.
| Weekend | Weekday | |
|---|---|---|
| Foursome | Weekend3.5 – 4 Hours | Weekday2.5 – 3 Hours |
| Threesome | Weekend3 – 4 Hours | Weekday2 – 3 Hours |
| Twosome | Weekend2 – 3 Hours | Weekday1.5 – 2 Hours |
| Solo | Weekend1.5 – 2 Hours | Weekday45 Min – 1.5 Hours |
How long does it take for a foursome to play 18 holes of golf?
Referencing the table above, it could take a foursome to play 18 holes of golf at a minimum of 4.5 hours on a weekend and a maximum up to 5.5-6 hours.
Now, assuming the course you are playing isn’t completely slammed with golfers—there are a few things that can drastically increase the pace-of-play to speed up your rounds.
Expected time for beginner player’s first 18 holes
If you are about to tee up it for the very first time, don’t worry about trying to finish up in 4.5 hours.
Pending what time you play (weekend), you most likely wouldn’t finish in under 5 hours anyway on a busy course.
Working on golf fundamentals takes time, and playing a faster round of golf isn’t at the top of the priority list.
Expect to play your first ever round around 5.5 – 6 hours. Really soak it in.
Ways to speed up pace of play in golf
Play “ready” golf
There’s nothing worse on a Sunday morning being jammed up by the group in front of you because they insist on pretending everyone is on the PGA Tour and waiting their respective turns to play.
Rewind back to the 2023 Masters when Brooks Koepka commented on ‘slow play’ and how frustrating it can be to wait on almost every tee box.
Amateurs playing on the weekends should be playing “ready golf.”
This is when the next golfer that’s ready to play…plays. I will say it’s less common to play ready golf on the greens because you wouldn’t want a guy putting from 5 feet for birdie when another guy has a 20-footer for par.
Give shorter putts to speed things up
Learning the words “that’s good” is one of the fastest ways to speed things up, and to prevent some embarrassment by watching your buddy miss several 3-footers throughout the round.
So, get everyone on board and snatch up the short putts and carry on to the next hole.
Don’t take mulligans
If everyone in the group is taking regular mulligans, the group behind you may just end up calling the cops (and I wouldn’t blame them.)
It’s easy to figure out that hitting extra shots takes up more time, but then you have to go find the first horrible ball you hit and no one wants to watch that.
How long does a golf tournament last?
Golf tournaments come in all shapes and sizes.
The two most common tournaments are professional tournaments and scrambles.
How Long is a PGA Tournament?
Almost all pro golf tournaments last four days, with there being a cut made after two rounds to reduce the size of the field in half.
Pro golfers usually take 4.5-5 hours to play his/her rounds, with that time maybe increasing on Sundays when the pressure mounts.
For other 99.9999% of golfers that don’t play on the PGA Tour—four man scrambles are by far the most popular tournaments to take part in.
How long does a 4-man scramble take?
Now for one of the more common forms of golf played by amateurs…scrambles.
If you have never played in a four man scramble before then strap in because you are going to out on the golf course for a while.
Most scrambles typically have 14-28 teams, and almost always have to be a “shotgun start” to drastically speed up the time it takes for everyone to finish without eating up an entire day.
At best the scramble takes 5 hours, and could potentially take as long as 6-7 hours.
Then, everyone waits around after the tournament to collect prizes and eat amazing food.
I highly recommend scrambles they are a blasty blast.
Why golf takes so long compared to other sports
There are so many factors that factor in how long it takes to play golf, and the biggest one being “other golfers on the course.”
Plus, there’s a lot of starting and stopping, looking for potentially lost golf balls, lining up first putts, lining up second putts, and sadly sometimes lining up third putts.
How long does it take to read this article?
Welp, you are in luck because it’s over now.
I hope you got all the info you need to make sure you are not caught off guard when hitting the course and knowing how long does golf take.
Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/wolfitgolf and let us if you are breaking any records with your new found pace of play and speeding up your rounds at all.
This article was written by Kyle Broughton. Kyle has been involved in golf for over 35 years, and has learned more than enough about the game of golf to pass along his expertise to amateur golfers across the globe.
