I have never seen that in 19 years of golf.

Depends on the course but yes, more times than not now a days pace of play and par 3 etiquette are a thing of the past.

Let's face it. Some people just don't get it. They don't understand they're holding people up, or don't care. But we still get waved up on occasion.

The best one ever was at The Glen in Scotland. A foursome of Swedes had already let 3 groups play through by the time we caught them on a cliffside par 3. They waved us up and watched us tee off. Blind tee shot from on top of the cliff. My wife, 31 handicap, was nervous teeing off in front of the foursome. Her tee shot rolled just off the back of the green. Chipped to 6". My shot was to 6' and made the birdie. We high fived and thanked them for letting us through.

My course here on LI used to have a sign to wave following group up. Do not see any longer and only us courteous golfers that see following tee occupied will wave up.

I grew up in Northern Indiana we always waved up the following group on par 3's.
Very common practice for me and my golf buddies back in the early 2000's.
During a Pre Covid round I was playing with some random guys and suggested the group behind us play up on a PAR 3....they completely lost it...Kinda like they were trespassed on...Awkward for them.

Cheers,
Dr. K

Not around here, never seen it, that would be something great, specially if you are stuck behind a group that is taking forever to putt.

I do recall performing this act as well as being waved up. It's probably been 25 years since I have seen it applied. I wonder if it actually does speed up play in the overall aspect of things.

That is one custom I am not at all familiar with...but I've only been playing about 40 years.

When I was younger I saw it...but would rather have the hole to myself and let them play it out.

Only if there is a back up on the hole, have I seen it.......

That's how I was taught to play. If backed up wave them on to the green. Now days people don't even let faster players play through on regular holes let alone a par 3. We let 2 different doubles go through us this Sunday & still caught up to a 3some (we had 4 players) and they were terrible but never once let us through over the last 7 holes.

But in defense of some people, the city courses where I live are over booking their tee times so the course is actually over crowded and can't maintain steady play. 1 course pro told me usually they had 200 rounds average each day on the weekends. Now they have 275 average per day. The city runs our 4 public courses and not very well I might add.


DM

We have 2 par 3's (9 hole course). One is 253 yards, the other about 155. On the longer hole everyone waves the next group on. On the shorter hole t's about 75-25 in favor of waving you up.

Have not see this happen for years, my old club in Scotland on Medal Competition days use to adopt this policy on a 240 yard par 3, as the green was pretty hard to hit, mainly to keep up pace of play.
In the US unfortunately its very rare to get waived thru on any hole.

We do all the time if it's a single or a 2some.

Yeah, in my days on the muni's you would see it all the time when you had several groups waiting in the par 3's. When I started to go to semi-privates and then joined private clubs, the need was no longer there to wave people up.

We were playing in a foursome last week and tried to wave a twosome on behind us. They told us no thank you a couple of times. I can't imagine the group behind them was very happy.

Yes, I remember that curtsey being played and it worked out well in the busy courses saving a couple minutes by utilizing the time of the guys who just teed off to arrive to the green.

On a par 3 hole, after being waived to play a tee shot, the group on the green would resume and continue to putt out. By the time we get around the green, the group ahead of us would have already holed out and moving on to the next tee. Our group would then be able to either mark our ball on the green or chip up and mark the ball and we would do the same for the group teeing off behind us.

This practice worked well until more and more group in front did not waive the group behind to play their tee shot in between. As time went on more and more golfers were not waiving groups behind them and the play became slower by those couple of minutes saved by waiving the group behind. At the same time there were those guys like myself who would respect the time saving curtsey although the rhythm had been lost and also many of the people on the tee didn't know how it's done so then when they were waived to play their tee shot through, they were not ready and hence it took more time to waive a group who weren't ready to play.

This little curtsey gesture had faded and left many of the courses.

Part II: Letting a faster group through on a par 4 or par 5 hole.

On a Par 4 hole, when we let a group through, in order for even more delays to occur, we would play our tee shot. By the time the group behind us reach the teeing grounds that we have just played our tee shot from, we'll let that group tee off. Once they all played their tee shot, the group we want to let through including our group will all leave the teeing grounds at the same time. They play their second shot on the fairway and then we'll follow when it's clear. It was easy and painless for all, and everyone was happy.

Yes...
One local example is at a course that winds around a hill.
The tee shot on this par 3 is from an (extremely!!) elevated tee. You hit down to the green and while you wend your way down the paths through the shrubbery, the group ahead are on the green putting out. You ring the bell and wait at the side of the green for the next group tee off. When they've hit, you putt out.... and so it goes on.
This maintains the pace of play, particularly during Society outings.
JT

Never heard of that one. Pace of play is so frustrating sometimes though, man!