How Long Does it Take to Play 9 Holes?

When it comes to playing golf, depending on the courses available to you, you typically have two choices. You can play 9 holes, or you can play 18 holes. Nine holes is often the preferred option for the player with less time to spend on the golf course. It can often take a long time to play 18 holes of golf, especially if the course is busy, so playing 9 allows golfers to get their fix without having to dedicate such a chunky piece of their time.

How long does it take to play 9?

The question is how long does it take to play nine holes? Well, that’s not the easiest question to answer. How long 9 holes takes to play depends on a number of factors, such as weather conditions or number of players.

For example, if you’re playing alone, and you’re a decent player, you can probably expect to get through nine holes of golf in around 1 hour and 15 minutes. However, if the conditions are treacherous, where the wind is howling and the rain is pouring down, you’re going to be hampered time wise. Likewise, if the course you’re playing is busy, then you’re probably going to be held back, waiting for players in front to clear before you can safely hit your shots.

9 hole average play time

If you’re playing with three playing partners, all of whom are high handicappers, you’re not going to be flying through those 9 holes. Often, how long a round of 9 holes will take depends on the players that you’re playing with. The table below provides a rough guide on how long nine holes takes for between one and four players.

What course are you playing on?

The table above applies to full-length golf courses, but there are lots of nine-hole golf courses out there that are either on the short side or are set up as Par 3 courses. Naturally, if you’re playing nine par 3’s, you’re going to be finished somewhat sooner than if you were playing a mix of par 4’s, 5’s and 3’s. The average golfer takes around seven minutes to play a standard par 3, so we can assume that a reasonable guide time for nine holes on a par 3 course is 63 minutes.

How long it takes to play 9 holes can change

There really isn’t an exact set time for nine holes. Simply because you can have a number of variables involved, no nine holes is the same time wise.

Average play time for 9 holes for a single person

As a general guide, for an average single player, who is walking, playing in decent conditions and not playing on a course that is overly busy, nine holes on a full-size course should take between 1.25 hours and 1.5 hours to complete.

Number of players

Another general guide is to add approximately 15 minutes for each extra player. This means it should take somewhere around the two-hour mark for four average players to complete nine holes. Naturally, the standard of the players is relevant. 4 very good players, playing without delays, may complete nine holes in substantially less than two hours. While 4 poor players may take 2.5 hours. Use the table above as a general guide for how long it takes to play nine holes.

Conclusion

I bet you played 9 holes faster and also slower than mentioned above because of the many factors that affect the play time. If you want to play a quick 9 on the golf course, make sure you choose the right time and the right playing partner. This way you will avoid the course traffic and unnecessary searching for partner's missed shots 😉 If you're really in a hurry consider playing 9 holes with a cart.