Once again I find myself back on the soap box. I get irritated, but maybe it's just temporary insanity.
There's an undercurrent of conversation regarding the rules of golf - that the USGA and R&A are moving toward a set of rules of golf for elite tournaments, and then another set for us hacks. There are a couple of possible suggested local rules in the 2019 rules that would influence you to think the same way.
The first (and this is one we talked about during the captain's meeting earlier this year) would give a player who has lost his ball or hit it out of bounds the option of moving the next shot to the edge of the fairway for the penalty of 2 strokes. In that rule, the makers of the rules indicate that this rule should never be available to "high-level" tournament golf. But for common hacks, in order to speed up play, don't bother walking back to your previous spot.
The second involves a local rule in which the committee can elect to specify a maximum number of shots per hole. If you reach that number, pick up and record that number on your scorecard. Once again, this rule is taboo for "high-level" tournament golf.
Maybe other players don't feel this way, but the concession that there are different levels of golf grinds my gears. Speed of play (and this is yet another one of my opinions) is not governed by how many balls you lose or how many times you have to swing your club to get the ball in the hole. It's governed by how concerned you are to play with a purpose. If you're out of position on a hole, you know it's going to require you to play at an accelerated pace to keep up with the group ahead of you. Pick up your pace, halt the storytelling, and commit to playing the hole at a quicker pace. The same goes for people that elect to walk instead of riding a cart (and I'm in that group - I'd rather walk). You know that you will be expected to keep up with the carts, so pick up your walking pace accordingly. Play your tee shot, pick up your bag and be ready to move out when the last person's played his own tee shot. Same goes on the putting green - you should be moving to the next tee before your riders have gotten themselves seated in their cart. If you don't have something like "the Canton Rule", play provisionals when you don't know if your ball will be found or is close to the out-of-bounds. If we all played the game at an accelerated pace, no one would be whining about slow play and the need for different sets of rules.