Slow Play Turns Bloody At Local Level, In PGA Tour Criticism
;)
Ryan Ballengee Tweeted some final group pace of play times from the early part of the 2012 PGA Tour schedule and I have to say it's rather stunning to only see one group breaking four hours through five events.
But it's not all bad. After watching the recent AJGA event at TPC Sawgrass, Garry Smits was encouraged by the work of the USGA and ASGCA to address a problem the PGA Tour does not believe exists, and
He was also struck by Mike Purkey's Global Golf Post column letting the PGA Tour have it for not doing "a damn thing about slow play."
You go Mike:
The Tour simply has an alarming lack of insides and it starts and ends with Commissioner Tim Finchem. Everyone below him on the food chain, including on-site rules officials each week, are simply doing his bidding. Finchem believes the slow play hue and cry is the figment of an over-active imagination by the media. It's a sometimes effective duck-and-cover move by most CEOs in trouble--blame the media.
Which leads us to Mitch Mitchell's now widely Tweeted story in the Star-Telegram (thanks to reader Sam too) telling the story of Clay Carpenter, who was assaulted with a broken golf club shaft after a slow play fight broke out at Eagle Mountain Lake.
The brawl broke out about 3:30 p.m. Jan. 27 at the Golf Club at the Resort on Eagle Mountain Lake.
A foursome was playing the back nine ahead of a threesome, Grisham said, and the three golfers believed the foursome was playing too slow and wanted to play through.
Carpenter said a course marshal instructed the foursome to allow the smaller group of golfers to play through, and that’s when the "gentleman’s game" turned ugly.
As the golfers were fighting, Carpenter said he was on top of another man when he was stabbed with the golf shaft. Grisham said Carpenter lost a lot of blood and was "very close to death."
Carpenter said the man who stabbed him "was not willing to defuse anything, nor was he willing to accept 'please just let us go on.'"
Carpenter said he believes that the golfer who stabbed him first swung the golf club at his head, but he grabbed it and broke it off at the end.
Ah yes, the Gentleman's Game...
Monday, February 6, 2012 at 09:50 PM
Reader Comments (16)
It's called the "Get Crackin' Pace of Play" sponsored by Wonderful Pistachios.
How they do it is here http://www.ajga.org/TournInfo/pace.asp
K
Crane, Verplank, Cink, Day, Simpson. OK, there are 16 players on that council, but some of the biggest TOUR offenders are on that list. Yeah, I don't think anything is changing this year.
Jason Day in particular was a sloth in Qatar last week. His playing partner Westwood clearly was pissed and tweeted to this effect without specifically naming him. He's making his namesake Glen "All" Day look speedy.
Astonishing that the 4-ball apparently chose to ignore the marshal's instructions.
Pathetic
Any D-bag who gets violent on a golf course should be blacklisted by all the local courses...no place for that crap IMO.
However....(sigh)...I have seen similar here...no blood, but fistfights and really loud shouting over slow play one day directed at a group that wanted to fish balls out of a semi dry canal while NOT letting any group play thru...the 1st round of fisticuffs took place on the 4th green and continued on every 2nd green for the next 2 hours...after the 3hr 9holer and another parking lot argument where they were arguing of who stole who's beat up top flights...they all jump into their Porsche Cayans , Audi Q7's , BMW M's and drive off....just another day of golf in the CZ rep!
I'm a golfer and a golf fan, meaning I watch LOTS of televised golf For example, two weeks ago, I caught all of the Abu Dabi event to see the battle between Woods and Rock, then turned right around and saw every shot at Torrey Pines. This past Sunday I watched the entire final round of the Phoenix Open. Tim, I'm one of those guys you REALLY want on your team.
But this you should also know: thanks to the beauty of the Digital Video Recorder, I didn't have to sit though a five-and-half-hour round. I fast-forwarded to ACTUAL GOLF SHOTS and in the process I didn't have to see EVEN ONE of the what seemed like hundreds of commercials run by CBS. How many times did we return from a commercial break to see only three or two or even ONE golf shot?
Yes, I'm well aware that as you continue to increase purses that the money has to come from somewhere but with all the talk about "ratings," why don't YOU try watching a "live" broadcast?" The glacier-like pace of play will cause you to chew your lips off.
On a related topic, I read Tony Lema's autobiography over the weekend and he mentions Big Jack getting a 2-stroke penalty for slow play. This would have been in 1962 or 1963. Too bad they didn't keep after it...
So good on the AJGA for taking action. Too bad I'll be long gone from this world's fairways before that younger generation speeds up play.
Last week I was in the first group out, my playing partners were two retired Gotham cops that I'd never met before (group of 3). We played the front 9 in 88 minutes. Upon reaching the 11 tee we caught the last "back 9" tee-time group. On 14 they were over 2 full holes behind and we politely asked to go through, I wasn't close enough to hear the response but the way my cop friend reacted I could tell it wasn't positive as the other group roared off in their carts. I asked him what was up and he said "I'm just taking a deep breath so I don't react inappropriately".
To the credit of the group in front, they did speed up, but why do men feel insulted by a play-through request? Baffles me...
You are always spot on.
Mike T-The AJGA policy is actually not that good and encourages fast play at the cost of being rude to other competitors. It's not necessary to have the player that holes out first take off for the next tee and tee off while others in group are still putting.
Not surprised by the fighting on the course. I have actually seen this happen at private clubs. Not Cool.