"Now that a sound and defensible system is in place, maybe Tim Finchem will show some courage and business sense."

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Outside of some of Darwin's rants on the topic, Links Magazine's George Peper pens the best slow play column I've read in a long time, tackling all of the key points and asking all of the right questions. He explains the USGA's promising new pace of play, something I wrote about for the L.A. Times earlier this year (naturally, it's disappeared from their archives!).

Thankfully George presents it here much better than I did, then takes it a step further and questions why this has not been implemented already.

OK, the system isn’t perfect. So what? Golf isn’t an exact science. In fact, it’s not a science at all, despite the proclivity of some tour players to treat each shot as an exhaustive experiment in physics, geometry, agronomy, meteorology, kinesthetics and psychology. Say the USGA comes down hard on a few players. What’s the downside? A whine or two from the likes of Ben Crane? I suspect they’d be drowned out by the chorus of approval from their peers. Besides, the system has a built-in appeals process, so every accused offender has the opportunity for a postround hearing.

Moreover, when it comes to pace of play, there is no reason for the USGA or R&A to be as fearful as they are of regulating equipment—imposing a limit on time will not bring a billion-dollar lawsuit from Rolex. Nor can they hide behind the other rationale they’ve used on equipment—that most amateur golfers want to keep the status quo. Most amateurs may want to hit the ball longer, but they don’t want to stay on the course longer.

Still the sense is that the USGA is taking the same timid stance as they have on the question of throttling back the golf ball: Let the PGA Tour take the lead.

Fine. Now that a sound and defensible system is in place, maybe Tim Finchem will show some courage and business sense. Seven years ago, the commissioner challenged the game’s movers and shakers to transform golf into America’s No. 1 spectator sport. Instead, television ratings are down and golf participation over the past decade has been flat at best. One big reason: Golf is slow, both playing and watching.

I remain convinced that if the PGA Tour's VP's and players ever paid to go to one of their events and tried to spectate, they would quickly launch an emergency initiative to do something about pace of play.  

"The flags flying in front of the nation's clubhouses are permanently at half-mast in memory of Old Sid, who expired halfway through the Seniors Section Autumn Fur and Feather"

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Thanks to reader Patrick for the latest Martin Johnson gem, where this time he takes on the recent article bemoaning older golfers.

Not many of us were even aware of the existence of a magazine called The Golf Club Secretary Newsletter until it recently bemoaned the "leech" effect of increasingly elderly memberships at the nation's clubs. It paints a world of wheezing old Methuselahs, who do not so much require lessons from the club pro on the art of clearing the hips, as a consultation with their GP on the advisability of replacing them.

What we are now seeing on the country's golf courses, however, is merely a reflection of society as a whole, and more particularly, of the apparently limitless desire of a nanny government to make sure that we all live to be at least 150. They do not seem to have twigged that if they continue to issue dire warnings on everything from alcohol to bacon sandwiches, the social security system will eventually collapse under the sheer weight of wizened old fogies, and the reigning monarch will eventually be forced to sell off the royal tiaras in order to pay for all those 100th-birthday telegrams.
Fast forward...

 

In any event, as we all know, it is not the seniors who cause the most frustration on a golf course, it's the confounded juniors. They have largely taken up the game from watching how the professionals do it on television, which means that they spend several minutes tossing up bits of grass to test the wind, decline to play until they have not only checked their yardage for the 15th time, but also the alignment of Jupiter and Pluto, and when they finally duff one about 10 feet, stand with hands on hips pouting and muttering for another 30 seconds.

The likes of Monty may take a bit longer to get to his golf ball, but when he does, the group behind is in little danger of sprouting a beard before he has hit it. When you are 84, and you have probably only got another 25 years of golf left in you, life is far too short to be hanging around.

It's about time The Golf Club Secretary Newsletter got stuck into the single most irritating genre of players, and we are talking here about all those who utter, about 30 times a round, such irritating inanities as: "Drive for show, putt for dough, I always say."

For these people, there is only one appropriate punishment. Get them to dig a six-foot grave, line them up in front of a firing squad, pull the trigger, and yell out at the top of your voice: "Get in the hole!"

"Four hours should be the limit to play a round in a three-ball - fine everybody that takes over that."

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Monty's complaining about an under-5 hour round! I guess he forgot the PGA Tour would kill for a round that speedy on a Thursday or Friday.  Mark Garrod reports:

After an opening 70 in the Quinn Direct British Masters at The Belfry that took only ten minutes under five hours, Montgomerie called for a clampdown on slow play.

"It's a problem every week," he said. "Four hours should be the limit to play a round in a three-ball - fine everybody that takes over that. We're given too long to play the course.

"I was brought up on a three-hour game of golf and the pace of play out here is too slow."

The eight-time European No.1 was delighted to hear that two players - England's Gary Lockerbie and Brazilian Alexandre Rocha - had been fined £4000 for taking too long yesterday. But he will be happier still if others get the message and get a move on. And that includes Ryder Cup team-mate Robert Karlsson and English pair Ross Fisher and Edward Rush, who were the three players immediately in front of him again today.

Montgomerie was paired with South African Richard Sterne and Spain's Santiago Luna and commented: "Richard only took 65 and is very quick, Santiago is another quick player and I'm one of the fastest out here.

"So it felt slow. We had a very fast group behind a very slow one!"

 

“These Girls Rock You to Sleep"

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Peter Dixon's Women's Open post-mortem:
The crowds were not huge – 42,000 in the first three days – and they were quiet and subdued. They had little to shout about. The championship turned into a battle of attrition and birdies and eagles were few and far between.

The biggest issue, however, was the pace of play. The LPGA in the United States promotes its tour with the slogan “These Girls Rock”. More appropriately, it could read: “These Girls Rock You to Sleep”.

On the first two days, rounds were taking more than six hours and there were players still on the course when play was suspended on the first day just after 9.30pm. On the Saturday, television coverage ended with the leaders yet to finish.

Too often players were not ready to play when it was their turn. In one instance, Natalie Gulbis waited for her playing partners to hit approach shots to the green before taking a club. Then, after checking her yardages with her caddie (60 yards), she had a couple of swishes with the club before deciding to change it.

The putting, too, is painful. The average men’s professional three-ball takes about 3min 30sec to clear the green. The women, many of whom seem over-reliant on their caddies to help them, are taking five minutes on average. And that is boring.

Women's Open Championship Round 2 Clippings

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197711.jpgMike Aitken reports on Scotland's Catriona Matthew moving into contention and offers this:

Twice a winner in St Andrews of the St Rule Trophy in 1993 and 1994, Matthew found the memories of those experiences flooding back. "Although it's been a while, it surprised me how quickly I remembered things about where to go and where to miss it," she said.
And on the pace of play...
Pace of play was brisker yesterday and not before time. Six players had to come back to the links at 6.30am to finish their opening rounds. Although no golfer was fined for slow play on Thursday when some took six and a half hours, the Ladies Golf Union, the organisation which runs the event, expressed concern the slowcoaches were damaging the image of the game with their dilatory approach.

With a preponderance of double greens, blind shots and breezy conditions, the Old Course is regarded as the slowest venue on the men's championship rota. Even so, Susan Simpson, the tournament director, conceded: "Six and a half hours for a game of golf is not OK, whether it's women or men, amateur or professional.

That's just not something we would wish to have. For us, anything over five hours is unacceptable."
John Huggan shares a few incredible slow play anecdotes on the Golf For Women blog. On the same site, Dave Allen reports on Michelle Wie's second round 80.197722.jpg

 

Huggan also wonders why the entry fee is less than a round of golf over the Old Course.


Super Slow At Oakmont?

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2007usopen_50.gifNow posted is my Los Angeles Times story on the potential for slow play problems at Oakmont.

I'm curious what you all think of the USGA's new slow play policy (reportedly working wonders at its other 12 championships), and what it will take to get it in place at the U.S. Open?

The consensus within the USGA (at least with those I talked to) seems to be that they will have a hard time implementing this policy at the Open without the PGA Tour adopting a similar policy at its events.

 

Players Pace Of Play

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players_header_logo.gifThe only place I've seen any discussion of the Players final round pace of play was on golf.com, where Josh Sanburn noted the tepid final day (and check out what the readers think).

But I heard from a few current players that the four hour pace for twosomes was unfathomable just a few years ago. One even relayed this story to put things in perspective: 

Vijay jumped on me at Colonial in 1996 for playing slow. Par time was 3:30 and it was blowing 25 mph, my two-some finished in 3:18. Twelve minutes under par time. I took some heat from Vijay in the locker room after the round, told him to check with our scorer, then take it up with the rules officials, then make sure your scores on your card are accurate, don't be worring about me.

Slow Play Claiming More Victims?

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Admittedly, I take some perverse pleasure in seeing how slow play is about to claim more victims, even though the problem is not entirely the fault of the players.

Still, as Doug Ferguson reports, the tepid pace of play on the PGA Tour may force a cut in the number of players teeing it up on the weekend check.

Now, the PGA Tour again is looking at changing the longtime policy that the top 70 and ties make the cut. Several alternatives were discussed last week by the Player Advisory Council, and it likely will come up at the tour policy board meeting at the end of the month.

Among the options:

-Top 60 players and ties.

-Top 65 players and ties.

-The nearest number to 70 players.

-Top 70 and ties, but if the number goes over 78, revert to nearest to 70.

-Top 70 and ties make the cut on Friday, and another cut on Saturday for top 70 and ties.

And your buried lede of the week...

One reason the cut policy is under review is to cope with pace of play. When a large number of players make the cut and bad weather is in the forecast, officials have little choice but to play in threesomes off both tees. That can really become a problem on the West Coast, where tournaments typically end at 3 p.m. for network television.

I wish Tiger had taken a slightly different stand...

Tiger Woods said he would favour top 60 and ties, no exceptions.

"Play better," he said. "Either you play better or you don't."

Or play faster? Or setup courses with a little less rough, fewer 2-paces-from-the-edge-holes and maybe the players stand a chance of picking up the pace?

Oh and do something with the ball so that the entire field can't reach every par-5 in two.

"That's just ridiculous, in twosomes"

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An unbylined story on Tiger fuming about slow play at golf's sixth major where it's all right in front of you...

Woods, playing with Vijay Singh in the final pairing, finished the 18th hole in semi-darkness, a few minutes past 8pm local time at Quail Hollow.

The start of play was delayed by two hours due to nearby lightning, so Woods and Singh did not tee off until 3.40pm.

He could not understand why it took more than four hours, 20 minutes to play 18 holes, especially on a course well designed for walking, without many long distances between holes.

"That's just ridiculous, in twosomes," said the world number one, who bogeyed the last two holes to finish a shot behind leader Rory Sabbatini of South Africa.

"I didn't think we were going to finish and Vijay didn't either, but we got it in somehow.

"It's like playing under caution all day. No-one ever gave us a green to go. That was the way it was and we had to deal with it."

"There's nothing more selfish than a slow golfer."

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Nice questions and slow play rant from Nick Price during an early week conference call to kick off his Champions Tour debut.

Q. One last question, with respect to pace of play, which I know you've always felt strongly about, it's certainly showing no signs of abating. What are your thoughts about it?

NICK PRICE: Fines. Fines. Fine them. Penalties, two-shot penalties, a fine. A warning, a fine and then a penalty. That's the only way they're going to stop it. I don't know how they're going to enforce it, but the only time any guy is going to pay attention is when you penalize him for slow play because it's such a disease, and there is no way on this earth that three professional golfers should take more than 4:15, 4:20, to play 18 holes of golf.

Q. You'll find on the Champions Tour we play quickly.

NICK PRICE: That's what I'm looking forward to, threesomes. McNulty has given me the heads up there because that was one of the first questions I asked him, what's the pace of play like. I think most of the guys out here, we learned a long time ago that the longer you take, the worse it gets.

Q. The players have somewhat of a responsibility. Obviously average golfers look to the pros and see that as an example.

NICK PRICE: It's terrible. It's terrible. The problem is that there's only maybe a handful of slow players certainly on the PGA TOUR who make everyone else's lives a misery. There's maybe 12 or 15 or 20 guys who are slow players, and they just slow down the rest of us. A fast player has to play at the pace of a slow player; a slow player doesn't have to play at the pace of a fast player. That's what's so one-sided.

Anyone who's played rapidly or doesn't mess about on the golf course, there's nothing more frustrating than playing with a guy who pulls the same club out three times, then puts his glove on, then looks at the yardage again, throws the grass up, asks his caddie 15 questions and then suddenly decides to hit it. You know, there's nothing worse, and those guys should be fined.

Q. What was your strategy for combating it or dealing with it?

NICK PRICE: I just used to put my mind in neutral. You had to. You had to. You had to learn to deal with it. If you're playing with someone who was really slow, then I would walk slowly, as well, up to my ball so I wouldn't have to wait around at my ball while he was fiddling around getting ready to hit.

So I'd sort of walk around 20, 30 yards away from my ball and then get to my ball just as he hits, so I could go through my same time zone. So you learn as the years go by how to deal with it. There's nothing more selfish than a slow golfer.

One Last Ryder Cup Question...Follow Up

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Earlier in the week I wondered about the impact of a possible four day Ryder Cup starting on Thursday instead of the current Firday-Sunday setup.

One strategic element lost might be that rare time during morning four-balls when the Captain's have to figure out their afternoon pairings. As we saw this year, Tom Lehman twice left J.J. Henry out of afternoon play, only to have Henry light up the back nine and leave everyone wondering why he was left out of foursomes.

This question brought reader Blue Blazer out of hiding, with the great fan of all things USGA insisting that the players have created this awkward situation with their painfullly slow play (five-plus hours for the first four-ball out!). BB says 80s and 90s matches used to end around noon (as opposed to 1 p.m this year), giving the Captain's another hour to sort out their afternoon pairings.

So Blue Blazer is right that it is not unfair to the Captains to have to make their afternoon pairings with only nine or so holes of golf played for some.

It's a slow play problem.