Report: USGA Pace Of Play Summit Said To Be "Engaging"

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That's what Bradley Klein says after sitting through two days of Far Hills presentations on pace of play.

Since the plans for a live, pay-per-view simulcast still haven't materialized, we'll have to take Klein's word. He included this in his report discussing the amazing difference in pace depending on the spacing of tee times:

Yates is working closely with a number of golf associations on expediting flow and reducing bottlenecks, in part through more relaxed starting times that are separated by as many as 11 minutes. The effort has led the LPGA this year to reduce its average playing time by 14 minutes, from 4:54 to 4:40.

Finally, it sounds like the USGA has begun to compile data related to pace and green speeds, and Klein drops one of the first hints via Twitter of the shocking (shocking!) findings:

Not in his story but certainly the buried news item of the day:

Maybe this will allow for a greater focus on meeting #2 of the non-traditional means task force with Mark King and Bode Miller? The world anxiously awaits.

Commissioner Finchem: "Everybody talks about playing faster; that doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

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As Commissioner Moonbeam enters the final two years of his reign heading the PGA Tour, we've officially enter the weird phase where he randomly says things that remind you it's time to start spending more time counting his millions.

Rex Hoggard quotes the Commish talking about the oddity of Team USA's Ryder Cup foursomes woes even as they dominate in Presidents Cup foursomes. The talk turned to how nice it would be if more foursomes was played in the U.S., in part because rounds are faster when played that way (not to mention it serves as a great social round). Great stuff!

But then the Commish just couldn't leave well enough alone...

To Finchem, however, the endless quest to make the game faster – even at the highest levels where it took more than five hours last week to play a round at the WGC-HSBC Champions … in threesomes – is akin to making molehills out of mountains.

“If you go to Augusta or Pine Valley or Cypress Point and you’re playing with some single-digit handicaps how long does it take you to play? Four hours,” he answered. “If it’s 4:15 (hours) or 4:20, you’re going to worry about shaving 10 minutes off [a round]? It’s not a driving factor. Everybody talks about playing faster; that doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

This is true Commissioner, when you and your golf cronies play a once-in-a-lifetime course, why yes, you aren't in a hurry, but since that represents .01% of the rounds played in America, you have merely confirmed you've been in the bubble just a bit too long!

Couple this with his unspoken edict blocking your rules staff from issuing slow play penalties, and it really has become clear that Tim Finchem is the enemy of speeding up rounds.

Golfing Con Man Arrested After His Mother's Funeral

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You may recall the viral story from a year ago when an aspiring mini-tour pro was supposedly dropped by his sponsor because of a bible verse on his bag and professed love for talk show host Glenn Beck.

The story was eaten up by The Blaze, an online publication devoted to socially conservative causes which, amazingly, still has the story posted even after Ryan Ballengee exposed Cochran as a serial con man who had made his way through golf in multiple states from Florida to Nebraska, including a stint at The Prairie Club.

Ballengee reports that nearly a year after the above mentioned incidents, Cochran was arrested after his mother's graveside service in Michigan.