Slow play has been a festering problem in the game of golf for the last 20 years. Last weekend on a golf telecast from Australia they used a shot clock on some slow players. One player from Spain,not Sergio, but had a lot Sergio traits was timed at 40 seconds over the allowable time. It was absolutely painful to watch and I can only imagine how hard it is to play with. LPGA player Charley Hull in a recent interview said that penalties for slow play are too soft . She went so far to say that after three penalties the player should be removed from the tour.That is a little harsh in my opinion, but I definitely think she is on the right track.
To be completely honest I was a slow player in my younger days. The reasons for that are many and would take too long to explain and I would probably get a two stroke penalty for slow explanation. What changed for me was I was told by a good friend, which was probably not easy to do that I had to speed up or I would have trouble finding games. At that moment I made a concerted effort to play with more pace. Be ready when it was my turn to play and hustle to my ball. These two changes still allowed me to take my time to hit my shot and kind of reinvent myself from golfing perspective. As a point of interest in all my years of competitive golf I have never received a slow play penalty. Came close a couple of times, but I always managed to pick up the pace.
I think what should happen is the PGA Tour should experiment with a shot clock.Perhaps on the Korn Ferry Tour for a few events to see how it goes. It would go something like this. Once the group arrives on the tee, the first player has 50 seconds to hit their shot. After that once the tee is interference free the clock starts for the next player who has a maximum of 50 seconds to hit their shot. If a player exceeds that they get a warning, a second offence a one shot ,third offence a two shot penalty, a fourth bad time, pack your bags and go home. Also the next tournament that player is in the last group. It is a group that no one wants to be in.
Baseball has moved to a pitch clock, along with some other small rules changes and took off 15 minutes of game time. Basketball has a shot clock, football has a play clock so why wouldn’t golf consider this. Another tweak would be to outlaw Aimpoint putt reading under six feet, eliminate yardage books and allow range finders. These would speed up play as well.
These are very non traditional ideas for a traditional games. Some times you got to put out some different stuff to get people to get people talking about change.
Golf is a slow moving game, time to pick up the pace.
Until next time.
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