Opinion & Analysis
Does golf need a shot clock?
We all know the “golfers’ stance.” Not the shoulder-width apart, knees bent, back straight stance at address, but the other golf stance — the one where you obnoxiously stand on the teebox, leaning on your club with your right leg crossed over your left and hand on your hip.
Nothing is worse than looking back and seeing a guy/gal taking the “golf stance,” but slow play is brutally prevalent in golf — especially at the professional level. That’s due to the obvious factors of big purses and demanding conditions — in an era where people want information and entertainment within a few taps on a touch screen of their iPhone 6+.
People like Netflix because they can chain-watch their favorite TV shows without commercial breaks. They like apps because information can be obtained with one click instead of two or three on a browser. Most people can’t bear to read a 1,400-word news story, because it takes too long — they’d prefer to read a 200-word snippet with images and a video or take a poll to see what “color” their personality is.
Life is different. The media is different. Sports are different. Less and less people want to chew up their whole afternoon playing a 5+ hour round of golf. Most millenials would rather play six hours of Call of Duty than watch six hours of the Frys.com Open coverage on Sunday afternoon. I’m not judging them. That’s just the way it is.
The Kevin Na’s, Ben Crane’s and Keegan Bradley’s of the golf world make viewership more difficult and frustrate some of their fellow players. Golf is a game of patience and concentration, but we’re reaching a limit — and the PGA Tour has taken notice.
Starting at the Frys.com Open, the first tournament in the 2014-2015 PGA Tour season, a new pace-of-play system was put into effect. According to Golf Digest’s Dave Shedloski, the rules state that the first player who has the honors in each group must complete his stroke within 50 seconds (10 seconds less than the old rules), and all others in the group get 40 seconds.
The new rules also state that a group must tee off on a par-5 before the group ahead leaves the green. The fines haven’t changed, but the restrictions have gotten stricter.
- The player receives a warning for his first “bad time” of the round.
- If he records a second bad time in the same round, he gets a 1-stroke penalty and $5,000 fine.
- If he records a third bad time in the same round, he gets a 2-stroke penalty and a $10,000 fine.
- If he records a fourth bad time in the same round, he is disqualified.
The public was upset about a slow-play penalty against 14-year-old Guan Tianlang in the 2013 Masters, but that’s life in the big leagues nowadays.
“You talk to players, and no one complains when they play in 4.5 hours and they’re not standing around,” Andy Pazder, the PGA Tour’s executive vice president and chief of operations, told Golf Digest. “They wait on every shot and even if it takes the same 4.5 hours they get frustrated because it feels slow.”
And golf isn’t the only sport experimenting with ways to speed up their respective game.
An Arizona Fall baseball league has implemented a shot clock: 20 seconds to deliver a pitch, 2 minutes and 5 seconds between innings, and 2 minutes 30 seconds for pitching changes. The first game under the new rules lasted 2 hours 14 minutes. The average major league baseball game in 2014? Three hours and 2 minutes.
Although a shot clock in baseball may take some getting-used-to, it seems that it will have a positive effect on speeding up play.
A shot clock in basketball is old news, but the sport has had some problems of its own with games running too long. In a pre-season game between the Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics, the NBA experimented with 11-minute quarters, which brought total game minutes down from 48 minutes to 44 minutes. The NBA also dropped mandatory timeouts in the second and fourth quarters from three to two.
The Nets vs. Celtics game was played in 1 hour and 58 minutes under the experiment. The average game time in the 2013-2014 season (in games that did not go to overtime) was 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Other sports are making strides, and golf is attempting to join the speed parade. Golf, however, seems to be at a disadvantage, since it’s played over the course of 18 holes, hitting (sometimes) unreasonably demanding shots in constantly changing conditions under indescribable pressure for unimaginable sums of money.
See the problem? I think the PGA Tour is putting up a fight with new rules for pace of play, but it’s battle that can’t be won.
The NBA mandates only 24 seconds for each shot, and baseball (or at least its new experiment) allows only 20 seconds. Maybe 50 seconds is still a little generous, but putting a 1.6-ounce dimpled sphere into a 4-inch cup from 450 yards in four shots or less with $1 million on the line takes time.
That being said, let’s speed it up out there guys. I have six episodes of House of Cards to watch on Netflix, and only three hours before Sunday Night Football. Maybe the NFL should fine refs for exceeding a set maximum on penalty flags while we’re at it.
Quick note: If you find yourself in the “golfers’ stance,” please stop. We get it.
GolfWRX recently published articles on pace of play
As the editor-in-chief of this website and an observer of the GolfWRX forums and other online golf equipment discourse for over a decade, I’m pretty well attuned to the grunts and grumbles of a significant portion of the golf equipment purchasing spectrum. And before you accuse me of lording above all in some digital ivory tower, I’d like to offer that I worked at golf courses (public and private) for years prior to picking up my pen, so I’m well-versed in the non-degenerate golf equipment consumers out there. I touched (green)grass (retail)!
Complaints about the ills of and related to the OEMs usually follow some version of: Product cycles are too short for real innovation, tour equipment isn’t the same as retail (which is largely not true, by the way), too much is invested in marketing and not enough in R&D, top staffer X hasn’t even put the new driver in play, so it’s obviously not superior to the previous generation, prices are too high, and on and on.
Without digging into the merits of any of these claims, which I believe are mostly red herrings, I’d like to bring into view of our rangefinder what I believe to be the two primary difficulties golf equipment companies face.
One: As Terry Koehler, back when he was the CEO of Ben Hogan, told me at the time of the Ft Worth irons launch, if you can’t regularly hit the golf ball in a coin-sized area in the middle of the face, there’s not a ton that iron technology can do for you. Now, this is less true now with respect to irons than when he said it, and is less and less true by degrees as the clubs get larger (utilities, fairways, hybrids, drivers), but there remains a great deal of golf equipment truth in that statement. Think about it — which is to say, in TL;DR fashion, get lessons from a qualified instructor who will teach you about the fundamentals of repeatable impact and how the golf swing works, not just offer band-aid fixes. If you can’t repeatably deliver the golf club to the golf ball in something resembling the manner it was designed for, how can you expect to be getting the most out of the club — put another way, the maximum value from your investment?
Similarly, game improvement equipment can only improve your game if you game it. In other words, get fit for the clubs you ought to be playing rather than filling the bag with the ones you wish you could hit or used to be able to hit. Of course, don’t do this if you don’t care about performance and just want to hit a forged blade while playing off an 18 handicap. That’s absolutely fine. There were plenty of members in clubs back in the day playing Hogan Apex or Mizuno MP-32 irons who had no business doing so from a ballstriking standpoint, but they enjoyed their look, feel, and complementary qualities to their Gatsby hats and cashmere sweaters. Do what brings you a measure of joy in this maddening game.
Now, the second issue. This is not a plea for non-conforming equipment; rather, it is a statement of fact. USGA/R&A limits on every facet of golf equipment are detrimental to golf equipment manufacturers. Sure, you know this, but do you think about it as it applies to almost every element of equipment? A 500cc driver would be inherently more forgiving than a 460cc, as one with a COR measurement in excess of 0.83. 50-inch shafts. Box grooves. And on and on.
Would fewer regulations be objectively bad for the game? Would this erode its soul? Fortunately, that’s beside the point of this exercise, which is merely to point out the facts. The fact, in this case, is that equipment restrictions and regulations are the slaughterbench of an abundance of innovation in the golf equipment space. Is this for the best? Well, now I’ve asked the question twice and might as well give a partial response, I guess my answer to that would be, “It depends on what type of golf you’re playing and who you’re playing it with.”
For my part, I don’t mind embarrassing myself with vintage blades and persimmons chasing after the quasi-spiritual elevation of a well-struck shot, but that’s just me. Plenty of folks don’t give a damn if their grooves are conforming. Plenty of folks think the folks in Liberty Corner ought to add a prison to the museum for such offences. And those are just a few of the considerations for the amateur game — which doesn’t get inside the gallery ropes of the pro game…
Different strokes in the game of golf, in my humble opinion.
Anyway, I believe equipment company engineers are genuinely trying to build better equipment year over year. The marketing departments are trying to find ways to make this equipment appeal to the broadest segment of the golf market possible. All of this against (1) the backdrop of — at least for now — firm product cycles. And golfers who, with their ~15 average handicap (men), for the most part, are not striping the golf ball like Tiger in his prime and seem to have less and less time year over year to practice and improve. (2) Regulations that massively restrict what they’re able to do…
That’s the landscape as I see it and the real headwinds for golf equipment companies. No doubt, there’s more I haven’t considered, but I think the previous is a better — and better faith — point of departure when formulating any serious commentary on the golf equipment world than some of the more cynical and conspiratorial takes I hear.
Agree? Disagree? Think I’m worthy of an Adam Hadwin-esque security guard tackle? Let me know in the comments.
@golfoncbs The infamous Adam Hadwin tackle ? #golf #fyp #canada #pgatour #adamhadwin ? Ghibli-style nostalgic waltz – MaSssuguMusic
Episode #16 brings us Cliff McKinney. Cliff is the founder of Old Charlie Golf Club, a new club, and concept, to be built in the Florida panhandle. The model is quite interesting and aims to make great, private golf more affordable. We hope you enjoy the show!
Last week, I came across a reel from BBC Sport on Instagram featuring Scottie Scheffler speaking to the media ahead of The Open at Royal Portrush. In it, he shared that he often wonders what the point is of wanting to win tournaments so badly — especially when he knows, deep down, that it doesn’t lead to a truly fulfilling life.
View this post on Instagram
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said. “To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what’s the point?”
Ironically — or perhaps perfectly — he went on to win the claret jug.
That question — what’s the point of winning? — cuts straight to the heart of the human journey.
As someone who’s spent over two decades in the trenches of professional golf, and in deep study of the mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of the game, I see Scottie’s inner conflict as a sign of soul evolution in motion.
I came to golf late. I wasn’t a junior standout or college All-American. At 27, I left a steady corporate job to see if I could be on the PGA Tour starting as a 14-handicap, average-length hitter. Over the years, my journey has been defined less by trophies and more by the relentless effort to navigate the deeply inequitable and gated system of professional golf — an effort that ultimately turned inward and helped me evolve as both a golfer and a person.
One perspective that helped me make sense of this inner dissonance around competition and our culture’s tendency to overvalue winning is the idea of soul evolution.
The University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies has done extensive research on reincarnation, and Netflix’s Surviving Death (Episode 6) explores the topic, too. Whether you take it literally or metaphorically, the idea that we’re on a long arc of growth — from beginner to sage elder — offers a profound perspective.
If you accept the premise literally, then terms like “young soul” and “old soul” start to hold meaning. However, even if we set the word “soul” aside, it’s easy to see that different levels of life experience produce different worldviews.
Newer souls — or people in earlier stages of their development — may be curious and kind but still lack discernment or depth. There is a naivety, and they don’t yet question as deeply, tending to see things in black and white, partly because certainty feels safer than confronting the unknown.
As we gain more experience, we begin to experiment. We test limits. We chase extreme external goals — sometimes at the expense of health, relationships, or inner peace — still operating from hunger, ambition, and the fragility of the ego.
It’s a necessary stage, but often a turbulent and unfulfilling one.
David Duval fell off the map after reaching World No. 1. Bubba Watson had his own “Is this it?” moment with his caddie, Ted Scott, after winning the Masters.
In Aaron Rodgers: Enigma, reflecting on his 2011 Super Bowl win, Rodgers said:
“Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now what? I was like, ‘Did I aim at the wrong thing? Did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?’”
Jim Carrey once said, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Eventually, though, something shifts.
We begin to see in shades of gray. Winning, dominating, accumulating—these pursuits lose their shine. The rewards feel more fleeting. Living in a constant state of fight-or-flight makes us feel alive, yes, but not happy and joyful.
Compassion begins to replace ambition. Love, presence, and gratitude become more fulfilling than status, profits, or trophies. We crave balance over burnout. Collaboration over competition. Meaning over metrics.
Interestingly, if we zoom out, we can apply this same model to nations and cultures. Countries, like people, have a collective “soul stage” made up of the individuals within them.
Take the United States, for example. I’d place it as a mid-level soul: highly competitive and deeply driven, but still learning emotional maturity. Still uncomfortable with nuance. Still believing that more is always better. Despite its global wins, the U.S. currently ranks just 23rd in happiness (as of 2025). You might liken it to a gifted teenager—bold, eager, and ambitious, but angsty and still figuring out how to live well and in balance. As much as a parent wants to protect their child, sometimes the child has to make their own mistakes to truly grow.
So when Scottie Scheffler wonders what the point of winning is, I don’t see someone losing strength.
I see someone evolving.
He’s beginning to look beyond the leaderboard. Beyond metrics of success that carry a lower vibration. And yet, in a poetic twist, Scheffler did go on to win The Open. But that only reinforces the point: even at the pinnacle, the question remains. And if more of us in the golf and sports world — and in U.S. culture at large — started asking similar questions, we might discover that the more meaningful trophy isn’t about accumulating or beating others at all costs.
It’s about awakening and evolving to something more than winning could ever promise.
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Pingback: Shooting Down Slow Play- The Shot Clock - The Golf Shop Online Blog
JB
Oct 27, 2014 at 9:03 am
I do agree that some golfers need to speed it up, but a shot clock is a little much. Imagine having a 150 yard shot in the wind; throw up grass, trying to find the right trajectory, the wind shifts, do it all over again. Plus you add in the “I gotta hit this before the shot clock goes off”. Makes my head hurt just thinking about all that.
But…I do agree some players are slow. The quickest way to kill a round is playing with a guy that take 48 practice swings!
Rich
Oct 31, 2014 at 4:34 am
Or someone who throws up grass more than once!
golfpro
Oct 26, 2014 at 6:32 pm
Not sure what fancy private clubs you guys play, but I’ve never seen a guy shooting 95 check the wind on my course. What slows ppl down is they try too hard to stick together. JUST HIT YOUR TEE SHOT AND SCATTER! Who cares whos turn it is, just hit if youre ready. So what if bobs ball hadnt finished ricocheting off the portapotty. If Bill hits it in the trees go hit yours then maybe help for a minute if its convenient.
golfpro
Oct 26, 2014 at 6:28 pm
I like the ideas of penalties but they are too soft. Heres what i’d do…. ONE warning, then if you get a second notice and you’re going to dairy queen and you are $10000 poorer. Get DQd twice and you lose your card.
mike
Oct 26, 2014 at 12:37 pm
I believe that article is relating slow play to people watching televised golf. In that train of thought, since golf is only on t.v. for 3 hours on the weekend (network) I don’t think slow play affects viewing as much the networks showing less actual golf. It seems that only about 30 minutes of every hour show people golfing the rest is showing the announcers, player stats, history of the course or something other than actual golf being played. Show more golf and more people might start watching the telecasts.
Landbe
Oct 25, 2014 at 3:01 am
Reasons for public golf slow play 1. Five somes 2. Players taking turns to play when playing from completly differnt areas. 3. Waiting for your turn to putt to read and get ready to putt. 4. Stopping for a sandwhich between front and back nine (stopping for anything other then pre-made ready to go snacks should never be allowed). 5. Players playing the wrong tee boxs for thier game (that includes the guys and gals that hit the ball long enough to go for par 5’s in two “move back”) 6. Following the rules of golf to the letter which should be only true for Pro and maybe local tournament play. GOLF WILL NEVER SPEED UP UNTIL SOMEONE BEATS IT INTO THE HEADS OF EVERYONE OUT PLAYING IF YOUR NOT A PLUS HANDICAP YOUR NEVER GOING TO BE A PRO….
Bruce Wayne
Oct 25, 2014 at 11:48 am
I would like to add two more things to your list and that’s course hazards. For example my home course in Palm Desert has a lot of large tumble weed growth just off the first cut of rough which maybe 10 feet from the fairway. The course could remove these ugly monster desert weed growth which would allow golfers to find errant shots faster. Some have suggested on this site making the course easier I think courses just need to make finding your ball easier as golf is a game of recovery. Unless it’s a tour event golfers don’t have spotters of the tee so long rough adds a lot of time to a round. One could argue to tee it forward but I could also argue to keep the rough shorter. Two inch rough takes plenty of spin off the ball but makes it much quicker to find. There are a lot of things golfers can do to speed up play but there are things courses can do. I understand times being tough financially and more golfers is more money especially in season in Palm Springs with rates at the top courses going from $30 to $250 a round but I see some course sending off foursomes off the first tee in 6 minute intervals. The time to play 18 holes goes from 2.5 hours to my longest which was 6 in the winter. To many people is going to jam up a golf course like Los Angeles rush hour traffic no matter how fast golfers try to play as bad shots are part of the game.
Ricky Bobby
Oct 25, 2014 at 12:00 am
What I find understand is why sports like NFL, basketball and baseball take so long?
I know cricket can take five days, but they are playing the whole time. What would happen if they had a running clock in basketball and no time outs?
CD
Oct 24, 2014 at 2:03 pm
If people just hurried up when they weren’t taking a shot and got more aware, they could still line their putts up and get round quickly.
My pet hate is someone ASSUMING you can’t hit it far. So I’m standing on the tee and if I connect and it is at all straight I’m hitting the guys in front. You get hurried up, then hit a poor shot and people look at you like ‘why were you waiting?’ Then on a later hole ‘you’re safe to go’ NO! How do you effing know that? Never met you before? How do you know?!!!!! Then I take three wood, am ten yards short and apologising to the group in front.
I’m not talking about crazy big hits – people hurrying you up at 200 yards
Similarly, you wait on tees
CD
Oct 24, 2014 at 2:11 pm
And in the fairway – too far to shout ‘can I play through?’ And to them I must not look like I’m waiting – but I am, for 14 holes plus usually. And the look on my buddies faces when we were slow and I invited a group 250 away to play through…
Slow play is a genuine problem like diving in football (soccer) and gets emulated at club level. Keegan Bradley at the open – he needs help not to be copied! A bit of awareness and haste BETWEEN shots is what is needed. You can still have a relaxing round.
Chris S
Oct 24, 2014 at 8:10 am
HELL NO. PICK ANOTHER SPORT TO PLAY OR WATCH IF YOU DON’T LIKE GOLF THE WAY IT IS. Thank you.
marty
Oct 25, 2014 at 10:00 am
Thanks for your valuable input mr. Helper.
James Harvey
Oct 24, 2014 at 7:25 am
If i play on my own I can walk round 18 holes in less than 3hrs, a three ball takes 3.5hrs (no four balls allowed except in specail comps). Pros take too long.. too long getting yardages (let them use GPS!).. too long on re shot routines (ban caddy lining players up & restrict practice strokes – three practice swings then you must hit or it’s deemed a shot anyway!) Also, yes, bring the ball back so a pro can only just hit 300yrds.. us mear mortals would only lose a couple of yards and it would enable courses to stay shorter = less time to get round! American coverage doesn’t help the game, here in Europe the coverage of European events is much better, in the US you see one or two shots before going to a comercial.. I want to watch golf not adverts!! Should be a maximum of one add every 15mins! And why do US broadcasters think we are only interested in the top pros? I want to see who’s playing well, regardless of who they are! I watched one event were you didn’t see a single shot from the guy at the top of the leader board as the coverage was focused on Tiger & Phil struggling to make to cut!?! The Ryder Cup is not the only thing the Americans could learn a lot about from us Europeans!
Jeff
Dec 21, 2014 at 3:42 pm
Those “adverts” are why game checks are in the millions…
dapadre
Oct 24, 2014 at 6:32 am
In all honesty its fine with it. Golf on the professional or even semi or college level is what it is. If they want to b more efficient with the time thats fine. When I watch a tournament or major I also don’t mind the time it takes.
NOW ON A HACKER LEVEL…… that’s a whole different story. The problem are three fold IMHO.
One: why make the damn courses so difficult! A very good acquaintance of mine owns a golf course. I was ripping him for this reason. I said look, whats the average handicap here, roughly 20 and thats only for those who have a registered one which is only half. The other half couldn’t break 100 if you let them play all day and took 100 practice swings. Yet the course is too long, the rough to hard and too many obstacles. Shorten it, make it easier, keep the rough in check and obstacles so hackers can find their balls easily and move one. Why create a course like its a mini major?
Second: wrong tees. The frustration of seeing a 110+ hacker teeing up at the back tees, like really dude!
Thirdly: Marshalls need to enforce the rules more. Make sure groups are moving and give correction when needed, like telling groups to let others thru or calling out the guy at the back tees to move up. Sorry but most of the time the ride around and I don’t see them carrying out their authoritative duties.
Ken
Oct 24, 2014 at 1:46 pm
My only concern with point #3 is that sometimes marshalls never take into account the size of the groups playing. If my foursome is playing in front of 3, of course we are going to be behind. We are never going to keep pace with them. But instead of looking at the groups marshalls will constantly tell us to speed us.
Rich
Oct 24, 2014 at 6:00 pm
Is there a foursome in front of that threesome? If there is and you don’t keep pace you are behind.
Mad-Mex
Oct 24, 2014 at 2:21 am
OK, let’s say they do that, WHO is going to enforce it? And will they apply equally? Bet you a dozen Pro-V1’s that it would be applied to the journey golfer, Tiger? Rory? Naw!!!! It would be like when Jordan played, if you got with in a foot as he was shooting, Foul,,,,
Ben
Oct 24, 2014 at 1:32 am
To me it is a simple calculation. If you take more strokes in a round you should make your pre-shot routine shorter. For example if two players have the same one minute pre-shot routine and one player shoots 75 and the other shoots 95, the player who shoots 95 take 20 minutes more to play his shots. The group goes as slow as the slowest player. Unfortunate but true.
Also, if you have a group that obviously way faster than your group and there is nobody in front of you, it is good etiquette to just give the option to the group behind and ask if they want to play through or not. Some people take offense if the group behind wants to play through when they are obviously faster. I don’t get that.
On the same token, rushing through a round is not fun either or hurrying up and waiting type of rounds. A good steady pace round is always best.
paul
Oct 24, 2014 at 1:32 pm
How do you expect guys off 95 to get any better if they have to rush every shot. I’m off 7 and play with many friends off mid – high handicaps, I tell all of them to take there time and commit to the shot rather than rush them up the fairway. I’d rather they played well and got faster by playing fewer shots. Maybe that’s an idealist approach, but it’s one I prefer.
Lime Shark
Oct 24, 2014 at 4:17 pm
Maybe that’s exactly what they need to do.
Studies show that the more golfers (especially amateurs) focus on the mechanics of their swing, the worse their swing becomes.
And what causes amateurs to focus on the mechanics of their swing? Taking their time and performing practice swings.
Almost every duffer would hit the golf ball better if they did it quickly–before they had time to think about what hey are going.
other paul
Oct 26, 2014 at 2:06 pm
People that shoot 95 don’t have a pre shot routine…
Jeff
Dec 21, 2014 at 3:44 pm
I do to!
Double Mocha Man
Oct 23, 2014 at 11:34 pm
This will work. Trust me, this will absolutely work! Each professional foursome is assigned a timer guy. The timer guy carries a stopwatch and an airhorn. Once Keegan Bradley gets an airhorn at the top of his backswing you’ll really see him start twitching. And he’ll speed up to a much quicker pace. Not to mention the beatdown he’ll get in the locker room for ruining half a dozen other shots somewhere on the course.
I have a foursome scheduled for this Sunday… some of the guys are a bit slow. Now where did I put my airhorn…
steve
Oct 24, 2014 at 10:11 am
Serious? Blow an air horn? The whole course gets the air horn, not just the slow player. Good thinking ruin everyone’s round
Lime Shark
Oct 24, 2014 at 3:33 pm
You’re right, a starter’s gun would work better.
Lime Shark
Oct 24, 2014 at 3:35 pm
Now that I think of it, the starter’s gun should be used to indicate when their tee off time starts and a loud whistle should be used if their time expires.
Lime Shark
Oct 24, 2014 at 3:32 pm
And if the airhorn goes off before they hit the ball, then they don’t get to tee it off at all. They must take a drop at the edge of the green farthest from the ball.
The penalty strokes are whatever par is on the hole (3, 4, 5, etc…) Plus, they still have to put.
Jason
Oct 23, 2014 at 8:29 pm
How would the shot clock work? When would it start? Who would be timing it? It would probably be a volunteer and those are usually 70 years old. I’m not saying they aren’t capable, but if a player receives a penalty, we would need to review the video footage to confirm the clock started correctly, yada, yada, yada. Ain’t nobody got time for dat!
Lime Shark
Oct 24, 2014 at 3:39 pm
How about a system like they have in chess?
Use a standalone clock. When a player is done, he taps the top of the clock and it resets. Use a digital clock and everyone can see it.
Lime Shark
Oct 24, 2014 at 4:22 pm
Actually, you wouldn’t need a digital clock, just a sand filled hourglass. Position it at the back of the tee box on a pole. Just flip it over when the the time starts.
Of course, it would have to be made of something indestructible rather than glass. I’m sure many a golfer would be tempted to beat the **** out of it.
Rich
Oct 24, 2014 at 6:04 pm
You’d have to encase it in concrete and steel.
other paul
Oct 26, 2014 at 2:09 pm
My local course has a clock on each tee box showing when you teed off. If you get to the 5th hole and it shows after your tee time you need to speed up. Sounds lime a cheap solution to let everyone know the pace. 20$ per clock plus a wood collapsible base.
Brad
Oct 23, 2014 at 8:18 pm
make the switch to a ball the Bubba and Rory can barley hit 300 yards and make the maximum course length 7000 yards or so
Paul
Oct 23, 2014 at 8:01 pm
once again missing the point entirely i’m afraid
it’s not the difference between a 4 or 4.5 hour round and a 5 hour round that’s keeping the “millenials” off the golf courses
it’s the fact it takes 4 goddamn hours in the first place
as much as it pains me to say this as i love a full and seriously don’t care at all if it takes 5 hours (a little frustration on the golf course is better than a day at work)
9 holes is the future, would you play a 5 set tennis match with your buddy? that’s for the pros not for your social or local competition.
TheLegend
Oct 23, 2014 at 6:11 pm
I play mon- thur and i play in 3 hrs.
golfisboring
Oct 23, 2014 at 5:41 pm
This slow play has been beaten to death and nothing changes. Expect slow play and you won’t be disappointed. If the round turns out to be at a good pace, then consider that a big plus for the day.
lance
Oct 23, 2014 at 5:22 pm
I play by the hole-not by the hour.
Mat
Oct 23, 2014 at 5:05 pm
I don’t care what the pros do. What I care about is easier tees for amateurs.
Flat out, I dare courses to be “too easy”. Show me those courses, and I’ll show you bros playing from the tips. The only thing to do about slow play is to stop making golf harder than it should be for players that aren’t appropriately matched.
If you can’t beat 80, you shouldn’t be beyond white tees. That’s your slow play cure.
Scooter McGavin
Oct 23, 2014 at 7:16 pm
Agreed. I see all these hacks come into the store I work at talking about their expensive and difficult courses with lightning fast greens, and then I watch them duff their irons in the hitting bay during their fittings. News flash: you don’t need a difficult course. You think I’m going to feel “less good” if I shoot a really good score at an easy course? I’m sure I’m being generous when I say that 99% of golfers need to play easier courses and/or closer tees. And full disclosure, I am one of those hacks that plays closer tees (like I should)… Just so everyone knows I’m not trying come across as superior or anything…
Lime Shark
Oct 23, 2014 at 5:05 pm
Why focus on pros? The pro game is healthy. If it isn’t broken, why fix it.
As far a amateurs go, penalties/punishment will never work. Tell the typical amateur golfer they can’t do something, and they’ll go it just to prove the can.
Rewards for fast play would work better.
Return your cart within a specific time and get a free beer, a free ball, a pen, or just about anything. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It’s amazing how people will jump through hoops to win something–no matter how cheap.
Give golfers an incentive to finish quickly.
Marshall Brown
Oct 23, 2014 at 10:09 pm
Not sure that would work because one slow group could slow everyone down, and groups behind would just have incentive to (often rudely) rush the group ahead.
Rich
Oct 24, 2014 at 6:11 pm
My local course has employees positioned at a 3 key places on the first 4 holes on weekend mornings and it has done wonders. They’ll read greens, give yardages, rake bunkers, and keep groups moving. Getting people off to a quick start really works.
Martin B
Oct 23, 2014 at 4:36 pm
One of the biggest contributors to slow play is the once-per-hole treat into the woods to look for the lost ball…usually by all four players. Not only is time wasted in the search, but now the three other players have to find their way back to their balls, find a yardage, choose a club and make their 4-6 practice swings. For the love of God, play Noodles instead of Pro V1’s if you’re constantly slicing it off the tee. If the ball is 30 yards OB in the woods, drop where it went in and move along.
brian
Oct 23, 2014 at 4:34 pm
Most definitely!
stripe
Oct 23, 2014 at 3:36 pm
Tee it Forward and if you can’t get to the hole within 4-6 shots, do the world a favor and pic it up and try again on the next hole. You’d be surprised at how fast the pace would be.
Jay
Oct 23, 2014 at 3:07 pm
That picture is soo true and it makes me LMFAO!! These guy’s striking the pose on the box is so true of a lot of people I see playing the game but these are the guys that are also part of the problem. They should be doing practice swings to keep loose as well as maybe have a ball on a T so they are ready. These same guy’s probably don’t play ready golf either by going to their shot’s they probably do the same as most do and all go to player “A’s” shot and then to Player”B’s” etc. Probably don’t line there put up while the player that is up and putting. I CAN’T STAND SLOW PLAY!!!!!! WETHER THAT BE WATCHING OR PLAYING!! Which is part of the reason why I don’t watch much of it anymore as well as participate as much either. I rarely play weekends but my love for the game get’s me out 50-60 times a year the other 50 times I could be playing I elect to hit balls instead!!
Dpavs
Oct 23, 2014 at 2:52 pm
From a spectators point of view, what difference does it make if they take 4 or 6 hours unless you are actually at the course watching them? On television you are going to see the final groups or the last 3.5 hours of the day no matter what.. regardless of the time taken if you need to watch it faster you dvr it and play it back as you deem fit.
From a play point of view on the local course on the weekend, it’s too much LOFT that causes the delays usually.
Tommy
Oct 23, 2014 at 2:32 pm
If they actually enforce a slow-play rule as enthusiastically as they enforce every other rule that exists in golf, this would be a meaningful endeavor. But they haven’t, and they won’t.
No problem with the Guan Tianlang penalty if he was the only offender, but I doubt that was the case. It was just easier to penalize a 14-year old amateur with no standing on any tour than to penalize somebody who might actually protest or lose money.
Rwj
Oct 23, 2014 at 4:30 pm
Exactly.
If you really wanted to speed up play and show the tour boys you mean it, penalize Tiger Woods for one of the many back offs he does for the wind.
I imagine 10% of his long shots are taken within 40 seconds, yet nothing.
John Ray
Oct 23, 2014 at 2:23 pm
Pace of play has a lot to do with how many players are playing in these tournaments. A lot of courses these guys play on were never designed for 180 person fields. When you have to put groups off on both nines it’s inevitable that it will be slow, think your last scramble. I’d like to see the tour take a look at which courses tend to play the slowest and institute some sort of field restriction, or perhaps a fifth day of play, where the newbies and unknowns play their first round on wed’s. Another thing they could do is have a cut after every round.
ben bertok
Oct 23, 2014 at 2:19 pm
Hey, 10, 20 30 k is chunk change to these guys lets make it a 4 shot penalty
Philip
Oct 23, 2014 at 2:18 pm
Why would the parties who make money from the TV commercials want the event to take up less TV time and earn them less money.
Also, the longer people are physically at the event the more money generated for drinks, food, merchandise, etc. for the golf course hosting the event.
It is a question of balance between the maximum amount of time an event can take before total revenues start to drop from people going there and people watching on TV.
When the rating fall due to events taking too long (not easy to correlate) then the events will pick up the pace. Maybe it is happening now which is why they are doing this.
Lance
Oct 24, 2014 at 7:45 am
This! Bingo Philip
James
Oct 23, 2014 at 2:15 pm
The Tour needs to get a handle on it. Why? Because many ams emulate what they see on TV as the way to play. Go back to the old TV golf shows of the late 50s and early 60s and watch how quickly the pros of that era played. No messing about. Got up there, pulled a club and hit it. Nowadays, it’s get to your ball, get yardages from 3 or 4 spots, gauge the wind, think about it, discuss with caddie, discuss some more, finally pull a club, 5 or 6 practice swings then hit it. Freaking ridiculous.
Wally K
Oct 23, 2014 at 1:43 pm
Raise the fine to 10k and 20k and start penalizing. That will wake up the players.
Wally K
Oct 23, 2014 at 1:41 pm
Andrew, great article, i was talking to members about this and I agree. Yeah they are good and yeah they are playing for a lot of money but playing in a threesome or twosome over 4.5 hours is ridiculous. Pretty soon no one will be watching and the sponsors will stop and then they wont be playing for so much money.
Come on guys you guys are the best in the world and kids are watching. Kids copy the pros so lets set a good example. Pick up the pace.
Johnny
Oct 23, 2014 at 1:25 pm
You say it’s a battle that can’t be won. I believe it’s more a case of it’s a battle that the PGA Tour doesn’t really care about winning.
I will absolutely be shocked if the PGA Tour ever invokes the penalty stroke for slow play. And, if I’m wrong, I will be shocked if it’s ever one of the big dogs. They’ll pick on the not so big of a name player.
adolfo
Oct 23, 2014 at 1:30 pm
I agree with you but If they do penalize it will shack things up. bc 1 shot could be the difference winning a tourney and second. and that equals a lot of money lost
JoeC
Oct 23, 2014 at 1:17 pm
I dunno about a shot clock but those dudes need to tuck in their shirts.
Wally K
Oct 23, 2014 at 1:42 pm
Yes they should.
paul
Oct 23, 2014 at 2:21 pm
Maybe they are on a public course, shirt stays un tucked. More comfortable as long as it fits. Not everyone plays on snobby courses. 300 years ago people played wearing a suit and tie. You want to call people on not tucking their shirt in then lets see you put your suit on.
Rwj
Oct 23, 2014 at 4:32 pm
Believe that was negated when they allowed Tiger Woods to wear t-shirts…oh, I mean “mock turtlenecks.”
Rich
Oct 24, 2014 at 6:15 pm
Duval started that trend