92 seconds

Sweep

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I have just watched Paul McGinley play a shot in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He had 215 yards out of light rough. I couldn't believe how long he took to play the shot, so I replayed and timed it. When the Sky coverage started he was already making practice swings, so let's be generous and say he had started his pre shot routine 10 seconds earlier. From there until impact he took 82 seconds, plus the 10 = 92 seconds, to play a relatively easy shot which he effectively duffed.
So, if you take 92 seconds and multiply it by 70 (an average round) and then by 3 for a 3 ball, you get to more than 5 hours and 15 minutes without the time it takes to walk between shots and to the next tee. Is this a good example? Is this playing the game the way it should be played?
Incidentally, the amateur he was playing with took 26 seconds.
 

Sweep

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Did you time all 70 shots?
I know it seems a bit pedantic, but he was taking so long it was noticable. I am not one of those golfers who think the game should be played at lightening pace but this was ridiculous and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be behind him.
At that point there must have been very little happening elsewhere because Sky stayed with him the whole time and then with his playing partner. The commentators made no mention of the time he was taking, which led me to to wonder if this wasn't unusual among top pro's, as on TV we usually see them when they are ready to play.
 

brendy

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Fair enough but perhaps it was a tricky lie or another of his playing partners were bumping a shot back into play out of camera shot and he was simply surveying his options (playing devils advocate here as I've never heard McGinley being called slow before). Or maybe he was just very slow over that shot haha.
 

Sweep

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I have never heard of him being slow before either, which also made me wonder if it was the norm. He did take an awful long time over a putt just before this, which was made worse because he had to back off and start again when a helicopter took off.
In regard to this shot, the green was clear. There was some chat with his caddy about landing it on the front of the green and his ball was in some wispy grass. Anyway, no-one died. I just thought with all the talk about slow play and finding ways to change the game to make it quicker and more appealing, plus young players being penalised at the Masters, it may be interesting to some to show an example of what happens at the top of the game.
He didn't seem to be holding anyone up either...
 
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