At last, slow play is being attacked in the pro game...

[Deleted member 1147]

Interesting article on the Beeb about a loss of hole penalty for Morgan Pressel.

Seems she and Munoz were playing slowly, then were put on the clock, and Pressel played a hole too slowly and was given a loss of hole penalty. From what may have been 3 up she went on to lose.

Hopefully we'll see a little more of this in the mens game as well.

 

[fundy]

Wouldnt hold your breath on the mens tour, not a single player been given a penalty on the PGA tour since the current commissioner took over, and its not as if they dont have plenty of chances week after week

 

[USER1999]

The best bit in that article was in the comments section.

Munoz was the slower of the two, until they got put on the clock, and she speeded up a bit. Pressel was the one who ignored the warning (probably thinking it was directd at Munoz), and got the penalty.

So Munoz has two sppeds of play, one before she gets a warning, and one after, which is quicker. Since she went on to win, why not play quicker in the first place?

I'd like to see it in the mens game. The slow players are all known. Put them on the clock on the first tee.

 

[CylonRaider]

Every pro is happy to complain about slow play and wants something done about it .... UNLESS it is them being affected by a penalty.

I say nail them up. Crucifixion for a first offense.

 

[bladeplayer]

Have a look at thread SLOW PLAY PENALTIES by duncan , shows this very incident & what came after , best friends aswell seemingly .. yea .. cant post a link sorry ,

 

[bobmac]

All they have to do is send a note to ALL the players clarifying the rules and explaining that from this day forth, the rules and punisments well be adhered to.
Then it's up to the players. If they get done it's their own fault.
Once one or two get done 2 shots or a hole in match play, the word would soon get around

 

[JustOne]

I think they should be allowed lasers, that way most of the conflab with the caddies would be eliminated.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I think they should be allowed lasers, ....

To shoot the slowest ones?

 

[Deleted member 1147]

All they have to do is send a note to ALL the players clarifying the rules and explaining that from this day forth, the rules and punisments well be adhered to.
Then it's up to the players. If they get done it's their own fault.
Once one or two get done 2 shots or a hole in match play, the word would soon get around

I think one problem will be like in alot of sports - inconsistency of handing out penalties.
One week some one will get done and then the next week they won't.
That will lead to complaints and they'll get rid of the punishments.

 

[chrisd]

I say nail them up. Crucifixion for a first offense.

Wouldn't theybe hanging around even longer?

 

[muttleee]

Wouldnt hold your breath on the mens tour, not a single player been given a penalty on the PGA tour since the current commissioner took over, and its not as if they dont have plenty of chances week after week

True - but now those who want to see a change can point to the women's tour as an example of what could be done and say 'if they can do it, so can we'. As Monty says in the article, the tour could risk losing sponsors and TV viewers if they don't do something to speed the game up and you can bet the commissioner doesn't want that.

 

[muttleee]

I think one problem will be like in alot of sports - inconsistency of handing out penalties.
One week some one will get done and then the next week they won't.
That will lead to complaints and they'll get rid of the punishments.

That's like complaining that you got a speeding ticket but you've seen plenty of other fast drivers who didn't get one. If you don't want a ticket, don't speed. If you don't want a slow play penalty, don't play slowly.

 

[bobmac]

I think one problem will be like in alot of sports - inconsistency of handing out penalties.
One week some one will get done and then the next week they won't.
That will lead to complaints and they'll get rid of the punishments.

It's not difficult.
2 warnings is plenty.
If they are still slow then the officials act and the players haven't got a leg to stand on

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I agree that it shouldn't be difficult, but, you see and hear all sorts rubbish talked at the start of the season in Football and Rugby about cracking down on certain aspects and they do it for a while and then they let it slide until it's just like before.
I would expect it to be the same in golf - especially if the players start to moan.

Shouldn't happen though, but I'd wager that it would.

 

[bobmac]

I agree that it shouldn't be difficult, but, you see and hear all sorts rubbish talked at the start of the season in Football and Rugby about cracking down on certain aspects and they do it for a while and then they let it slide until it's just like before.
I would expect it to be the same in golf - especially if the players start to moan.

Shouldn't happen though, but I'd wager that it would.

So, what should they do, just not try?

 

[muttleee]

I would expect it to be the same in golf - especially if the players start to moan.

What are the players going to do if they don't like it? Stop playing? Play the Nationwide or Challenge tours instead? Or maybe they'll just....speed up and shut up.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

As I say, I hope they will do something about it.
But unfortunately the cynic in me thinks it will be a short term thing, and probably a bit of a media stunt.
and then it will just die away and we'll be back to slow rounds.

 

[Stub]

As Bobmac says, it has to be tried and if it is flagged up in advance that the rules will be enforced there can be no complaint. The only other people who can influence matters are the tournament sponsors and the TV companies and, if they were not happy, then I think the tour organisers would listen. But cannot see why sponsors and TV would not want speedier play if it attracts viewers and spectator support. The only possible advantage of slow play might be that it accommodates more ad breaks for the TV?

 

[duncan mackie]

All they have to do is send a note to ALL the players clarifying the rules and explaining that from this day forth, the rules and punisments well be adhered to.
Then it's up to the players. If they get done it's their own fault.
Once one or two get done 2 shots or a hole in match play, the word would soon get around

Bob, that's exactly what applies now on most tours, including the good feeder tours!

As both explained and illustrated in the video link from this post http://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk/showthread.php?40667-slow-play-penalties the player concerned continued after the final warning to just 'chew up time' in playing that hole - "no stopwatch required" would have been my headline!

The problem, if there is one, is that once a player is given a final warning and is put on the clock it's not hard to comply with the allocated time - and the damage is done to the rest of the field etc. The reason for the lack of penalties is simply that players will comply with shot times once on the clock.

I really would recommend people look at the video, they are only playing a par 3, and it's edited to their shot times, but you should get some drinks in first..... if the game infront of you did this anywhere, even the mild mannered would be shouting 'get on with it' or similar; some others would probably have played through (and finished the next couple of holes un-noticed!

 

[BTatHome]

I think this incident probably created more bad press than good press. The action in a semi final with only 2 groups on the course does not send out a good message when they have only ever handed out a handful of penalties in recent years. Is that really the only time they have ever had a issue ?

Until they have consistency in their actions these penalties will only be looked upon with such much scorn and scrutiny.