professional golf and you

[chip barm]

I watched a bit of golf on telly last week. Two rounds with Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Tiger Woods in the Farmers Insurance thing? I don’t know anything about tournament golf, the history or any of the players really as I’ve not been playing long. It surprised me how many fairways they missed and how many putts sailed by the hole. I wasn’t expecting that really as they were billed as the feature group or whatever. Also, it shocked me how long they took to play their shots. Especially Jason Day. Closing his eyes and visualising the shot etc. It was pretty dull to be honest. Also they seemed quite cocky which made it harder to enjoy. Not all of them. Phil Mickelson looked like he was just enjoying playing. He wasn’t dressed in anything crazy and didn’t look like he was going to disappear up his own backside. How can a sport you enjoy playing be so hard to watch?

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

You may not have been playing all that long but you seem to have summed up professional golf pretty damn well!!

 

[Reemul]

To be fair all three missed the cut and played pretty poorly.

As a long time watcher of golf there are many pro's who like to smash it and worry about being off the fairway when they arrive, normally the rough isn't that rough and they can get it on the green regardless, lots of strength and club head speed help.

Also they do say never up never in when putting which makes sense and you don't see the pros really leaving them short if possible I mean going past always has a chance of going in but leaving it short never has. As an amateur it's easy when playing to think along the lines of as long as I get this close I can 2 putt which could be good rather than thinking this can go in.

As to slow play I bet if you were following them on course it would be even worse, the tv does help make things look a little faster.

 

[fundy]

They dont call him Jason ALL Day for nothing lol. Slow play a massive blight on our beautiful game and the pros are getting worse, and the kids are copying it, and still the pga do nothing to resolve it

Im a huge Woods fan (and DJ) but that group was hard to watch this weekend, all 3 played poorly and invariably didnt enjoy what was going on.

Most of the time the first few rounds arent that exciting on TV, maybe try watching just the final day for a bit and see how that fares. Can be a bit like most long distance races, the fun only really starts when the finish line appears. Sunday night there were 8 or 9 in contention until Rahm made a birdie then an unreal eagle on his final 2 holes for a maiden win, far more exciting than Thur/Fri

 

[Lord Tyrion]

It shows why Big Phil is popular, not hard to interact is it?

Most pro's are painfully slow. It is why tv golf is best when they move around lots of golfers, not just stick to a few groups.

 

[patricks148]

I always think Tour Professional golf and Amateur golf are so far apart its almost like a different game.

We play with different Equipment most of the time on different set up courses in different conditions esp in the UK.

TBH its irrelevant to me.

 

[Qwerty]

It was awful to watch. As a TW fan I was looking forward to seeing where he was at.. But with Day in the group it was just painful.

I was flicking between the Golf and the Match on the Thursday maybe every 15 mins or so and every time I just couldn't believe how little progress they'd made, I'd maybe missed a shot or two. Other players hearts must sink when they see they've been Drawn with Day.

On the whole I know what you mean though, it isn't the best of sports to watch, I usually only watch the Majors and RC nowadays. Apart from Beef and maybe a couple of others Theres no Characters in the game, they're just mainly a load of sporting Robots trying to keep their emotions in check.

 

[Capella]

The slow play definitely is an issue, at least on PGA and European Tour level. I caddied for a professional on the ProGolf Tour last year, and those guys were a lot faster. If they fell behind the group in front, one of the referees would show up in an instant and hustle them along. So it seems that the license to dawdle is earned with success

As for the quality of the shots hit, tv cameras are decieving, I think. You need to be there to appreciate how far and how precise they hit it and how fast and unpredictable those greens sometimes are.

 

[drewster]

The slow play definitely is an issue, at least on PGA and European Tour level. I caddied for a professional on the ProGolf Tour last year, and those guys were a lot faster. If they fell behind the group in front, one of the referees would show up in an instant and hustle them along. So it seems that the license to dawdle is earned with success
.

I think you're absolutely correct there. Until someone high profile gets penalised in a major they'll still keep playing like they're bulletproof. The Masters has precedent for penalising slow play but only with 15 year old children,. If they man up and penalise someone like Jason Day then the shockwaves it would create might actually do some good for the professional game.

 

[Dasit]

They just cut into the shots, not like you are watching Day from when he gets to the ball till when he hits it

I find it fine watching on TV. Those 3 players played poorly compared to their usual standards for sure.

 

[chip barm]

They just cut into the shots, not like you are watching Day from when he gets to the ball till when he hits it.

on occasion he'd still be flicking through his notes and selecting clubs when they cut to him. often in the rough. also he'd do his shut eye visualisation thing, address the ball then get up because he heard a squirell fart and go through the entire process again. in my opinion, that is tough to watch.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think the onus is firmly on the tours to tackle this problem of slow play and do it soon. Golf needs TV and TV needs golf but if the product is losing viewers then sooner or later, sponsors will follow and the pro game will lose events

 

[Parsaregood]

Let's be honest about this, does slow play on the tour really bother you? These guys are playing for millions of dollars, some of the guys lower down the list genuinely struggle to make that great of a living so if I was in these circumstances I'd be taking my time too. Why wouldn't you after all its your job and if checking the numbers twice helps you perform better/earn more money why wouldn't you take your time. Quite simply you'd be a fool if you didn't. Quite often I'll see the old guys who tee off on the first tee time a sprint round the course and then brag about how it only takes them 3 hours or whatever to play a medal round but quire frankly I'm there to socialise, and have a good time playing the game I love why would I be in a rush?

 

[VVega]

Let's be honest about this, does slow play on the tour really bother you? These guys are playing for millions of dollars, some of the guys lower down the list genuinely struggle to make that great of a living so if I was in these circumstances I'd be taking my time too.

They are only playing for millions because millions watch them play. Slow play reduces the audiences hence will ultimately reduce the prize funds. They should keep this in mind.

Imagine if Nadal vs Federer were taking 5 mins to "visualise" every serve

 

[Parsaregood]

Where is the evidence slow play reduces the audience, has anybody actually ever studied this? It certainly has no bearing on whether or not I watch tour events, golf is naturally a slow game. Watch the highlights if you don't enjoy watching it live, it is what it is. It's not going to change and I wouldn't really want it to.

 

[Parsaregood]

Next people will want tournaments over 1 round with shotgun starts to 'speed up play' lol that certainly wouldn't be in the spirit of the game.

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Let's be honest about this, does slow play on the tour really bother you?

Yes it does because all the kids watching on TV think it is OK to take 5hrs in the Saturday medal.

 

[Oxfordcomma]

Next people will want tournaments over 1 round with shotgun starts to 'speed up play' lol that certainly wouldn't be in the spirit of the game.

I don't know though? I love test cricket but there seems to be a huge following for T20. A pro tournament with a shotgun start and timers on each shot, done and dusted in under 5 hours? Constant switching from player to player, I reckon the TV audience would be big. Certainly wouldn't want very many tournaments to be that way but would be a bit of fun and worth a try.

 

[Parsaregood]

Nobody thinks it's OK to take 5 hours in a Saturday medal but if you play a busy course at a busy time of year there's always the possibility of this happening, id say course holdups are more often people hitting bad shots not playing a provisional ball etc rather than general slow play. In a tour event they can have up to 50000 people on the course at anyone time including cameras etc of course things take longer especially when stakes are so high especially if you are playing to keep your card/job. Slow play on tour would have been dealt with if it was a real issue but obviously it's not or something would have been done. I personally don't see it as an issue on tour with the increased traffic on course, cameras, huge importance can quite easily see why a round would take 4.5-5 hours.

 

[chip barm]

Let's be honest about this, does slow play on the tour really bother you? These guys are playing for millions of dollars, some of the guys lower down the list genuinely struggle to make that great of a living so if I was in these circumstances I'd be taking my time too. Why wouldn't you after all its your job and if checking the numbers twice helps you perform better/earn more money why wouldn't you take your time. Quite simply you'd be a fool if you didn't. Quite often I'll see the old guys who tee off on the first tee time a sprint round the course and then brag about how it only takes them 3 hours or whatever to play a medal round but quire frankly I'm there to socialise, and have a good time playing the game I love why would I be in a rush?

nah. it doesn't bother me. it was the first time i'd tried to watch it. given how dull it was, i'll just stop.