Slow Play on the PGA Tour

[HawkeyeMS]

A lot has been made over the last few weeks about how slow play on the PGA Tour is. There have been many comments about the players taking too much time judging the wind, discussing with caddies etc etc. Interestingly, I have just read some post round interviews from the Tour Championship and both Tiger and Justin Rose have commented on how nice it was to play quickly because of the limited field. Tiger said...

"You know, we were talking about that out there today, Rory and I. It's so nice to be able to play like this. We wish every tournament had this kind of pace of play, where we can get up and just play. I think everyone enjoys it. No one enjoys playing six hours out there.
But everyone enjoys playing at this pace. It's nice and fast, and very little wait, and we're just going. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the group in front of you. That's nice."

Which got me thinking, what does cause slow play on the PGA Tour? And do the players towards the back of the field take their time because they know playing quickly isn't going to get them anywhere? Generally we only see the later groups on TV and we see them pfaffing around, discussing shots to the smallest detail with their caddy and we assume that this is the cause of slow play when in reality it could be something ahead of them that we don't see that is the cause or it could simply be the size of the field?

Whatever it is, if the players we see appearing to play slowly week in week out don't like slow play, why the hell is it so slow, exactly what is happening at the front of the field that is causing the players at the back to have to take their time?

 

[MashieNiblick]

Generally it seems to me to be down to the time taken to select a club and go through pre-shot routines. They don't even appear to start this process until the player away has hit their ball. If anything bothers them they then start all over again. They also look at most putts from every angle.

One other thing seems to be that they never wave groups through. Don't know if that is because of trying to keep to the order of play as it were but I remember one time at the Masters they showed about 2 or 3 groups waiting on the 16th tee due to the trials and tribulations of the group in front.

Of course once they all get used to playing at a particular pace then I guess no one is really going to gain anything from playing faster so it can only go one way.

 

[StrangelyBrown]

I've seen the odd call up hole now and again, but I've never once seen a group being let through on tour.

As soon as they regularly start penalising players a shot for each transgression the sooner play will speed up.

 

[Stuey01]

I think it is a combo of packed courses, rulings, and every shot being worth a lot of money so they take their time to get it right. Can't really blame them for that.
I do think they could do a bit more to play "ready golf". And some players are worse than others for sure.

 

[dufferman]

It's tough - when there is money riding on things, the PGA or R&A or whoever would be couldn't penalise people who were trying to earn a good wage. I'm just playing devils advocate here, I'm all up for these penalties!

 

[Imurg]

I think it is a combo of packed courses, rulings, and every shot being worth a lot of money so they take their time to get it right. Can't really blame them for that.

But this week, Tiger and Rory are playing for 10 million Bucks - more money than ever.
There are less players this week so less chance of a hold-ups due to looking for balls/rulings - that'll be why the pace is quicker

 

[GB72]

Just playing devils advocate but if smaller fields are increasing the pace of play why not either reduce the size of the field in all events or have a cut at the end of each day so as the pace of play is improved on days 2, 3 and 4 and it allows more focus on the final day as most of the field will be in contention.

 

[JustOne]

The pros play a different game to us, with millions on the line, it's not easy to compare the reasoning behind why they have slow rounds.... ours are slow as we spend time looking for balls whilst (perhaps) they have to wait for referees.

I don't really mind if the pros rounds are 6hrs as I'm in the comfort of my sofa and would have to find something else to do if their rounds were completed in 2hrs 30mins

 

[6inchcup]

limit the field to say the top 80 plus 20 invites and the cut at the top 50 soon get them moving and shaking.

 

[duncan mackie]

Generally it seems to me to be down to the time taken to select a club and go through pre-shot routines. They don't even appear to start this process until the player away has hit their ball. If anything bothers them they then start all over again. They also look at most putts from every angle.

One other thing seems to be that they never wave groups through. Don't know if that is because of trying to keep to the order of play as it were but I remember one time at the Masters they showed about 2 or 3 groups waiting on the 16th tee due to the trials and tribulations of the group in front.

Of course once they all get used to playing at a particular pace then I guess no one is really going to gain anything from playing faster so it can only go one way.

all good points but it really does come down to the last one in practice.

letting people through only really works to speed up the overall round for the field if there is 'slack' in the field elsewhere. in such competitions there isn't so it has no benefit to anyone (and confuses the schedulers!). basically any group loosing ground is required to make it up over a series of holes, and draw the balance of the field along with them.

POP guidelines are set which cover each group at each hole on the course, and these are what trigger groups being put on the shot clock.

basically if you want faster you just set the POP quicker; but it's a fine line.

in practice, just as with a monthly medal, it's a few players early on having a few delays that cause the field to slow down - and it doesn't pick up the pace as a field. this is why the RO's will chase up the early groups against the POP timings very hard (you won't see it but it happens - the discussion goes 'you are falling behind the POP, are there any particular reasons/rulings/lost ball etc?' 'any response''understand but.......'

however, one of the subsequent issues is that shot clock doesn't really look at the overall time a game takes; it addresses the one issue that the individual player has 100% control over but misses the wider aspects. these can be ruled on in extreme circumstances but fairness is still the largest priority (and rightly)

 

[cookelad]

Kevin Na & Jason Day aren't playing = problem solved! Now if we could just find a reason to get rid of Keegan Bradley they'd be round in under 4 hours!

 

[Yerman]

Don't forget Ben Crane. I'd relegate the 3 slowest to web.com tour.

 

[cookelad]

Don't forget Ben Crane. I'd relegate the 3 slowest to web.com tour.

Can't argue with that!

I like to imagine that when organisers are doing the draw (if they really do still do a draw) for tee times that if the 1st 3 names out of the hat were 3 from Crane/Na/Day/Bradley an emergency board meeting would be held in order to put them back in the hat! I reckon the rest of the field would be grateful!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

It's tough - when there is money riding on things, the PGA or R&A or whoever would be couldn't penalise people who were trying to earn a good wage. I'm just playing devils advocate here, I'm all up for these penalties!

As far as I can work out it's been 17 years since the last player was penalised for slow play - 17 years!!!

In 2005, the PGA Tour made the slow play rules stricter, prior to that it was 2 warnings before you got a penalty, in 2005 it was reduced to one, in the same year Vijay Sinh said...

"The only problem with that is, are they going to enforce it?" Singh said. "I think you need to put in a no-warning, one-stroke penalty. They know who's slow out there."

So even back then, the players knew who was slow, everyone probably knew who was slow, it's probably the same now. Is it possible that it's the same few people holding everyone up every week?

Bottom line is, if it's been 17 years since the last player was penalised, the PGA Tour aren't doing enough

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Until the PGA and R&A grow a pair and start imposing penalty shots it'll never go away. Every group should be on the clock on every round and hit 9 holes in say 2.5 hours. Any groups failing to do so unless waiting for a specific ruling or a lost ball (calling through to become mandatory) get a yellow card. Second yellow in the event is a red and you are docked a shot. Once a few guys miss the cut by a shot the message will get through. Three fines and DQ'd from the next event. Imagine missing the last event of the year and not being able to qualify for the Fed Ex cash jamboree or worse still someone overtakes you and you lose your card