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Slow Play on Tour

I think it's pretty much the question of, do we want to hurry people through a shot like Tiger Woods chip on #16? Would you want to be the guy standing on the way to the next tee, informing him that he's scored a 3 on the hole?

IMHO the whole ruling should be changed to clocking the average time taken per shot. A slow player holding up the field is not one that takes a full minute or more on 2 shots around the course, but one that took more than 50 seconds (is it 45 in the rule?) on throughout the round.

And have fun with the bureaucracy that entails.


and just for clarification, i have no idea how long that shot took. but it looked like he was prowling around it for a good while. Might be Fowler was playing a shot or two in the meantime though.
 
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Bobby Fairways said:
True, but he will never be penalized unless it is such a gross example of slow play. Its just not something that will happen.
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Not sure how you can speak in such certainty. Never is pretty absolute and TW ain't absolute. He's been put on the clock so the next step would be a penality
 
Tadashi70 said:
Not sure how you can speak in such certainty. Never is pretty absolute and TW ain't absolute. He's been put on the clock so the next step would be a penality
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Again, it would have to be such a gross example of slow play for them to penalize him. If Tiger is in contention you can bet there is no chance of him being flagged. Think about it for a second. The longer it takes Tiger to play, the longer the telecast is on, the longer the telecast is on the more ads that can be run. As we saw last week the TV ratings are dramatically higher with Tiger in the mix. The slower Tiger plays the more money for the PGA Tour.
 
Bobby Fairways said:
Again, it would have to be such a gross example of slow play for them to penalize him. If Tiger is in contention you can bet there is no chance of him being flagged. Think about it for a second. The longer it takes Tiger to play, the longer the telecast is on, the longer the telecast is on the more ads that can be run. As we saw last week the TV ratings are dramatically higher with Tiger in the mix. The slower Tiger plays the more money for the PGA Tour.
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I don't agree that a slow tiger makes money for the tour. The same viewers that give the rates a spike are turning the channel when he is not on because they are interested in only seeing him.
I think slapping him with a slow play penalty would bolster the PGA tour as a no nonsense organization. It snot like the guy is going to leave if he gets fined or penalized. If he is breaking the rules he should be treated like everyone else.
 
For me slow play on the tour is purely a network television issue, making the event fit the time slot, it is not a fan issue, not for me anyway. I really could care less if it takes a pro 5 hours or more to play a round. I DVR everything and fast forward past the slow parts and the blowhard commentary anyway so I end up watching about 2 hours of golf and completely bypass all the commercials and the CBS or NBC production stuff and fluff. Slow play where I play can be a problem but some people are just slow, they walk slow, talk slow and play slow. Drives me nuts when I am out there myself but on TV, don't care at all.
 
Bobby Fairways said:
True, but he will never be penalized unless it is such a gross example of slow play. Its just not something that will happen.
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Do you recall,Tiger and Paddy were put on the clock a few years back? Tiger is no longer above the tour,he would be penalized,Heck he could be used as the scape goat and be penalized first to show the tour means business regarding slow play
 
They have gps location units available to put on golf carts so that pro shops can tell where all the carts are located. We have the technology to put a unit on each pro, set up the standards of play and let a computer penalize each player who doesn't play within the standards.

As far as the power of the best.
I have read the following, Moe Norman laid down on the course and pretended to take a nap when playing with Ben Hogan. Jack Nicklaus was given the title of being the father of slow play. At one time the tour was going to put numbers on the backs of players, but Hogan said he would not wear a number like a football player, even if it meant he would retire. The tour dropped the idea of numbering players. And the PGA tour is afraid Tiger would take his ball and only play Majors, and tournaments that paid him appearance fees, or were both Tiger and Tournament sponsored. In the early days of the LPGA tour, it had the problem that sponsors told them that if Babe or Mickey Wright didn't play they would cancel the tournament.
 
In the USGA GOLF RULES ILLUSTRATED 2012-2015 Page 7 "Lost ball, ....Players searching for a ball should signal the players in the group behind them to play through as soon as it becomes apparent that the ball will not easily be found. They should not search for five minutes before doing so. Having allowed the group behind to play through, they should not continue to play until that group has passed and is out of range.

Have the players and the PGA Tour agreed to suspend the rules of golf over slow play and groups playing through?
 
FINALLY someone within the R&A has had the balls to seriously penalise a male PGA pro for slow play.

At Celtic Manor last week, Ross Fisher, who by the way has a record of slow play, was penalised 1 stroke by good old Mr John Paramor who is one of the worlds top rules officials.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...y-should-give-dawdlers-a-hurryup-7815095.html

This really is about time, and will hopefully go some way to speeding up the amateur game as well.

The problem with all these slow Pros is that newbie amateurs watch them on TV and then think that 5+ hours is the norm for 18 holes.

Good on you Mr Paramor, just wish there were more like you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
TC said:
I played with a guy yesterday that was "deliberate" with his preshot routine. I almost said something.
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That dude had to be pretty slow.

Typong frim TapaTalk so please excuse my horrid typing mistakles
 
TC said:
I played with a guy yesterday that was "deliberate" with his preshot routine. I almost said something.
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I once played with a golfer who took 7 practice swings on EVERY shot. It didn't matter if it was off the tee, in the fairway, chipping, pitching, putting, etc. He took exactly 7 practice swings before touching the ball.

When we finally fell almost 2 holes behind the group ahead of us (we were a threesome and the group ahead was a foursome), I finally had to break my silence and tell him to play faster. He was actually cool about it and a apologetic.
 
In last week's Doral, Charl Schwartel was standing over a putt of about 30-40'. The wind blew a leaf onto his line, about 2 feet in front of him. He reached over, swatted it away, and then readdressed his putt. Then, he made is stroke. He didn't make it. But, it had good speed and finished about a foot away.

He didn't back up and start over his routine. He didn't reread the putt. He moved the leaf, then made his stroke. It was a beautiful thing to watch. I wish it was required viewing for all golfers.
 
Slow Play on Tour

staticline said:
In last week's Doral, Charl Schwartel was standing over a putt of about 30-40'. The wind blew a leaf onto his line, about 2 feet in front of him. He reached over, swatted it away, and then readdressed his putt. Then, he made is stroke. He didn't make it. But, it had good speed and finished about a foot away.

He didn't back up and start over his routine. He didn't reread the putt. He moved the leaf, then made his stroke. It was a beautiful thing to watch. I wish it was required viewing for all golfers.
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I like that dude. I posted in the Feherty thread about an interview with Sneds. Sneds says if his group gets put on clock he will intentionally slow down so that player gets fined. I loved hearing that!!
 
I golfed with a couple last year twice. Every time it was the wife's shot she'd sit in the cart until someone told her it was her turn... driving up to her ball wasn't a hint enough! After the round I told her next time she should be ready, at least with her club out and thinking about the next shot so we could speed things up a little, she agreed. The next time we played it took 3.5 hours to play 9 holes. I'm not golfing with them again.
As for on tour, it doesn't bother me if they show others until that person shoots, if not, I switch channels.
 
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