PGA TOUR Veteran Calls Out Fellow Players for Pace Issues: ‘We Need to Speed Up’

PGA TOUR veteran Charley Hoffman is listening to complaints about the pace of play issue on TOUR, and is calling for fellow players to confront the issue head on.

“We still need to make a concerted effort to speed up,” Hoffman said in a letter he wrote recently to fellow PGA TOUR players. He is the second player in as many weeks to suggest the TOUR’s players make the necessary changes to make the game more entertaining, instead of waiting for direction from the governing body itself.

The pace of play has been perhaps the main issue of the early 2025 season, especially as round lengths continue to swell and TV ratings drop at a similar rate.

The biggest step toward change came when commentator Dottie Pepper said during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open that the pace of play issue comes from perhaps a lack of respect for players and fans.

It’s no secret people are getting fed up with the amount of time it takes to watch a round of golf. On Sunday, Tom Kim took over one minute to approachttps://golfweek.usatoday.com/gcdn/authoring/images/smg/2024/11/15/SGLF/76346357007-87-778432497.jpeg?width=660&height=394&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webph his shot in the fairway and eventually take a swing, only for the ball to go out of bounds:

This is absolutely crazy, there needs to be a shot clock of some kind https://t.co/Ke44wpxTST

— Golficity (@Golficity) February 2, 2025

Hoffman went into great detail about what the TOUR players should do:

Another letter was sent to PGA Tour members this evening, now from Charley Hoffman:

– Addresses pace of play “heat” Tour received
– critiques Aon Swing 5 implementation
– “Many of you keep saying you want to play fewer events, yet you still find time for TGL, Race to Dubai…” pic.twitter.com/cVora8Qai6

— Sean Zak (@Sean_Zak) February 3, 2025

“We’ve taken a lot of heat over the past few weeks about slow play. And yeah, it’s an issue — for our fans, for us as players — cutting down field sizes will help, but only by a few minutes a day. As players, we still need to make a concerted effort to speed up. Pace of play has been a challenge my entire 20 years on Tour, and it was an issue 20 years before that. Golf is a tough game, and when conditions get extreme, it takes time to play it the right way. We all need to take responsibility to be ready when it’s our turn to play and having the awareness to realize that we are out of position and speed up even before the rules official shows up. We do it all the time, we just need to be more aware of it! 

Here’s something else to think about. If we truly care about strengthening our Tour, we should be supporting as many PGA Tour events as we can. Many of you keep saying you want to play fewer events, yet you still find time for TGL, Race to Dubai, and other non-PGA Tour events, and that’s going to continue regardless of field size. The best competition happens when the best players go head-to-head in a deep, competitive field — not in small, limited-entry events that leave deserving players on the outside looking in. This Tour was built on open competition, where anyone with the game to compete has a chance to prove it against the best. That’s what has made our Tour special for generations, and we need to keep pushing for that. This is our Tour — let’s make it stronger together.”

Based on what we have seen, the pace of play issue is perhaps the biggest problem on TOUR for fans right now. 

The PGA TOUR has already talked about a four-step plan to help alleviate some of the issue, like adding rangefinders.

Cover Image via Golfweek