Pace of Play is Becoming a Big Problem on the PGA TOUR

One of the most irritating issues to deal with on the golf course is playing behind a group that is slow.  This can be infuriating to no end, and make players want to smash a club over their knee or throw one into a lake, John Daly style.  While this has traditionally been a problem in public play, apparently many pros see this as a problem on the PGA TOUR as well.

According to a new magazine survey of PGA TOUR players, an overwhelming 84% of golfers believe that the pace of play on the Tour is too slow.  This may come to a surprise to some spectators and the other 16% of the survey but that may be because they are the ones that are causing the pace of play problem on a weekly basis.

Rory doing his part to help the pace of play. He only needed 3 shots at the par-5 10th.

One back. pic.twitter.com/AADEkl0u8k

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 10, 2014

This has been a big issue over the past few days but the discussion is apparently something that has been happening with players for years.  When player Bill Haas was asked about the pace of play this week, he said his dad claimed that pace of play has been an issue on the Tour since he was a rookie.  The elder Haas was the PGA Rookie of the Year in 1977 for reference.

The PGA has done work to try and fix this problem, by enforcing penalties on the slowest players on the Tour.  This was specifically enforced at the Zurich Classic last week, which started the discussion on pace of play.  The group of Miguel Angel Carballo and Brian Campbell were assessed a one-shot penalty for slow play after each player was given a hard time on the issue on the back nine.

This is an anomally, unfortunately, as theirs was the first slow play penalty assessed on the Tour since 1995, so the PGA shouldn’t be praising themselves for such a minescule gesture.  If the PGA wants real change, they should start to strictly enforcing their policy of 50 second time limit for first player to hit and 40 seconds for those after.  Instead, rules officials will give a motherly warning that teaches players that the rule is only a guideline.

It will be interesting to see if the PGA TOUR will start enforcing this rule more, as they did at the Zurich Open, or if they will continue to let players slide, further prolonging the pace of play issue.

Cover Image via Twitter