PGA TOUR Takes Next Move to Improve Pace of Play

The PGA TOUR is now advancing its protocol to improve pace of play issues during rounds, a major complaint among fans and players.

Last week at the RBC Heritage, caddies and players were allowed to use rangefinders to find their appropriate yardages. It seemed to help move things along, but the trial period has only completed one week of testing. Now, the TOUR is looking to move things forward even further.

PGA TOUR to Start Testing New Pace of Play Strategies – Here’s When

According to Front Office Sports, the TOUR is now looking to enable the tracking of players and time spent during shots. This is the next step in the TOUR's protocol, which has been brought out slowly and introduced on the Korn Ferry Tour initially.

The TOUR will not look at the time it takes players to complete an entire round, as there are too many variables that could impact that number. If a player who does not have a pace of play issue is forced to play with slower players, their times will be negatively affected.

There have been talks of penalizing players with strokes if they take too much time during individual shots, which is the angle the TOUR will go with moving forward. Instead of looking at their time per round, the TOUR will examine how long it takes for a player to hit a shot, on average.

Time spent during each shot will break down who on TOUR is taking up too much time and slowing down play as a whole. 

This should impact several players, notably Patrick Cantlay and Tom Kim, who both have reputations of being slow and even bothering playing partners in the past with their pace. Hovland chose to not wait for Cantlay to approach the green while chipping during the final round of the 2023 Masters, and played anyway:

Hovland was so fed up playing with Patrick Cantlay yesterday pic.twitter.com/MG5i43OYWM

— Fanatics Sportsbook (@FanaticsBook) April 10, 2023

Meanwhile, Tom Kim has been notorious for taking an exceptional amount of time to make a decision over his shot. It was seen on several occasions last year, and happened as recently as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am:

Wow the broadcast roasts Tom Kim for his slow play. 😂

“That was NOT worth the wait!”

Love that announcers are getting comfortable with addressing the slow play issue. Dottie last week, now this. pic.twitter.com/zLVcQzu0F1

— Rick Golfs (@Top100Rick) February 2, 2025

Dottie Pepper said earlier this year that the pace of play issue was more about respect than anything else.

Cover Image via Men's Journal