USGA Hosts Pace-of-Play Symposium

Slow Play Remains an Elusive Bane of Golf

Chris Duthie | Photos Courtesy of www.usga.org ©

Is there a way to slow slow play?

Last week at its New Jersey headquarters, the UGGA hosted a two-day symposium to pinpoint key factors behind golf’s most pernicious plague.

Photo: Courtesy of usga.org

Unfortunately, the list was little more than another all-hat, no-cattle discourse that re-identified what most avid golfers already realize—that slow play is the consequence of a combination of factors including:

– Too-close tee-time spacing—which results in packing too many players onto the course;
– Penal course maintenance—specifically too-high rough, too-fast greens and shot-impeding landscaping;
– Bottleneck-inducing course designs—including too-narrow landing zones; too-deep bunkering; too-close water hazards; too-severe putting slopes; and short par-4s and par-5s that, despite their appeal, actually constrict pace of play;
– The egregious influence of PGA and LPGA tour players, most of whom are the poster-children of slow play.

One innovation presented at the symposium was a wireless flagstick that actually helps the golf shop immediately identify plodding groups. The USGA hopes to roll out the Spectrum Technologies-designed flags at tournaments in early 2015, and make them available to golf courses soon after.

Photo: Courtesy of usga.org

Wireless flagsticks could make an important contribution to courses not already offering GPS-equipped golf carts—which basically can perform the same function.

Photo: Courtesy of usga.org

Then again, armed with that information, what are course operators going to do? Probably what they do now: send out “Player Assistants” (a/k/a marshals) to birddog pokey players with warnings and toothless threats to keep pace or else.

Or else what?

Perhaps the only thing that irritates golfers more than slow play is some aging finger-wagger putting them on the clock.

The USGA didn’t come up with any solutions, but recently other golf-industry folks have weighed in.

Last January TaylorMade CEO Mark King advocated golf courses to consider enlarging the 4.25-inch cup diameter to 15 inches in order to bring the length of an average round from 4.25 hours to well under four hours.

Golfers, though, are traditionalists—and no organizations are more traditional than the rules-making bodies of the USGA and R&A—so don’t count on putting into any manholes anytime soon.

Last winter, the new owners of Ironbridge Golf Club in Glenwood Springs enlisted Tom Lehman to “soften” the eminently penal layout by removing bunkers, resetting teeing areas and creating a player-friendly experience that promotes a brisker pace of play.

The current “While We’re Young” campaign of the PGA, USGA and Golf Course Superintendents of America encourages golfers to—among other things—limit practice swings to one, play “ready golf,” not read putts from every conceivable angle and to tee from the area appropriate to their ability.  

We came up with a dozen other ways players and courses could speed up play:

Courses:

1) Take back your tee sheet. Expand the intervals between tee times by two minutes or more, GolfNow be damned. Short-term revenue loss will translate into more repeat business from happier customers.

2) Make sure the on-course beverage-cart talent knows the importance of serving quickly.

3) Restrict cell phone use on the course to between one or two sets of designated holes where natural breaks or backups occur.

4) Save the Sunday-afternoon pin placements for Sunday afternoons during club tournaments, not Saturday afternoon hackathons.

5) Mow the rough so players can find their ball and escape with greater ease.

6) Not every green needs to Stimp at 12.

Players:

1) Play the correct tees, or even one set up. If you’re unfamiliar with the course, ask the golf shop or starter what’s appropriate for your handicap.

2) Be decisive about your next shot before you arrive at the ball. Pulling different clubs and re-thinking shots often results badly.

3) Limit the pre-shot routine to one swing.

4) Allow nothing higher than a double-bogey on any hole.

5) Hire a caddie, if available, to help you find wayward shots and supply stroke- and time-saving local knowledge.

6) Minimize alcohol imbibing and beverage-cart flirting.

7) Leave your cellphone off or stuff it in your bag until the round’s over or there’s a backup on the hole.

No symposium necessary. Just common sense.

RELATED LINKS

TaylorMade CEO Launches New Faster Play Initiative

Surf the Turf on a GolfBoard

Fast Play Tips from the USGA

Chris Duthie is a contributor to Colorado AvidGolfer, the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.