(Source) In golf, there’s no such thing as a buzzer-beater. But there might be if Colin Montgomerie had his way.
Weighing in this week on golf’s longstanding slow-play problem, Monty borrowed from basketball lingo in suggesting a solution. How about a shot clock to set things right?
“They should be playing in no more than four hours for any round of golf on any course,” Montgomerie told reporters in advance of this week’s Senior British Open at Royal Birkdale. “Unfortunately they are given far too long. Why do you have to wait to be slow before you are put on the clock?”
As Monty sees it, a strict time allotment for 18 holes, enforced by stopwatching-wearing referees, would help ensure a reasonable pace in tournament play.
“There are 52 referees out there at major championships, and they should all have a clock to be able to put them on the clock on the first tee to ensure they all get around in time. It has been mentioned about a shot clock, and that is interesting. There should be an allotted time to play the game, like chess, where you have a certain time to play. If the first two groups take five or more hours to go round then the day is gone, you can’t make it up.”
Though hardly a new topic of conversation, slow play has become a hot-button issue on Tour this year, thanks in part to headline-making moments in the majors. On Friday at Augusta, 14-year-old amateur Tianlang Guan was assessed a one-stroke penalty for slow-play that threatened to bump him off the cut line.
And this past week at Muirfiled, officials cracked down on first-year pro Hideki Matsuyama, slapping him with a one-shot slow-play penalty during Saturday’s third round.
Slow play, it’s often said, is like the weather. Easy to talk about, hard to change. And the problem, clearly, is bigger than any one or two players.
Let’s face it, slow play is a huge problem in the game of golf. A regular baseball game, 3 hours. Same with football, hockey, and basketball, the four most popular sports in the world. Then there’s golf, where a 5 hour round is the norm. I mean come on already, golf is already pegged as being “boring” and something that could “put you to sleep” and the fact that a normal round is 5 hours just adds to the things non-golfers can criticize about the game I love.
In the article above, Colin is right saying that a round of golf should be played in no more than 4 hours. No one wants to spend 5 hours on the course in 95 degree weather (trust me, I have experience and it’s no fun). Colin seems to imply that a “shot clock” could solve the slow play issues. In regards to that, I disagree. I get the overall point that he is trying to make, players should be timed (on the clock) from the first tee , but I don’t think a “shot clock” is the best term. When I think shot clock, I think of a huge buzzer going off after too much time has been taken, and since loud noises and golf don’t mix, shot clock probably isn’t the best term. However, his point comes across clearly, slow play is hurting the game, turning away new golfers and even dedicated golfers who can no longer bare the 25 handicapper reading his putt from 4 different angles to only miss the putt by 5 feet and again repeat the process.
Luckily, slow play is fixable and two movements making the news lately are the AJGA’s Pace of Play Policy and the USGA’s While We’re Young campaign. Let’s look at the AJGA’s pace of play policy first. I, as an AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) player myself, have only good things to say about the AJGA’s policy. For those of you not familiar with the AJGA’s system, I’ll give a brief summary. All players are paired in threesomes and are made aware that their group is “on the clock” from the first tee shot. Every three holes on the course sits a volunteer who either gives you a green card or red card if you are on their “time par” or not (green card for on time, red card for out of position). Players are told to walk ahead, walk with a purpose, and keep up with the group in front of them. Where the AJGA really shines is in their policy of players finishing up on the green. The first player to finish the hole walks to the next tee, the second person to finish replaces the flag, and the third person walks to the next tee when they finish out. This system has been criticized for being “rude” because the old golf tradition is that the first person to finish up is supposed to wait on the green for every one else to finish. However, the average of ten minutes shaved off the time of an eighteen hole round during an AJGA tournament proves that walking ahead should be the new norm. Obviously, the green/red card system is something that a normal course will not be using but the tips about walking ahead and keeping a quick routine on the greens is something that all golfers should take into consideration.
Now onto the USGA’s While We’re Young campaign. The USGA (United States Golf Association) put this policy into place and it’s backed by a long list of golfers (Tiger Woods, Paula Creamer, Annika Sorenstam, and Arnold Palmer to name a few). By going to this link, you can sign the pledge that to this minute, 8,871 golfers have signed to speed up the game of golf. This policy is great, but I am not sure about it’s lasting ability. The pledge is to play ready golf and pick up the pace, but I’d say most golfers already do that, and it’s obviously not helping that much. Also, the cheesy commercials don’t help with people taking this policy seriously, even though they should. Hopefully, this campaign will gain popularity and will make an impact on the pace of play in golf.
Overall, pace of play is a big problem in golf these days. Each individual golfer should take a look at their game and analyze how they could speed it up for themselves and others. Maybe the five practice swings in your pre-shot routine could be reduced to three, and maybe taking one look behind a putt on the green is enough, there’s no need for the average golfer to look at any putt from four different angles (unless there’s money involved, that’s a different story). Take the AJGA’s advice and walk ahead, and really, “while we’re young.”
-Julia
Julia Ford Golfs 