Shot Clock on the PGA Tour

[dennyjones]

1 hour ago, colin007 said:

This is what infuriates me...both guys hit it in the fairway, one guy is a yard longer, they get to their balls about the same time, but the guy who's longer doesn't do anything until after the away guy has hit....they even do this on their tee shots on par 3s

I saw this Saturday at the local cow pasture.   I was a single and knew it would be slow so I played 2-3 balls into the green.   The foursome that was three groups ahead of us sat in the carts until it was their turn to play.   I actually saw one guy swing and then the cart moved about 3 feet and his partner got out to hit his shot.    

[colin007]

1 hour ago, dennyjones said:

I saw this Saturday at the local cow pasture.   I was a single and knew it would be slow so I played 2-3 balls into the green.   The foursome that was three groups ahead of us sat in the carts until it was their turn to play.   I actually saw one guy swing and then the cart moved about 3 feet and his partner got out to hit his shot.    

And the following post confirms that some people just don't get it, and will imitate the pros because the pros aren't getting penalized

On 6/8/2018 at 10:54 PM, fishgolf said:

No, but did hear some commentary about him.  Sure, there are some outliers but they can be dealt with using existing rules.  Has he or the groups he's on been put on the clock more frequently than most?  If is routine is really that slow to overall play, one would think he'd be getting penalized for it.

It IS a problem. It's a problem because the trend over the past fifty years or so has been towards a slowing down of the game, not the purposeful pace it originated with.

[fishgolf]

1 hour ago, colin007 said:

It IS a problem. It's a problem because the trend over the past fifty years or so has been towards a slowing down of the game, not the purposeful pace it originated with.

You really don't answer the question I ask as quoted. In any case, how much of that trend is due to the steep rise in purse sizes, speed of greens, and other changes that have taken place over those years?  It seems to me that the PGA tour hasn't really cared much about speed of play - or they would have taken action much sooner.  I would expect tour play to be slower than casual weekend golf as there is considerably more at stake.  So what if it takes another 20-30 minutes.  Just penalize the chronic problem golfers with strokes (Holmes, Na, Cantlay, etc.) and the message will get through.  Applying the existing rule isn't what I have issue with but rather the aesthetics of seeing a fleet of shot clock carts all over the course.  There's a certainly a better option that could be used IMO.

[Shorty]

On 6/9/2018 at 3:57 PM, dchoye said:

Like this idea  Everyone should get X amount of time to finish the round. Get maybe 2 special “time outs” if OB or really difficult lies to figure how to proceed 

How can that possibly work? If the first group is slow, every group is slow.

[colin007]

2 hours ago, fishgolf said:

You really don't answer the question I ask as quoted. In any case, how much of that trend is due to the steep rise in purse sizes, speed of greens, and other changes that have taken place over those years?  It seems to me that the PGA tour hasn't really cared much about speed of play - or they would have taken action much sooner.  I would expect tour play to be slower than casual weekend golf as there is considerably more at stake.  So what if it takes another 20-30 minutes.  Just penalize the chronic problem golfers with strokes (Holmes, Na, Cantlay, etc.) and the message will get through.  Applying the existing rule isn't what I have issue with but rather the aesthetics of seeing a fleet of shot clock carts all over the course.  There's a certainly a better option that could be used IMO.

"So what"??? You mean, so what if weekend hacks like us imitate the pros and take 5 hrs to play? Yeah, no problem whatsoever.

And it's not an extra half hour. I remember reading an archived article from the fifties or sixties bemoaning the fact that US Open times had crept past 3:30.

[dchoye]

17 minutes ago, Shorty said:

How can that possibly work? If the first group is slow, every group is slow.

How about we let the next group play through and reset. 

How are they doing it at the European tour?

Edited June 10, 2018 by dchoye

[Shorty]

19 minutes ago, dchoye said:

How about we let the next group play through and reset. 

How are they doing it at the European tour?

Because slow players don't think they're slow and they don't let other groups through. That's the problem. One group/player's selfishness and/or ignorance affects others.

[dchoye]

41 minutes ago, Shorty said:

How can that possibly work? If the first group is slow, every group is slow.

How about we let the next group play through and reset. 

[Shorty]

4 minutes ago, dchoye said:

How about we let the next group play through and reset. 

On tour it would make it worse because then you've got a group that isn't moving at all and it would have a domino effect.

[dchoye]

3 minutes ago, Shorty said:

On tour it would make it worse because then you've got a group that isn't moving at all and it would have a domino effect.

I dont have all the  answer but something has to be done. It’s ruining the game .  I think it’s unfair when one player slows up the entire group.   There should be a stop clock on every single player and posted so everyone knows who the slowest player is 

[Shindig]

14 minutes ago, dchoye said:

There should be a stop clock on every single player and posted so everyone knows who the slowest player is 

I believe this is what they're doing on the European Tour.

[colin007]

I think they need to take the slow players and shoot them.

[Vinsk]

9 hours ago, fishgolf said:

I would expect tour play to be slower than casual weekend golf as there is considerably more at stake. 

I wouldn’t. They have caddies, people finding their balls for them and they’re not hitting many provisionals or having to reload very often. They average much fewer shots per hole than the average hacks out there. They don’t have to wait on maintenance crews, leaving clubs behind, dropping ‘something’, important phone calls....

[Shindig]

48 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

I wouldn’t. They have caddies, people finding their balls for them and they’re not hitting many provisionals or having to reload very often. They average much fewer shots per hole than the average hacks out there. They don’t have to wait on maintenance crews, leaving clubs behind, dropping ‘something’, important phone calls....

I don't know, how seriously can we take these guys at the game when very few of them ever take a day off of work to go play golf?

I was kidding with that last sentence of course.  I agree 100% with Vinsk. 

[Shorty]

7 hours ago, Shindig said:

I believe this is what they're doing on the European Tour.

They did it in one tournament.

[Shindig]

35 minutes ago, Shorty said:

They did it in one tournament.

You are technically correct (the best kind of correct).

[iacas]

@fishgolf they’re entertainers. And taking 5:30 to do the same thing you can do in 4:00 is less enjoyable entertainment.

[NJpatbee]

 I said "no" because I believe that 40 seconds can be too short of a time when there are large purses involved and major championships.  I would agree to 1 minute on the PGA Tour.  How many times have you seen a group in front of you plumb bobbing the putt and someone says "What, do they think its Sunday at Augusta?".  I hate slow play but believe that the pros could use a bit more leeway than the average amateur having a fun day playing golf.