We’ve all experienced the drudgery of a five-hour round of golf. But when it comes to slow play, who is the real culprit?
We’ve all experienced the drudgery of a five-hour round. But when it comes to slow play, who is the real culprit?
Whether it’s the top players on tour or the resident snail at your local club, slow play is an issue at every level of the game.
The situation has grown so bad that the R & A has revealed their most revolutionary rules changes in a generation, brought in with the intention of speeding up the game.
The sweeping changes, which will come into effect in 2019, will mean that players will no longer be required to attend the flag, will see the amount of time permitted to search for a ball reduced to three minutes, and will also forbid players from being lined up by their caddies.
But with female elite players often guilty of taking an age lining up their shots, will the changes affect the ladies’ game more than the men’s?
It’s safe to say that the lady pros need to get a move on. At the Ricoh Women’s British Open last August, we were amazed at the amount of time the players took to line up both their tee shots and their putts. The pace on the greens was at times excruciating and was often the result of players lining up even the shortest of putts, sometimes on numerous occasions. Meanwhile at the Olympic Games, the female event was at times painful to watch, with the women taking substantially longer to complete the course than the men.
While slow play is far from restricted to the female tours, this habit of leaning on a caddie to ensure that a player is aiming correctly is far more common among the ladies, perhaps because women are far more likely to seek reassurance than men.
The changes should hopefully go some way to solving this issue, although with the top male players also prone to stepping away from the ball on many occasions before finally pulling the trigger, it may be the other rules modifications, such as the reduced time players are allowed over the ball, which have more of an impact.
Of course, with millions of pounds on the line, it's little surprise that the players take their time, although with no golfer having been handed a slow play penalty on the PGA Tour since 1995, you’ve got to think that it will be the governance of the new rules which will be the clinching factor in its success.
It’s not only the pros however that give the game a bad name. The best female amateurs were taking an appalling five hours to play foursomes at last year’s Curtis Cup. Taking less shots does not equate to less time on the course.
The stereotype of women holding up the course with their relentless chatter may still be a held view in some places, including at Muirfield, where pace of play was cited last year as a reason to remain a men-only club. Nonetheless, ask a group of ladies at any club whether they tend to rush when they see a group of men following behind, for fear of fulfilling this stereotype, and many will tell you that they do.
Hopefully the new rule changes will be the trigger that players at every level need to speed up the game. Whoever’s slower, it’s clear that all levels of the game need to get a move on.
We Showcase Five Of The Best Female Golf Drivers. Read More
