A Sensible Solution To Close The Gap On Slow Play
- Updated: October 19, 2019
Twitter/@golfchannel
Slow play is so simple a subject to discuss and yet so difficult to solve. Why? Because in a sport with more than a hundred year’s worth of trophies and records, nobody is willing to go down in history as the one who shattered Jack Nicklaus’ records for all the wrong reasons.
We’ve heard ideas like penalty shots, or disqualification for being warned after getting “put on the clock.” But penalty strokes and DQ’s will undoubtedly lead to a dip in ratings, which nobody paying for the sport, ie the syndicates, is willing to tolerate.
Let’s face it, with double cameras, Protracer and varieties of angles, the viewer at home isn’t bored. In fact, the primary folks soliciting the debate on slow play are the players themselves, where the minimum annual payout in 2018 was $240,000 which puts every single pro golfer in the top 5% of pay earners in the United States.
Sorry, but it’s hard to sympathize with their grievances. But as a means to suggest a way to nevertheless put the whole subject at bay for another ten or so years, here is a solution that perhaps nobody has suggested yet.
What if every single player was limited to only one full swing in their preshot routine?
Other distinct idiosyncrasies in the routine can and should still exist, but only one full-length swing. Two questions then come to mind:
1. Does this inhibit performance?
This would take some time investment, to get a data sampling thick enough for a confident answer. But what is also true is there are already a number of highly ranked golfers performing at that level with only one practice swing.
And one must ask, what is gained from a second practice swing anyway? The first one didn’t feel right so you need to feel it another way? Isn’t that more of a mental block than a physical one, anyway?
And if the feel is typically there on that second practice swing, then why can’t that second swing end up being your actual swing?
Certainly questions that breed more good questions, and evidence to follow, but it’s tough to dispute this train of logic.
2. Would this new rule address pace of play in shots within 100 yards?
If to presume that anything short of a hundred is also not a full swing, then this idea neither slows down or speeds up the pace of play from these distances.
Viewers at home will only appreciate that the “feel” shots, the class-act, oh so seldom up and downs, are still intact and not in jeopardy of becoming rushed.
Certainly, to answer the obvious question, any putt is never long enough to be considered a full swing, and thus putting practice routines would also not be compromised.
So what’s the harm?
Is there more to lose than to be gained? Will anyone in the industry, including the viewer at home, be impacted negatively should this rule go into effect, if it can be proved that it statistically does not affect scoring averages? Will it make enough of a dent in the slow play controversy to allow other golf discussions and topics to become interesting once again? Short answer: yes.
In Conclusion…
One full-length practice swing per preshot routine is a sensible way to reduce round times while not pissing off anyone at all.
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