PGA Tour’s slowpokes need lesson in etiquette
Almost as long as there have been drinks at the 19th hole after a round of golf, people have been complaining about how long it takes to get to them.
Slow play became a central issue this year after two video clips of Bryson DeChambeau went viral. In one, the 26-yearold five-time PGA Tour winner took his sweet time pacing off a 70-yard wedge shot; in the other, he took more than two minutes to line up a 10-foot putt.
Golf at the top level has been slowing down for years. As the money increased, the players slowed down. As green speeds went up, golfers took longer to putt. Every player in the field can reach par-5s in two, which means a lot of waiting. Every tournament seems to have a driveable par-4, so you get more waiting. Then there’s the green-reading books many players bury themselves in before every putt. Add in trying to play golf while fans drinking breakfast Bud Lights snap pics with their phones and you end up with 5½-hour rounds.
Canadian Adam Hadwin — recently selected to play in next month’s Presidents Cup — thinks slow play is definitely a major issue.
“I think that guys just aren’t ready to play,” Hadwin said. “That’s probably the biggest issue. They just don’t seem ready to play when it’s their turn.”
This was also a major gripe from world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, who pointed out earlier in the year that playing partner J.B. Holmes often wouldn’t even have his glove on when it was his turn to hit. Koepka and Rory McIlroy have recently shone a light on the problem from their perch atop the game. That might be just the kick in the pants the tour needs, but solving the problem won’t be easy. The PGA Tour announced in August it will explore changes to its pace-of-play policy. The policy addresses only players who are out of position. The tour is looking at expanding the policy to any player who takes excessive time over any shot.
Hadwin, who describes himself as not slow and “probably in the average,” said players all know who the slow players are. He also says generally he can tell by looking at the tee sheet before his round whether he will be put on the clock that day.
“That’s a frustrating part of it because the slow players play how they want and then we get put on the clock, and we speed up and we catch up, and then they slow down again, so nothing changes,” he said. “They figure out how to work the system.”
One way slow players work the system is by knowing how to continue to play at their desired pace without getting bad times when on the clock.
“Players have actually told me that they just slow down when they get timed, so they don’t walk as fast because when they get to the ball their time starts,” Hadwin explained. “So they let their caddie go ahead and they walk slower, so that by the time they get there they can use all their time and they’ve already been thinking about it and all that stuff. That kind of attitude has to change.”
Hadwin has played the game long enough to know that slow players generally don’t police themselves.
“I believe that the only way you’re really going to change these guys is by handing out shots,” he said.
“The only way you’re going to do it is somebody’s going to be penalized in a top situation and that’s the only way they’re going to learn.”