Round of golf ‘takes too long’

Survey shows younger players do not have time for 18-hole rounds

NEARLY two-thirds of golfers think a typical round takes too much time in the fast-paced modern world, a survey commissioned by the sport’s governing body has shown.

The Royal & Ancient Golf Club, based in St Andrews, Fife, received responses from 56,000 golfers in 122 countries about their experience of playing a typical 18-hole round of golf which lasts between three and four hours.

Although 70 per cent were largely happy with the duration of their rounds, 60 per cent said they would like the game better if it took less time to play.

The R&A released the results of the “pace of play” survey as it said an industry forum to discuss the findings is planned for later in the year.

It was carried out by the R&A as part of its efforts to investigate the issues affecting golf and the extent to which they impact on participation in the sport.

Of the 25 to 44 year-olds who said that they were never happy with pace of play, 21 per cent said that golf would need to take as much as one-and-a-half hours less for them to play more often.

Of the 8,468 golfers in this age range who responded, 19 per cent said they would welcome the opportunity to play nine holes more often as an alternative format.

The survey found that the two biggest factors preventing people from playing golf are work commitments (34 per cent) and family commitments (29 per cent) with the time taken to play (16 per cent) ranked third.

Other factors mentioned were alternative hobbies (12 per cent), cost of play (7 per cent), difficulty of play (1 per cent) and cost of equipment (1 per cent).

A forum later this year will invite contributions from a range of golf organisations on addressing pace of play and explore the key areas of player behaviour, management approaches and golf course issues.

Duncan Weir, executive director at The R&A, said: “This survey is the first step for us in examining, in detail, the wide range of issues currently affecting participation in golf.

“There is plenty of anecdotal evidence available but we conducted the survey to obtain accurate data on how much of an issue pace of play is for golfers and to give us an insight into what they see as the main factors contributing to slow rounds.

“The next step is to engage with our partners throughout the golf industry to look at these findings and invite them to contribute their views to these important discussions. Our forum later this year will provide the opportunity for these discussions to take place.”

Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland said the game of golf is a key asset to tourism.

He said: “It’s great to see people from 122 countries across the world talking about the great game of golf.

“It is estimated that golf tourism is worth £220m to Scotland annually, supporting around 4,400 jobs.

“We get around 220,000 golfing visitors annually and people love playing here not just because of the world-class courses, but also because of the spectacular scenery.”

The R&A distributed the survey through its affiliated bodies and offered it in six languages.