Slow play, god you gotta hate it.
It’s the cancer of the game. No matter where you play your golf you will have experienced it.
From club golf, to resort golf, municipal and public courses, good old Mr Slowcoach is out there holding up the entire course.
As for the tour, don’t even get me started on them, 5 hours or more sometimes to play a round of golf in a two ball, insane.
Worst thing is that in my humble but very accurate opinion, playing slowly and playing too deliberately makes you worse.
At the top level, you shouldn’t even be allowed onto the tour if you’re a slow player, it should be a prerequisite of the game that you can play it in a sensible time.
And for the average weekend club player, I’m a bit more lenient with them as there games are obviously not as good as the professionals, but people should know the basic rules and keep up with the game in front.
I would however stop short of the measures imposed on one major champion by tournament officials in the 1924 L.A. Open.
Cyril Walker won the U.S Open in 1924 and was playing in a PGA Tour event, the 1929 L.A. Open when the episode happened.
Walker was a painfully slow player, and at this event, he was no different. He was holding up the entire field whilst tiptoeing his way around the course.
Officials had had enough and he was warned, and warned again. Officials then after numerous warnings decided to disqualify Cyril Walker on the grounds of slow play.
But he kept on playing and refused to leave the course.
Officials then decided to bring in the heavies, they sent two cops out on to the course to extract the slow golfer from the field, and they did.
They literally picked up Cyril Walker between the two of them, and marched him to the front gate and chucked him out. Come back here the cops warned and they would through him in jail.
You might call that a fraction harsh, but I bet he kept up with the pace of play next time out.
Imagine that the next time we see a major champion on TV holding up the entire field, escorted off the course by two cops.
There’s certainly a few members at my old club who could do with the expulsion treatment.
There’s just no need for slow play, the game is designed to be played at a sensible and brisk pace and it’s up for all to adhere to the pace of play.
Of course it does help if you can keep your ball on the golf course and hit it in straight lines, from point A to point B, and to do that you need a sound, reliable and repeatable technique and some idea of how to get round the course in as few strokes as possible.
Enter “9 Ways To Lower Your Handicap & Shoot Your Best Round Ever”, the free e-book that’s guaranteed to takes some strokes off your game the next time you play.
You can get a copy for free here.
Bob James PGA