Innovative Solutions to Address Controversy: PGA’s Response to Aussie Claims

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Australian Cam Davis has called for shot penalties to actually be implemented to overcome the pace of play problems that have plagued PGA Tour events so far this year.

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The issue reared its head in the last week with the final group at the Farmers Insurance Open taking five-and-a-half hours to finish their round and the sluggish pace receiving widespread criticism.

The PGA Tour responded by announcing on Wednesday, on the eve of the famous Pebble Beach Pro-Am, that it will test and implement several changes designed to speed up play.

Based on feedback from fan surveys, and conversations with players, sponsors and broadcast partners, the use of rangefinders will be tested but it remains unclear which events will feature the distance-measuring devices.

Other measures will include publicising average stroke time for each player, disclosing fines and penalties for slow play as well as a new video review system making rules decisions quicker.

But Davis believes the only way to make a difference is to hand out more shot penalties for slow play.

“I don’t see guys penalised a stroke often, if at all,” the two-time PGA Tour winner said.

“I think the only way to change and get faster is if they get more penal with the way that they time people as money is never going to be an issue.

“Especially with the amount of money we play for out on Tour, there are guys who are going to take a slow play fine if it means they shoot a shot better because they’re a shot better on the leaderboard, and that’s FedEx Cup points, and more what they care about than the money.

“We need more shot penalties because guys won’t care about a fine but for a shot penalty, that will really cost them in a tournament and that’s obviously, what they care about the most.”

Remarkably, a stroke penalty for slow play was last handed out on the PGA Tour in 1995, one year after the policy was implemented.

Since, only monetary fines have been handed out, and they are not acting as a big enough deterrent.

The new indoor simulator league TGL had its first shot clock violation on Monday with Tiger Woods exceeding the 40 second allowance when standing over a putt to tie a hole against Rory McIlroy.

That 40 second window also applies, somewhat loosely, on the PGA Tour with the USGA Rules of Golf stating “it is recommended that the player make the stroke in no more than 40 seconds after they are (or should be) able to play without interference or distraction”.

The wording at the start of the sentence has allowed players to essentially do as they please, and Davis said that the issue is only getting worse with the difficulty being raised at PGA Tour venues.

“I agree that it feels like it’s definitely getting slower,” the 29-year-old said.

“As a player out there on the course, I’ve always tried to make sure I’m not the problem in groups that I’m playing in. Sometimes I find myself rushing when other guys are going slow, so it feels like it effects me when there’s slower guys around you.

“The golf courses are getting harder. The pin locations are getting more difficult. It’s taking more time figuring out yardages to specific locations, reading greens because they’re getting faster. There are elements that are changing in the game which aren’t helping guys make decisions faster.

“People for some reason, whether they don’t like seeing low scores, or whether they don’t like seeing guys shooting a long way under par and not struggling, they need to realise as a result that a tournament where someone finishes between five and 15 under par, that place is brutal and it’s going to be slow.

“The guys are getting better every year, and if you want scores to stay in that range, golf courses need to get harder and as a result you’re going to get slower rounds.

“You want guys to play the best golf, and you want the product to be as good as it can be, and you can’t have guys rushing in situations where if they had a little more time, they could do better. The amount of people complaining about slow play, it’s obviously a problem now.

“Something does need to change, but I don’t really know what the best way to do that is other than being more strict with what’s already there and make that shot penalty come out more often.”

Officials have claimed that the average time players are taking to hit shots has not significantly increased in recent times, but PGA Tour chief marketing and communications officer Andy Weitz stated that they will try just about anything to constantly improve the quality of broadcasts.

“As the commissioner [Jay Monahan] said back at the end of the year in his video to the fans, everything’s on the table,” Weitz said.

“So it’s in that spirit that we look at creating the best version of PGA Tour golf.

“There is the actual amount of time it takes [to hit a shot] and there’s the perception of the amount of time it takes, especially when it comes to broadcast.

“And so I think it’s about, for the average fan, most of whom are watching on broadcast, it’s about how we take the feedback to help us prioritise how we use the time in broadcast to show them more golf.”