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Originally Posted by lowof83

If the PGA were serious about speeding up the pace of play, there would be fines laid out on every group that takes more than 4.5 hours to complete 18 holes, or every group that winds up holding up the group behind them. The days of 3 groups sitting talking on a tee box because they're backed up "that badly" should have been stopped the very first time it happened.
*Groups that get held up, and in turn, wind up holding up the group behind them wouldn't be fined, of course.

Originally Posted by QuadrupleEagle

I found the PGA pace of play guidelines in this article:

Guidelines about halfway down

The PGA Tour's pace of play rules allow 40 seconds per stroke for golfers, and its grace period on total time per hole is also longer than the LPGA's.

If a golfer violates the time limits, he receives a warning, but no penalty. Being "put on the clock" tends to make the golfers play a little faster, which begs the question of why they weren't playing faster to begin with.

A second time violation draws a 1-stroke penalty and a $5,000 fine; three violations in the same event, a 2-stroke penalty and a $10,000 fine; four bad times in the same event results in disqualification.

Any player put on the clock 10 times over the course of one PGA Tour season is fined $20,000.

So the PGA just needs to enforce the rules they have. I don't buy the argument the guy makes in the article that a first offence only being a warning is a problem. A single slow stroke does not make a slow round.

If the PGA just enforced this 40 second limit every time, it wouldn't be long and they wouldn't have to enforce it any more because the penalties, if enforced, are quite severe.

And the PGA has a problem with equal enforcement. In last year's masters, amateur John Kelly had a good chance at making the cut going into Amen Corner on Friday. He was playing a little slow, and the officials warned him and then put him on the clock. From the article I read, this put a lot of pressure on him, and he played the rest of the round poorly, missing the cut. It's rare to even hear of the PGA actually putting someone on the clock, and I doubt that they would do it to a player on the leaderboard.

In contrast, the LPGA isn't messing around, giving only 30 seconds a stroke and a 10 second per hole grace period with a 2 stroke penalty and no warnings. I forget the golfer and tournament, but a couple of weeks ago, one golfer was leading on Sunday and got hit with the 2 stroke penalty.

The PGA doesn't need anything new. If they were serious about pace of play, they would enforce the rules. I'm sure JB Holmes would cut that preshot routine down very quickly after losing a few strokes or being DQed.

Originally Posted by bboard

They say that they changed this because of daylight and everyone not being able to finish. This wasn't enough of a problem to complain about in the past. The last time I checked there was the same amount of daylight in the past as there is now. The problem is players today and their pre-shot routine, the PGA needs to start handing out more delay penalties. After a couple 2-stroke penalties things will start to speed up and then there will be daylight on the sixth playoff hole. Making rules and unmaking rules is makes people and players mad, and is to confusing to figure out how many people will make the cut this friday and then whos gonna make it saturday. Thats my

Originally Posted by straightshooter

Regarding pace of play:

How about expecting all players to know and apply the rules themselves (in a timely fashion). I.e. no more waiting for a ruling from a rules official.