To speed PLAY, the focus needs to be from the green back out to the tee. Match play is faster primarily, though not exclusively, because less time is spent putting. . . .
Granted. How to we get away from the medal play mentality? How to we recover original golf -- match play? The game.
As an older recreational golfer I don't play medal play and don't care about my "score," except that I post according the rules for handicap purposes. My typical game is the common four-ball Nassau. I pick up when I'm out of the hole, but often others in my group won't do that; they want to "finish" the hole for a "real" medal play score. Sure, I could say something, but with friends it's difficult.
Several other observations. Several days ago my club hosted a dual match between two local high schools. I followed the young men for the first three holes. They were playing medal play. Six players were on each team and the sum of the best four medal scores were going to count for the team. From a skill standpoint, I'd say they were typical high school golf team players, but boy were they slow. They weren't playing ready golf, as best I could tell. Is medal play in high school typical for dual matches? I'd think this sort of competition is the perfect place for match play. It would speed the play itself in high school matches, but more important it would help to bring match play back to a major role in the game. Is the idea that we're training every kid on a high school team for the PGA Tour?
Recently I was watching a PGA tournament on TV and one of the commentators mentioned that a US pro, I can't recall which one, had begun play in the Ryder or President's Cup (can't recall which) without prior match play experience and did not realize you could concede puts in match play. What's wrong with this picture?
Obviously, televised medal play PGA tournaments are a problem in contributing to the medal play mindset.
I could make other suggestions regarding pace of play, but they'd add little, if at all, to the comments of others. However, I think the greatest contribution could be made by a refocus on the match play game as "golf."