Marathon?

[Pete_Pittock]

Has The Masters become a marathon? 
The time for the final group today was 4:48. Sunday play started at 8:30 and ended at 7:22, a shade under 11 hours. That last stat is nearly the amount of time for an entire LIV event.


Has anyone calculated the actual distance from 1st tee thru 18th green? I'll bet it is close to marathon distance over the course of the tournament.


(Note): This was written before my knowledge of the Golf Digest article.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Has The Masters become a marathon? 
The time for the final group today was 4:48. Sunday play started at 8:30 and ended at 7:22, a shade under 11 hours. That last stat is nearly the amount of time for an entire LIV event.

Has anyone calculated the actual distance from 1st tee thru 18th green? I'll bet it is close to marathon distance over the course of the tournament.

By yardage (tee to green) it's only about 17 miles over four rounds.

They weren't playing the whole 11 hours.

And… the final group took so long in large part because they were behind Patrick Cantlay. And because pro golfers tend to be slow (though Brooks and Jon are among the faster ones).

I thought Nantz's winning call for Rahm was kind of lame.

[Wayne_Kozun]

I think a good part of the blame for today's slow play was Patrick Cant(p)lay quickly.  He was freakin' brutal.  Rahm and Koepka are fast golfers and were having to wait a lot today.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

I think a good part of the blame for today's slow play was Patrick Cant(p)lay quickly.  He was freakin' brutal.  Rahm and Koepka are fast golfers and were having to wait a lot today.

[Bill Gayne]

MLB has taken serious steps to improve pace of play and the product is significantly improved. Time for the PGA Tour to do the same.

[Pete_Pittock]

Has The Masters become a marathon? 
The time for the final group today was 4:48. Sunday play started at 8:30 and ended at 7:22, a shade under 11 hours. That last stat is nearly the amount of time for an entire LIV event.

Has anyone calculated the actual distance from 1st tee thru 18th green? I'll bet it is close to marathon distance over the course of the tournament.

By yardage (tee to green) it's only about 17 miles over four rounds.
That wasn't the question I asked. I also knew that

They weren't playing the whole 11 hours.
I know that. Never said they did.
And… the final group took so long in large part because they were behind Patrick Cantlay.I know that, also there were methodical players in the two groups preceding Cantlay.Painfully obvious they were waiting on nearly every shot. Never faulted them. The two groups in front of Cantlay also had methodical golfers
And because pro golfers tend to be slow (though Brooks and Jon are among the faster ones).

I thought Nantz's winning call for Rahm was kind of lame.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

That wasn't the question I asked. I also knew that

It seems unlikely that it's an additional 52% or so adding green-to-tee walks.

I know that. Never said they did.

No, but you said "That last stat is nearly the amount of time for an entire LIV event." That implies that they were playing, because the whole time in a LIV event they're playing due to the shotgun start.

Painfully obvious they were waiting on nearly every shot. Never faulted them. The two groups in front of Cantlay also had methodical golfers

👍🏼

[Kevin_Reilly]

Cantlay is a terribly boring personality - his recent NLU podcast appearance sounded like an AI/ChatGPT robot, and he is horrifically slow and boring on the course.

[Tom Bacsanyi]

I think a good part of the blame for today's slow play was Patrick Cant(p)lay quickly.  He was freakin' brutal.  Rahm and Koepka are fast golfers and were having to wait a lot today.

Not any kind of Cantlay apologist, but was Cantlay's group not up on the group in front of them? They were likely waiting on shots too, especially on par 3s and 5s, no?


I would like the broadcast team to start calling out slow groups. "Cantlay's group is a full hole behind the group in front..."


That said, were they ever out of position? They certainly should have hurried up if there was somewhere to go

[Sean_A]

MLB has taken serious steps to improve pace of play and the product is significantly improved. Time for the PGA Tour to do the same.

What about ad time?

Ciao

[V. Kmetz]

MLB has taken serious steps to improve pace of play and the product is significantly improved. Time for the PGA Tour to do the same.

I disagree... it stinks, baseball has been bastardized for a marketing plan in every aspect now

[Sean_A]

MLB has taken serious steps to improve pace of play and the product is significantly improved. Time for the PGA Tour to do the same.

I disagree... it stinks, baseball has been bastardized for a marketing plan in every aspect now

I disagree. Less time fewer commercials. I am all in favour of guys playing rather than standing about.

Ciao

[JohnVDB]

MLB has taken serious steps to improve pace of play and the product is significantly improved. Time for the PGA Tour to do the same.

I disagree... it stinks, baseball has been bastardized for a marketing plan in every aspect now

I disagree completely. The games are much more watchable. Loving on the east coast I might even get to see the end of a night game now.


If I was a ball player I’d love it too.  Ask fielders who they’d rather play behind, a methodical pitcher or a fast one.  I’d bet almost all, if not all prefer the faster pitcher.

[Peter Sayegh]

MLB has taken serious steps to improve pace of play and the product is significantly improved. Time for the PGA Tour to do the same.

I disagree... it stinks, baseball has been bastardized for a marketing plan in every aspect now

I disagree completely. The games are much more watchable. Loving on the east coast I might even get to see the end of a night game now.


If I was a ball player I’d love it too.  Ask fielders who they’d rather play behind, a methodical pitcher or a fast one.  I’d bet almost all, if not all prefer the faster pitcher.

I'll take that bet John. Players prefer a WINNING pitcher.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Cantlay is a terribly boring personality - his recent NLU podcast appearance sounded like an AI/ChatGPT robot, and he is horrifically slow and boring on the course.

That was bad, yes. I think he's actually a pretty smart guy, too, and thoughtful. But, man, he plays the PR game simultaneously pretty well and really, really poorly.

[Kalen Braley]

MLB has taken serious steps to improve pace of play and the product is significantly improved. Time for the PGA Tour to do the same.

I disagree... it stinks, baseball has been bastardized for a marketing plan in every aspect now

I disagree completely. The games are much more watchable. Loving on the east coast I might even get to see the end of a night game now.

If I was a ball player I’d love it too.  Ask fielders who they’d rather play behind, a methodical pitcher or a fast one.  I’d bet almost all, if not all prefer the faster pitcher.

Agreed John,

I've started watching MLB again after a long hiatus, as it had become so unwatchable due to constant mucking about in between pitches with fiddling their hat, adjusting gloves, stepping off the mound/out of the box, messing with their groin area, more fiddling, etc..  Long, long overdue.

P.S.  All of the time reduction has come in between pitches, not in between innings, so the advertisers still get the same time to peddle their wares as allotted before.  Everyone wins!

[Jeff Schley]

MLB has taken serious steps to improve pace of play and the product is significantly improved. Time for the PGA Tour to do the same.

I disagree... it stinks, baseball has been bastardized for a marketing plan in every aspect now

I disagree completely. The games are much more watchable. Loving on the east coast I might even get to see the end of a night game now.

If I was a ball player I’d love it too.  Ask fielders who they’d rather play behind, a methodical pitcher or a fast one.  I’d bet almost all, if not all prefer the faster pitcher.

Agreed John,

I've started watching MLB again after a long hiatus, as it had become so unwatchable due to constant mucking about in between pitches with fiddling their hat, adjusting gloves, stepping off the mound/out of the box, messing with their groin area, more fiddling, etc..  Long, long overdue.

P.S.  All of the time reduction has come in between pitches, not in between innings, so the advertisers still get the same time to peddle their wares as allotted before.  Everyone wins!

There is a practical reason for time between innings for all levels and that is for the pitcher to warm up again.  MLB had up to 8 pitches in the past between innings, now they have some kind of clock I assume between innings.
Pitchers do need to get warm again before the inning, catchers need to get the gear on, and everyone else should RUN out of their positions which was a pet peeve of mine.

[Kalen Braley]

MLB has taken serious steps to improve pace of play and the product is significantly improved. Time for the PGA Tour to do the same.

I disagree... it stinks, baseball has been bastardized for a marketing plan in every aspect now

I disagree completely. The games are much more watchable. Loving on the east coast I might even get to see the end of a night game now.

If I was a ball player I’d love it too.  Ask fielders who they’d rather play behind, a methodical pitcher or a fast one.  I’d bet almost all, if not all prefer the faster pitcher.

Agreed John,

I've started watching MLB again after a long hiatus, as it had become so unwatchable due to constant mucking about in between pitches with fiddling their hat, adjusting gloves, stepping off the mound/out of the box, messing with their groin area, more fiddling, etc..  Long, long overdue.

P.S.  All of the time reduction has come in between pitches, not in between innings, so the advertisers still get the same time to peddle their wares as allotted before.  Everyone wins!

There is a practical reason for time between innings for all levels and that is for the pitcher to warm up again.  MLB had up to 8 pitches in the past between innings, now they have some kind of clock I assume between innings.
Pitchers do need to get warm again before the inning, catchers need to get the gear on, and everyone else should RUN out of their positions which was a pet peeve of mine.

I don't think the time in between innings was/is a big issue.  As an ex-pitcher, I understand all of those things, as well as giving advertisers time to do what they do.

But its insane to think that games before this year on average lasted 30-40 minutes longer almost entirely due to the constant fidgeting...

[Tim Martin]

Has The Masters become a marathon? 
The time for the final group today was 4:48. Sunday play started at 8:30 and ended at 7:22, a shade under 11 hours.

Is the average round at the Masters longer than the other Majors or even the Players Championship? How much longer is it than a regular PGA Tour event? Parse it any way you want but they are all ridiculously slow.

[Kalen Braley]

Pete,

I have some numbers for you based on Google Earth Measurements:

- 1 tee to 10 tee, with all the walks in between - 2.59 miles
- 10 tee to 18 green, with all the walks and bridge detours - 2.62 miles.
-  Walk to the range from main building and then to 1st tee area: just under 1/2 mile

The course numbers also assume every shot is down the middle and no missed greens.  So when you add all those up and include an extra bit for hitting wayward drives and approaches, each round is easily going to be minimum 6 - 6.5 miles.  So in that context the Masters is basically a marathon over 4 days.

But I'd bet its pretty close to that, or even more, for every tour event.

[Pete_Pittock]

Kalen,
Thank you for knowing to where I am driving, even riding shotgun. And a slow-motion marathon at that. You need to be in top condition to complete and break the tape.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Thank you for knowing to where I am driving, even riding shotgun. And a slow-motion marathon at that. You need to be in top condition to complete and break the tape.

Which is why, by and large, Tour players opposed Casey Martin getting a cart.