Slow Play Penalty---Thoughts?

[jeffwarne]

So, let's say she lost the 12th hole outright on score, there essentially would have been no penalty since she lost anyway? That seems odd.

Sean, it's also interesting that if she missed that 5-foot putt and then took a second or two to tap in for her 4, she's almost right on her allotted time, halves the hole and likely does not incur the penalty.

While I'm glad they assessed a penalty (on someone) it would seem that it shoud not change the otcome of the hole (in effect a 2 hole penalty)
It would make more sense to me if they allowed the hole win, making here 3 up, then penalized her one hole, making her two up.
Because as Sean points out if you lose the hole anyway, there's no penalty.

[Joe Stansell]

Jeff, Rule 6-7 is very clear on this -- failing to proceed without "undue delay" is, in match play, penalized by loss of hole. Are you advocating a change in the Rules? Would you propose changing other penalties assessed in "match play" in a similar fashion?

[jeffwarne]

Jeff, Rule 6-7 is very clear on this -- failing to proceed without "undue delay" is, in match play, penalized by loss of hole. Are you advocating a change in the Rules? Would you propose changing other penalties assessed in "match play" in a similar fashion?

Joe,
I would say, once she went over her allotted time, which would've been as she was lining up her par putt, she should've been stopped and penalized.(since her putt no longer mattered)
By allowing her to finish (and take another 39 seconds) they are delaying play themselves.

So yes, I'm advocating the way the rules are applied.
If she had taken 20 minutes for her par putt, would they have stopped her?

and if they're going to penalize her for failing to proceed without "undue delay", they would've stopped her on her 4th practice swing on the pitch (I'm conceding the wind gust on the tee)

[Sean Leary]

Sheehy,

Do you think Oprah is hot too?

You need to get out of the UK my man...

[Carl Nichols]

So, let's say she lost the 12th hole outright on score, there essentially would have been no penalty since she lost anyway? That seems odd.

Sean, it's also interesting that if she missed that 5-foot putt and then took a second or two to tap in for her 4, she's almost right on her allotted time, halves the hole and likely does not incur the penalty.

And how often do you see LPGA players merely take a second or two, even on a tap-in? 

If it were close enough, the putt would have been conceded, which I assume gets her zero seconds for her fourth shot.

[Jason Topp]

I would love to see players timed and the results published.  With shotlink I almost think you could do it with existing tools on the PGA Tour. 

Once the kinks in the timing process were worked out so there was a common understanding as to when the clock starts, a simple shot clock could be implemented like in football.  I think it should be kept simple - something like 30 seconds and you are penalized.  It would be a huge adjustment for the players but they would adjust and the game would improve. 

[Kalen Braley]

I agree with Jason,

When teams used the stall tactic, it made a beautiful game very ugly to watch.  So the shot clock fixed that.

Same is so with golf......the slow play is killing it...time for a shot clock to keep these guys moving along.

[Bob_Huntley]

I hope I am not seen as pest or that I have a particular mantra, but the start of the speeding up the game is to stop all of the fiddling and fartarsing about on the greens. Go to continuous putting. It was done for hundreds of years and should be revived.

Bob

[Kalen Braley]

I hope I am not seen as pest or that I have a particular mantra, but the start of the speeding up the game is to stop all of the fiddling and fartarsing about on the greens. Go to continuous putting. It was done for hundreds of years and should be revived.

Bob

Bob,

I had to look that one up...and I'm in complete agreeance.

Over the weekend, I played in a tournament for the 1st time.  On day 1 we had twp low cappers in the group and they took forever on their pre-shot routines, especially when on the green.

Then on day 2, I played with 3 other guys of my same ability...high cappers, and we got around in much quicker time with far less fartarsing and the like....

[Dan King]

Bob_Huntley writes:
I hope I am not seen as pest or that I have a particular mantra, but the start of the speeding up the game is to stop all of the fiddling and fartarsing about on the greens. Go to continuous putting. It was done for hundreds of years and should be revived.

My preference is you are not allowed to touch the ball between the time you tee it up and the time you pick it up out of the hole. Most golfers no longer understand the whole point of golf and not touching your ball.

So to compromise:

What I would propose is if the rules allow you to put your hand on the ball, you are only allowed once per hole. So if you take relief somewhere while playing the hole, you can not pick up your ball on the green.  If you lift and clean your ball when you get to the green, you will not be able to do it again after your first putt.

Cheers,
Dan King

It consists in pitting little balls into little holes with instruments ill adapted to the purpose.
 --Horace Hutchinson (asked to describe the game of golf)

[Bob_Huntley]

Dan,

A good point about touching the ball but how many times have you touched the ball before getting to rhe green? I would hazard a guess about once in a hundred rounds......the only way to speed up is get off the damned green.

Bob

[mike_beene]

Continuous putting without remarking would stop that time spent lining up the label.Could we also wit worrying about people's lines?Craig Stadler in the group ahead was probably in your line 5 minutes ago but because you didn't see it you won't know.

[Dan King]

Bob, the point is you could only touch it once, and a smart golfer would not touch it until they had to. If you lift clean and place the ball when you get to the green, you can not do it again. This has no chance of happening because it would require thinking and strategy on the part of the golfer and the game is going the other way, giving golfers less reason to think and strategize.

A good point about touching the ball but how many times have you touched the ball before getting to rhe green?

I try not to ever touch the ball. On the green I'll only lift it if it is in other players ways (wow a sentence with five straight two letter words.) But everyone else I play with seem to be obsessed with touching their ball once they are on the green. If they can only  touch the ball once per hole it will speed things up on the green.

Cheers,
Dan King

The rules are based on three fundamental principles: That the golfer must play the ball as it lies, play the course as he finds it, and finally, where neither of the first two principles can apply, settle all questions by fair play.
 --Joseph C. Dey, Jr., 1956

[jeffwarne]

Continuous putting without remarking would stop that time spent lining up the label.Could we also wit worrying about people's lines?Craig Stadler in the group ahead was probably in your line 5 minutes ago but because you didn't see it you won't know.

+2

[Garland Bayley]

Sheehy,

Do you think Oprah is hot too?

You need to get out of the UK my man...

Don't hassle Brian. At one time, Jordan Wall thought Morgan was hot, at least until he found the Pink Panther.

[Andrew Brown]

Sean, it's also interesting that if she missed that 5-foot putt and then took a second or two to tap in for her 4, she's almost right on her allotted time, halves the hole and likely does not incur the penalty.
[/quote]

That's incorrect. A tap-in putt is not included in the aggregate time for the hole under the POP regulations