[Mike Sweeney]

The 2018 Shot Clock Masters in Austria will be the first tournament in professional golf to use a shot clock on every shot as part of the European Tour’s bid to combat slow play.

Earlier this year, the European Tour experimented with a shot clock on one hole at GolfSixes – a move which proved popular with both players and fans – and the concept will now be used for the first time at a European Tour event at the Diamond Country Club, from June 7-10, 2018.

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2018/tournamentid=2018048/news/newsid=335092.html#Q48JccfsovhzTOKV.99

I do often watch the weekend mornings of the Euro Tour. Thank you to our common sense European friends.

PS - Euro Tour - Try a no caddie, carry your own bag tournament too, I will watch more

[MKrohn]

Looks like Jason Day will never go back home to Austria to play.

[jeffwarne]

Awesome development.


I would argue it ought to be 30 seconds(way more than enough time for normal shots which would get the players actually used to moving), with 2 optional 15 second timeouts per round to be used for backing off and 1 30 second timeout for confounding off the planet/unusual shots(my world).


Get them used to playing the routine shots more quickly.


Once they've used their timeouts, if they have confounding shot, they may just have to pitch out safely and quickly rather than pulling a dramatic over analyzed Jordan Spiethlike shot.
Faster players do this all the time because they are more considerate and refuse to delay the game like certain players will over a possible miracle-rest of the field be damned.


It's ALWAYS the faster player that suffers when there is a pace of play issue as the faster player will play even faster to compensate for the slower one who speeds up just enough to avoid penalty(if they actually do put them on the clock), and is used to and oblivious to slow play scrutiny.

[Joe Zucker]

This will be interesting to see.  Another version I would like to see tested is something like a chess shot clock.  Give each player one hour to hit all of their shots for a round and then give out a one shot penalty for every minute they go over one hour.


This would incentivize them to play quickly and bank up time in case they run into a difficult situation.  It would avoid the hassle of having timeouts and I think it would be less intrusive than having a shot clock for every stroke.

[Thomas Dai]

Thanks for highlighting further details Mike as this was the event I was referring to on the thread about Caddies needing caddies.
Atb

[Jon Wiggett]

A good idea. Hope it works.

Looks like Jason Day will never go back home to Austria to play.

Hadn't realised Jason Day was European

[Niall C]

This was news in Europe a couple of weeks ago. The immediate reaction from David Howells who I believe was on the Committee that decided to go with this idea was that it would perhaps mean we would see fewer spectacular recovery shots as players wouldn’t have the time to work out all the angles and would therefore tend to play safe.


I tend to think that in most instances players work out the angles and largely play safe anyway so no loss there. It would mean however play would be less torturous to watch.


Jeff


I don’t watch much golf on TV but there was a European comp this year where they partially played matchplay against the clock. Not entirely sure of the format but I think matches were played over six holes. On some of the holes they were only allowed 30 seconds (I think) to play the tee shot. On one tee one of the players went through his laborious his pre-shot routine oblivious to the huge clock counting down behind him, much to the amusement of his opponent.


I can’t recall if after having failed to hit the shot in the required time whether he lost the hole or was just penalised a shot, but I’m sure you’d have enjoyed watching.


Niall 

[Mark Pearce]

Looks like Jason Day will never go back home to Austria to play.

Either this is a failed attempt at humour, or geography lessons should be compulsory in American schools.

[MKrohn]

Looks like Jason Day will never go back home to Austria to play.

Either this is a failed attempt at humour, or geography lessons should be compulsory in American schools.

Run with the failed attempt

[Niall C]

Actually I thought it a pretty good attempt. One of those instances where you don't know the person at the other end of the internet and therefore aren't sure. It did occur to me that perhaps MKrohn was another pseudonym for John Kavanaugh but perhaps not.


Niall

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

Looks like Jason Day will never go back home to Austria to play.

Either this is a failed attempt at humour, or geography lessons should be compulsory in American schools.

Run with the failed attempt

MKrohn,

You don't by chance drive a limo and your roommate is a dog groomer? "Let's put another shrimp on the Barbie!" 

[Tony_Muldoon]

At the moment, they do at least walk fast to the ball only then does it grinds to a halt.   Will see that change with this rule, expect a full discussion before the caddy sets the bag down near the ball.
 
The objective is to reduce the overall time taken and this solution allows that to get forgotten.
At least Mr Pelley(?) is trying to act on his fine words.






PS I smiled.

[jeffwarne]

At the moment, they do at least walk fast to the ball only then does it grinds to a halt.   Will see that change with this rule, expect a full discussion before the caddy sets the bag down near the ball.
 
The objective is to reduce the overall time taken and this solution allows that to get forgotten.
At least Mr Pelley(?) is trying to act on his fine words.


PS I smiled.

All true-but at least it's a start.


It would be interesting to see if the slowpokes/caddy chatters player better or worse.
It's win-win either way.
If they play better, they will embrace/object less to the concept.
If they play worse?-well karma's a bitch

[Pete_Pittock]

They are using this week.

[Jeff Schley]

Great!  This is a first step towards Making Golf Great Again!  With some players playing at a sloth's pace this is welcome.

[Pete_Pittock]

It seems like it would have to be in a small field event so that everyone is treated equally.  Would need a minimum of 25-30 units for a full field event, plus that many trained people to use them.


Heard mention that, yesterday, one player received a one stroke penalty.

[Niall C]

I don't watch a lot of golf on TV, mainly just the majors. Watching this years Masters, what was interesting was the red button on BBC where you could stick with a particular grouping rather than the constant avalanche of highlights of drives, approaches and putts from around the course. In other words watching golf in real time as they consider their shot before hitting it.

One of the rounds was, the featured pairing was Thomas and Spieth. I expected Spieth to be "deliberate" but in comparison to Thomas he was playing with indecent haste. It was jaw dropping to watch how much time these guys actually take to hit the ball. I'm not sure whether regular TV golf shows that but if they do it can't be a good example.

Niall

[JESII]

I smiled...not sure if I was smiling at or with, but I did.


Are you from the States MKrohn?  Please say no...

[Jim Nugent]

When does the shot clock start?  When does it end -- when the player begins his/her swing, or hits the ball?

What happens if a rules question/controversy comes up? 

The shot clock could help fight the impact of hi-tech on courses.  With less time to work out every angle on every shot, lots of pro's/top ams may not score as well.  May not have to resort to lengthening/tightening/growing rough/trees to keep scores from plummeting. 

I expect the networks will put a clock on the bottom or top of each screen.  Could give the commentators a field day as the clock counts down on Spieth, who needs to sink a 10 footer on the 72nd green of the 2019 Open Championship to win the first ever modern Grand Slam. 

[Kalen Braley]

Looks like Jason Day will never go back home to Austria to play.

Either this is a failed attempt at humour, or geography lessons should be compulsory in American schools.

Run with the failed attempt

MKrohn,

You don't by chance drive a limo and your roommate is a dog groomer? "Let's put another shrimp on the Barbie!" 

MK,


I got the reference with an audible lol from me.  You can't expect everyone to be well cultured and have seen that movie a few times!! 

[mike_beene]

I thought the bird was just real quiet

[MKrohn]

I smiled...not sure if I was smiling at or with, but I did.


Are you from the States MKrohn?  Please say no...

I like being in America but am an Aussie.

[JESII]

Now it’s even funnier...


I asked because the US bashing is so quick from our Brit friends. I’m happy to see a swing and a miss on this one.

[jeffwarne]

Now it’s even funnier...


I asked because the US bashing is so quick from our Brit friends. I’m happy to see a swing and a miss on this one.

[Niall C]

I asked because the US bashing is so quick from our Brit friends. I’m happy to see a swing and a miss on this one.

Jim

Not sure if you were referring to my comment on Thomas and Speith but I'd say in mitigation, I don't think slow play is a nationality issue, I think it tends to be a generational issue with many new golfers, irrespective of their actual age, having been brought into the game not knowing any better about speed of play. That's certainly true (IMO) over here and I suspect true in the US.

It just takes a few slow coaches to make a course grind to a halt.

Niall

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