With the Master Tournament complete for 2025, the pace of play debate has been rekindled. During the tournament, golfer Akshay Bhatia took three minutes to line up a shot. Players and fans were not impressed with this. He still played well, but talking that long to hit the ball is seen as being in poor taste. There has been an announcement that a solution is coming with the RBC Heritage this weekend.
Pace Of Play Issues
Pace of play has long been a barrier for golf for as long as the sport has been around. One example in the 90s, Glen Day was so infamous for his slow play that he was nicknamed Glen All Day. The PGA has tried point penalties along with fines, but since 1995, only three penalties have been enforced. In the previously mentioned Master’s Tournament, Rory McIlroy was so distracted by Bhatia’s slow play that it almost cost him his lead for the event. Slow play has long been cited as a reason why the sport is “boring”. Players hate it, fans hate it, and it only contributes to dragging out the game. This year, the PGA has been trying to address slow play, and now they have another solution.
A Solution At RBC Heritage
A solution is finally being implemented that is believed to help. Essentially, at the RBC Heritage, all players will be using rangefinders to help speed up their shots. However, this new method is already getting some criticism. Scottie Scheffler looked at the range finder implementation and was not very impressed. In an interview with The Golf Channel, he brought up how golfers have been using these tools for a couple of years now, and he thinks, at best, it will only shave off maybe a few minutes off the overall time.
For Scheffler, the real issue for the pace of play is the large size of the golf course. It’s the players making their way around the course that drags it out. Sure, the players taking their time to line up their shots is annoying and time-consuming, but the distance is what eats up the most time. Scheffler goes on to criticise the very idea of a pace of play crackdown.
“The pace of play debate is funny. I think people want to watch exciting golf. I think that’s what it’s all about. Let’s say if we do all these changes and we save 20 minutes off a round of golf. Is somebody going to sit down on the couch on Sunday and go, well, I didn’t have five hours to watch a round of golf, but I’ve got four hours and 40 minutes. Now I’m in.”
Will Pace of Play Improve?
Given that players have been using range finders on the PGA Tour for two years now, it feels like a half measure. The PGA already has rules against slow play, and they are so rarely enforced that fans are just infuriated by it. Glen Day, despite being infamous, only had one penalty back in 1995. All the greats have been accused of doing slow play at some point in their career, including Tiger Woods. The pace of play debate may not be ending soon, and the solution being offered here feels marginal at best.
