EDITOR’S LETTER E THE ENJOYMENT OF A 6-HOUR ROUND
I played my first six-hour round re- cently, and it was an interesting experience, not the horror show I would have imagined. The course was full, there were golfing fourballs of varying abilities in front of our group, so we all stayed patient and went along with the flow, if you could call it that. It helped that the weather was sublime, and we were on a weekend break, so the slow play didn’t bother us overly much until later in the day when I realised we were running out of daylight and the temperature was swiftly falling as the sun dipped. As often happens, every- one then began playing faster. In fact, having teed off well before high noon, we hadn’t even calcu- lated how long we had been out on the course, until on one of the closing holes I glanced at the Tag Marshal pace of play on the GPS screen of our golf cart and saw that we were 80 minutes behind schedule. Ridiculous. That’s when I first looked at the time. I’ve been in five-hour rounds which had seemed interminably slow, yet this one strange- ly hadn’t felt half as bad. Reflecting afterwards about the reason for the round taking so long, it was clear that the speediness of the greens had been a main contribution. This was an individual tournament – so everyone had to putt out – and our fourball alone was probably spending 10 to 12 minutes chipping and putting around each green, so there goes nearly three and a half hours. Plus, there was
a 30-minute delay at the turn where groups backed up. Slow play is considered a major issue in golf today – a deterrent to newcom- ers and youngsters taking up the game – yet it must be taken in context. The nature of the game is such that on a busy competitive day you’re going to experience holdups and the trick is not to let the situation bother you. The third round of the US Women’s Open just concluded at Erin Hills saw six- hour rounds on the Saturday with the competitors in threeballs. The greens were brutal, as is usually the case at any US Open, with their slopes and runoffs. It was absorbing golf to watch though, and again it didn’t feel that long to be a distraction. (On a side note, did you know that 1904 women golfers entered the championship?) The professional tours admit to hav- ing a slow play problem, and all kinds of solutions have been proposed to alleviate that – including in 2018 the first ever tournament where the DP World Tour pros were timed on every shot they played. It was the Shot Clock Masters in Austria, and a digital clock mounted on a cart travelled with each group. It was never tried again though; the pros must have given it the thumbs down. Many must have felt hurried. It did give rugby administrators an idea though; in 2023 the shot clock was introduced for kicks at goal. Golf Digest’s Undercover Pro dis- cusses slow play on the PGA Tour in
New Golf Comedy series Ping’s G440 LST Driver Tested Bubba Watson’s 2012 Masters How pros hit fairways Nelly Korda’s swing Tour Technique Jon Rahm CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO VIEW OUR TOP SIX VIDEOS this issue (Page 8) and offers several interesting theories about the root cause of it. He talks about how long the tour pros spend on the greens – using trends like Aimpoint – compared to how quick they play their tee shots, and then takes aim at junior golf. As a kid I remember playing as fast as we could in order to fit in as many holes as possible in a day; nowadays juniors are video- taping every swing, marking the ball on short putts, and pacing off shots around the green, instead of relying on feel. But maybe they are on to something. Pros generally have slower swings today compared to their predecessors, and it’s due to taking an unhurried approach. Stuart McLean stuartm@morecorp.co.za
EDITOR STUART MCLEAN DESIGN ELINORE DE LISLE MEDIA SALES DANIEL EGDES (daniele@morecorp.co.za) GOLF DIGEST USA
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JERRY TARDE, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR MAX ADLER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR PETER MORRICE, INTERNATIONAL EDITOR JU KUANG TAN TEACHING PROFESSIONALS: TODD ANDERSON, MARK BLACKBURN, CHUCK COOK, HANK HANEY, BUTCH HARMON, ERIKA LARKIN, DAVID LEADBETTER, CAMERON MCCORMICK, JIM MCLEAN, RENEE POWELL, RANDY SMITH, RICK SMITH, DAVE STOCKTON, JOSH ZANDER PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS: AMY ALCOTT, RANDY MYERS, NICK PRICE, JUDY RANKIN, LUCIUS RICCIO, BOB ROTELLA, BEN SHEAR, RALPH SIMPSON, DR ARA SUPPIAH PLAYING EDITORS: COLLIN MORIKAWA, JORDAN SPIETH, BUBBA WATSON A LICENSING AGREEMENT BETWEEN WARNER BROTHERS DISCOVERY AND MORECORP, OWNERS OF THE PRO SHOP AND WORLD OF GOLF. WARNER BROTHERS DISCOVERY IS A GLOBAL LEADER IN REAL-LIFE ENTERTAINMENT, SERVING A PASSIONATE AUDIENCE OF SUPERFANS AROUND THE WORLD WITH CONTENT THAT INSPIRES, INFORMS AND ENTERTAINS.
6 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
JUNE 2025
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator