Colin Montgomerie says something is seriously wrong in modern-day golf and demands a big change

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Colin Montgomerie is arguably still the best player in professional golf never to have won a major.

Don’t let his failure to win a major championship fool you though – Montgomerie was one of the best in the business, and he has managed to win three majors on the senior circuit at least.

The now 62-year-old Scot has racked up 31 DP World Tour wins, eight Ryder Cup appearances as a player and one as a captain, seven PGA Tour Champions wins and nine European Senior Tour victories throughout his incredibly successful career to date.

Montgomerie’s standout achievement was winning eight European Tour Order of Merit titles, including seven consecutive from 1993 through to 1999.

With his playing days slowing down now, he never shies away from offering his no-nonsense takes on the world of professional golf.

Last year, Montgomerie caused a stir by suggesting Tiger Woods should consider retirement ahead of The Open at Royal Troon.

The European Ryder Cup legend is not afraid of simply saying it how it is. And that was no different with his latest take on the game of golf.

Colin Montgomerie demands a big change in modern-day golf

Montgomerie is famed for his smooth, yet somewhat unconventional golf swing.

Alongside Freddie Couples, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh, ‘Monty’ is well-known for possessing one of the best rhythms in the game of golf.

He also has a reputation of being one of the quickest players in professional golf, if not the quickest.

Montgomerie was a guest on the Cookie Jar Golf Podcast, and explained how slow play in professional golf these days is simply unacceptable.

He said: “The way I was brought up was on golf taking three hours, whether you were in a two-ball or a three-ball, golf took three hours. Anybody who played slower than that almost got thrown out of the club. And then it got to four hours, now it’s five. Now it’s five plus, you’ll see The Open Championship coming up, three-balls, no one will get round in less than five hours, and it’s wrong. I don’t know how it’s got to this stage, but it’s got to change. We have to get it back to four hours maximum to play a round of golf.“

There are plenty of other fierce critics of slow play in professional golf, including PGA Tour star Lucas Glover who has been extremely outspoken on the topic.

Nine potential solutions to help eradicate slow play

Glover recently outlined a nine-point plan to help speed up the pace of play, not only on the professional tours but in amateur golf as well.

Here are Glover’s nine ideas to speed up the pace of play at all levels of the game:

• Course markings
• Distance-measuring devices
• Bunker rakers
• No honorary observers
• Scrap sign bearers
• Ban Aim Point
• Eliminate golf carts
• Drop circles
• Learn the rules

They are all great ideas from Glover, and they would undoubtedly improve the pace of play issues that are affecting the game right now.

Like Montgomerie said, something has to change. This cannot go on. How can three of the best players in the world take six hours to play a round of golf like they did at Oakmont in the US Open last month?

It’s simply not acceptable. Slow play is a disease that has slowly infected the game of golf over the past 10 years or so, and it seems to be getting worse with every year that passes.

The governing bodies need to crack down on the problem now, and not only prevent it from getting worse, but tackle it head on so that it actually improves.