Slow play is one of the biggest frustrations in golf right now and things haven’t got any better at this week’s Farmers Insurance Open.
Yesterday’s final round for the leading group containing the eventual winner, Harris English, took five and a half hours to complete.
With such slow play, it affected the viewing for the tournament and it was obviously affecting some of the players as well as they plodded around Torrey Pines.
Clearly, slow play is a massive problem. And after Rex Hoggard called for a shot clock to be introduced, golf performance coach Lou Stagner has come up with his own ideas to get it out of the game.
Lou Stagner calls for shot penalties and disqualifications to combat slow play
With the issue of slow play not going away anytime soon and the new PGA rules – which are hoped will help the situation – not coming in until 2026, there seems to be a serious call for action in the here and now.
Indeed, over on social media platform X, popular coach Stagner has come up with his own solution.
And it’s safe to say that it would definitely give the players a kick up the backside to get moving.
Stagner’s view is very much in line with others’ opinions. Tiger Woods called for stroke penalties way back in 2012 but it seems, some 13 years later, the issue still rumbles on.
Charley Hull wants drastic action for slow play
While Stagner’s proposal here might come across a bit harsh to some, it’s nothing compared to what LPGA star Charley Hull has called for.
After getting frustrated at The ANNIKA last year, Hull actually called for players to lose their tour cards if they persistently offend.
“It was crazy. I’m quite ruthless, but I said, listen, if you get three bad timings, every time it’s a tee shot penalty, if you have three of them you lose your Tour card instantly. I’m sure that would hurry a lot of people up and they won’t want to lose their Tour card,” Hull said at the time.
“That would kill the slow play, but they would never do that. It’s ridiculous and I feel sorry for the fans how slow it is out there,” she added, when asked how big an issue it is. “We were out there for five hours and 40 minutes yesterday. We play in a fourball at home on a hard golf course and we’re round in three and a half, four hours. It is pretty crazy.”
Clearly, the slow play issue will rumble on for some time yet but something has to be changed, or the game will be a turn off for more and more fans.
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