Chief executive Keith Pelley says the European Tour has been leading the fight on slow play in the game of golf over the past four years – and intends to toughen its stance for 2020. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

EUROPEAN Tour chief executive Keith Pelley writes about the controversy over slow play on the European Tour and explains why the Tournament Committee and the board have decided to take firm action for the 2020 season.

MANY issues have affected the game of golf since I became chief executive of the European Tour – but none have been as recurrent as the topic of slow play.

It is the discussion that dominates dinner tables at tournaments and it is one of the main sources of frustration at all levels of the game. Rightly so, I might add.

While the intensity of these conversations occasionally diminishes, it is never long before it reignites, and I watched with interest the recent social media debate which flared up in the United States.

For us, the issue came to a head earlier this year when one of our senior players, Edoardo Molinari, posted on Twitter a list of players, who had received bad times and fines up to that point during the 2019 season – in a bid to “speed things up.”

I spoke to Edoardo shortly afterwards, and while I didn’t necessarily agree with his chosen method, he was entirely right to confront the problem and it prompted a discussion at the next tournament committee meeting, held at the Betfred British Masters, in May.

Thankfully, our Tournament Committee shared Edoardo’s belief that enough was enough, and they were prepared to make some hard decisions, accepting the need to be more punitive.

“We have the most aggressive monitoring policy in our sport, and we have issued shot penalties, but the past four months showed us finally that the time had arrived when players were willing to take a tough stance and we applauded that.”

European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley – on the problems of slow play

At that meeting we also determined there is a key fundamental difference between slow play and slow players – this is a key point to remember.

While we would all like to reduce overall round times, it was recognised that this can be impacted by several factors such as weather conditions and course set up, while for full field events, the sheer number of players on the course at the same time will always limit the pace of play.

Slow players, on the other hand, have become increasingly prevalent and problematic in our game in recent years – to the extent that we risk fans, both core and casual, switching off if we don’t do something about it.

The European Tour has been at the forefront of the assault on slow play for the last four years.

We have the most aggressive monitoring policy in our sport, and we have issued shot penalties.

But the past four months showed us finally that the time had arrived when players were willing to take a tough stance and we applauded that.

Slow play became a critical issue because our players wanted it to be. That moment was the door opening and the mandate we were given at May’s tournament committee meeting empowered our operations and rules team to present stronger, more robust recommendations.

We took a formal proposal back to the next Tournament Committee meeting at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open last month.

And following some fine tuning over the past six weeks, we yesterday publicly announced a four-point plan focusing on regulation, education, innovation and field-size reduction where appropriate.

This concrete strategy is more targeted towards slow players and more penal, including an immediate one-shot penalty for two bad times in a round and increased fines for players consistently ‘on the clock’.

I’m confident it will have a meaningful impact on combating slow play AND slow players, which is a more complex task that you might think.

Although superficially solving the pace of play conundrum would seem like an easy fix, golf’s biggest challenge remains the size of our arena, as an 18-hole golf course is equivalent to almost 90 football fields, with 156 players dotted around it.

Timing every player, on every shot, every week is a monumental, and costly, challenge.

We must also consider the complexities of policing more robust timing rules.

European Tour chief referee John Paramor and senior referee Andy McFee (right) discussed the problems of timing players with Keith Pelley

I recall our senior referee, Andy McFee, saying to me that timing is an art not a science.

He rightly posed the questions: “When do you start the clock? Is it when a player gets to the ball? When do you start timing the first player in a group?

“And how do you let them know you’ve started timing as they can’t tell unless there’s a visual clock on every single hole?”

These are all interesting points, however, I stress we are not using the challenges of the sport as an excuse not to tackle what is now golf’s biggest issue.

Another thing we have learned from studying this whole issue, is that playing slowly is habitual.

Most players aren’t taught to play the game slowly, it’s a practice they acquire, and one we have to try to reverse.

Our Shot Clock hole during the recent innovative GolfSixes Cascais in Portugal showed that players were ready and already thinking about their shots before they got to the ball.

They didn’t have the chance to second guess themselves, or overload themselves with information, and their performance benefitted as a result.

Our players have shone a spotlight on this topic and this is now the lightbulb moment for our sport.

But it is incumbent on all of us involved in golf to act.

The main Tours and four Major Championships have begun dialogue, but as the most powerful entities in global golf, we have to be united and consistent in fighting this battle if it is one we are to win. 

I do believe that with technology advancements down the road, there will come a time in the very near future when we will be able to time every player, on every shot, on every hole.

Until we are all ready from a technology perspective, our four-point plan has decisive, concrete action on how we can combat this issue right now.

•Read more about the European Tour’s four-point plan on combatting slow play here.

In 2019, there have been outbursts by Brooks Koepka who singled out J B Holmes for taking too long to play his final round of the LA Open at Riviera, while Bryson DeChambeau has also been attacked on social media for taking too long to play his shots.

The list of players who were timed for slow play by the European Tour in the first four months of 2019 released in a tweet by Edoardo Molinari condemning the problem, which Keith Pelley has taken up with the players representatives and acted upon

The post Keith Pelley: European Tour no longer tolerates slow play and will act on 4-point plan appeared first on Golf North.

All the European Tour’s new innovations at this week’s GolfSixes point to another fun week as the event moves to Cascais in Portugal. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

THE European Tour’s drive for innovation in golf will continue apace this week when GolfSixes Cascais heralds a new era on continental European soil for the fast and fun six-hole knockout format, which proved such a success in its first two editions in England.

Team Ireland’s Paul Dunne and Gavin Moynihan will defend their title at Oitavos Dunes when the two-day event tees off on Friday, and the field also includes Ryder Cup winners Jamie Donaldson of Wales, Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and Edoardo Molinari of Italy.

With 16 teams taking part – 12 qualifying teams of European Tour players and four wildcard teams, two of them all-female – the opening day will feature a round-robin format with four groups of four, before the top two teams in each group progress to Saturday’s knockout stages.

Matches will be played in a modified Greensomes format, with all four players teeing off on every hole.

Each duo will choose their team ball for the second shot and will play alternate shots thereafter.

Innovations include:

• Players are permitted to wear shorts in competitive play for the first time in European Tour history
• Players are permitted to use measuring devices for the first time in European Tour history
• To reduce plastic waste, players will be provided with water bottles which they can fill at various stops around the course
• Drone footage will be used during tournament play for the first time
• The fourth hole will utilise a Shot Clock, with all strokes to be played within 30 seconds
• The sixth and final hole will tee off from a platform located on top of a swimming pool, surrounded by fans and VIPs and a live DJ

•For more details about the competition click here.

The Draw:

Friday June 7

Saturday June 8

Quarter-finals

The post GolfSixes Cascais won’t drone on and on – final tee is set over swimming pool appeared first on Golf North.