When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
More Eye-Opening Quotes For The Slow Play Files
/As only he can do
Read More"This is not a plea to speed our game up so that we don't lose players. This is a HOWL to speed play up so we don't lose our game."
/Thanks to Bob Carney for getting the discussion off of poor Kevin Na's plight as a self-indulgent slowpoke
Read MoreThere's Na Heckling In Ponte Vedra!
/From Doug Ferguson's
Read MoreNa-rcissism Takes Over The Players!
/From Doug Ferguson's
Read MoreMore Slow Play Violence: "I didn't know golf was a contact sport."
/
Jim Schoettler reports on the latest slow-play-induced course violence, this time on the 18th green at Jacksonville Beach Municipal Golf Course in Florida. If they make a movie out of this one, I like J.K. Simmons for the old guy who flips out. (Thanks to reader Jon for this.)
Police arrested a 61-year-old Jacksonville man and charged him with slamming his golf cart into a group of bachelor partygoers and then whacking one with his golf club, leading to a brawl ended by other stunned golfers and police.
"It was some guy who must have been having a bad day," said Murdock Hampe, 27, who suffered a badly swollen leg when hit by the golf cart and a long knot when a golf club was broken over his head.
James Alonzo Hines of the 11500 block of Young Road was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, an arrest report said. Hines, who a witness said was bloodied in the brawl, was jailed and later released. No other arrests occurred.
And...
Hampe said he was sitting in a golf cart when shouting erupted between the two groups from a distance. He said Hines then began hitting golf balls at them from about 200 yards away.
That always helps speed people up.
Here's where it becomes apparent this joined the other slow play violence of late (here and here)...
Hampe said at one point Hines shouted he was a veteran of the course and complained about the group of younger golfers taking too long.
"The first thing he said was, 'You need to respect your elders,'" Hampe said. "We said, 'That's no way to conduct yourself in public.'"
Salsbery said he and his buddies had no choice but to subdue Hines.
"We all just went there thinking it was going to be a cool, chilled day and right at the end it got crazy," said Salsbery, 26. "I didn't know golf was a contact sport."
Ravel, 23, called the attack ridiculous.
"If the older group had just held their frustrations in for another five minutes, the whole round would have been over," Ravel said.
Flash: Romney Under Impression Round Of Golf Only Lasts Four Hours!
/In the presidential candidate's lastest critique of Barack Obama's love of golf
Read MoreState Of The Game Podcast Episode 5, Slow Play Cures!
/Episode 5 looks at the slow play epidemic on the local and professional levels. Rod Morri hosts yours truly, John Huggan and special guest John Small, a tournament organiser and inventor fom Australia whose Solution 240 product is achieving remarkable results in eliminating slow play at two Sydney golf clubs.
As always, you can listen via the player below, on iTunes directly, or more conveniently via an iTunes subscription. It's free! In fact, for good measure, I'll throw in a link to David Owen's Slowest Member blog rant. While supplies last.
Finchem Wants To See Faster Play...Among Amateurs!
/The Commissioner talks to John O'Connor about his University of Richmond days, his work on the board there and there was this about the state of the game.
Read MoreSlow Play Turns Bloody At Local Level, In PGA Tour Criticism
/Ryan Ballengee Tweeted some final group pace of play times from the early part of the 2012 PGA Tour schedule and I have to say it's rather stunning to only see one group breaking four hours through five events.
Read MoreReady Golf, Tim Herron Edition
/Doug Ferguson writes about all of the slow play talk and features this example of ready golf, a concept foreign to too many elite golfers who do not begin deliberations until a flag is placed in the hole...
Read MoreLuke On Kapalua Debacle: "Slow play is killing our sport"
/Jonathan Wall notes a nice mini-spurt of frustrated tweets from World No. 1 Luke Donald after watching the rude behavior of various leaders at Kapalua. Here are the tweets in reverse order:
Slow Pokes Creating Kapalua, BCS Clash!
/Doug Ferguson asked on Twitter this morning: "What time is the game? Because I'm not convinced the final round at Kapalua will finish by then."
"Ricardo Polo took the head cover off of his daughter’s driver and, according to the police report, began to lash out with the club."
/Beth Ann Baldry, who recently broke the LPGA Q-School blunder story, tweeted that she was writing up the most bizarre story of her career. And she wasn't kidding. This happened at the Dixie Amateur:
Read More"In the era of slow play...Haas' money shot should be heralded as a triumph of instinct, preparation and under-analysis."
/He might be using hyperbole to make a point (I know nothing about that), but Scott Michaux ranks Bill Haas' playoff shot as the greatest ever because of the appropriate amount of time he took to play it. Michaux clocks it at 55 seconds, but when you watch the YouTube version, it seems faster considering the circumstances.
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