AJGA Averages 4:17 In 2013

Ryan Lavner sums up the AJGA announcement on Morning Drive to tout their 4 hours, 17 minute 2013 pace of play average.

According to AJGA Executive Director Stephen Hamblin, that was six minutes faster than last year and much of the improvement could be attributed to the system of first player holing out heading to the next tee.

At the AJGA level, the tournament committee designates six holes for timing checkpoints, where volunteers are stationed to record both the threesomes’ gap time relative to the group ahead and to the overall time par for the course. In recent years, this system has been duplicated at the college level.

The AJGA said its quickest tournament was the Kansas Junior at Buffalo Dunes, where the average pace of play was 3 hours, 50 minutes. The fastest round of the year was 3 hours, 23 minutes, while the low round of the year played in less than four hours was Wes Artac’s 10-under 62 at the Genesis Shootout.

The interview:

LGU Sets Old Course Time Par At 4:30

Considering it took almost six hours the last time they played the Ricoh Women's Open at St. Andrews, this from Susan Simpson of the Ladies Golf Union seems optimistic.

Nick Rodger reports:

"This week is the only week we deal with the professionals and we've obviously got to deal with two other organising bodies too. But we have full support from the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour for our slow-play policies. The rules officials out there are under instruction to come down hard on any slow play. We've set four hours and 30 minutes and we think that's achievable."

"While we're young" Was All Rodney

Gary Mihoces talks to Rodney Dangerfield's bride, Joan, who thinks Rodney would be doing cartwheels over the new USGA ad campaign using his ad-libbed "while we're young line," even if they aren't doing anything about slow play in their men's and women's Open championships. Okay I threw in that last part.

As she prepares to laungh a new website, www.rodney.com, she puts into context what Caddyshack meant to Rodney's career:

She says Dangerfield "forfeited a high-paying Vegas gig to do Caddyshack — and for peanuts," she said. "He actually lost money making the movie. But it did open doors for him and helped him kind of live the movie star life, which you know was fun for him."

Caddyshack was her husband's "biggest break in film." It helped launch him into starring roles in films such as Easy Money and Back to School.

She said she contacted Jon Peters, executive producer of Caddyshack, to confirm Rodney had come up with the "while we're young" line.

"He assured me that Rodney did," she said. "And it sounds like a line Rodney would come up with anyway because of his comments just in general life ... born out of impatience and frustration.''

There was also this about Tiger:

"Rodney was aware that Tiger Woods had mentioned that Caddyshack was his favorite movie," she said. "... He was especially proud of that because, again, he always wondered, 'Does the golf crowd really look down on the movie?' "

Alex Myers talked to Paula Creamer about how her "while we're young" spot came about and she acknowledged that while there's a long way to go, the timing of the launch might not have helped matters.

"I think it's coming around," said Creamer, who has a 10-year-old cousin that came to see her play, but isn't interested in picking up the game because 'it takes too long.' "That whole service announcement might not have had the best timing, but now that the two hardest venues are out of the way. Who knows?"

PGA Tour Slugs Break 4 Hours Thanks To Looming Monday Finish!

Because of the decision not to tee off early in threesomes off split tees--a controversial call which John Strege explains may not have been to Greenbrier resort boss Jim Justice's liking--the Greenbrier Classic faced a fight to finish before Sunday night darkness.

While the rush may have benefitted tournament winner Jonas Blixt, third round leader Johnson Wagner wasn't quite so amused, reports Jason Sobel.

“It was dark, it was really dark,” said the 54-hole leader, who shot a 73 to finish in a four-way tie for second place. “We should have played threesomes early this morning. Not that, that would have made any difference with my round, but the last few holes I felt like we were just trying to finish.

Even better was this buried lede:

The final twosome played in three hours and 38 minutes.

That's right, they can break four hours in twosomes with marshals to find balls if it means not coming back the next day. But most weeks now that is not the case, which is why I know you'll be shocked to learn that the PGA Tour did not make Golf Channel's list of golf "entities" doing something about pace of play.

The final round highlights courtesy of PGA Tour Entertainment:

Video: AJGA Recently Set An Under Four Hours Time Par

Great stuff on Morning Drive today exposing the AJGA's pace of play work as part of Golf Channel's push this month. Namely, the AJGA getting to explain their check point and time par system that is working. It's a sharp contrast to the USGA's glossy campaign that is not backed up by the implementation of a time par system at the U.S. Open.

The most interesting thing I learned from AJGA executive director Stephen Hamblin and player representive Nicole Morales is their abandonment of the honor system and the 17-minutes a round saved by asking players to walk ahead to the next tee when they've holed out first. They also recently set a time par of 3:58 at an event and rounds averaged under that.

I also was intrigued by Hamblin's mention of this as a "safety issue" by keeping everyone out of midday hot weather an hour less a day. Considering the length of the days at the recent U.S. Open at Merion, that's not a bad point!

Course Operator: "The best golfers in the world were unable to break par at your tournament once again, and nothing about the course setup looked fun to me or to the golfers"

Predictably the USGA's well-choreographed Pace of Play initiative launch has fallen a bit flat with golfers and operators who are struggling with the duel message of faster play and US Open setup practices that bogged down play. And this is without most knowing that the USGA steadfastly is opposed to implementing their own time station system at the US Open even though it's been successful in their other championships.

Gene Yasuda publishes a letter from Eagle Golf CEO Joe Munsch to USGA President Glen Nager in response to a comment in the launch where Nager called on golfers to stand up to the industry.

You said the game at the recreational level needs to be fun. You said golf course operators need to slow down green speeds, lower rough heights, widen fairways, and generally make the courses more playable. These comments suggest you have not recently visited a course that was not set up for one of your tournaments, because golf course operators have understood these issues and done these things for years.

You further stated that the professional game is not the standard for the recreational game and that the recreational level needs to have a different paradigm. Those thoughts are surprising coming from an organization that recently ruled to ban the anchored putter, created unnecessary controversy when Callaway introduced the “non-conforming driver” and often frowns on the improved travel distances of today’s golf balls.

I am left to wonder what exactly is the different “paradigm” sought by the USGA? Most, if not all, of the organization’s recent applicable rulings attempt to make the game more difficult and less fun to play.

Most disturbing to me was when you called for recreational golfers to visit your web site and unite with the USGA to send a message to the golf industry that the game needs change and become more fun.

Those of us on the front lines of the golf industry have understood this for years. Our courses don’t have six-inch rough, 530-yard par 4s, and 270-yard par 3s. The best golfers in the world were unable to break par at your tournament once again, and nothing about the course setup looked fun to me or to the golfers, based on their comments and on-course reactions throughout the week.

In the golf industry we fight, scratch, and claw to get golfers out to our courses. If they don’t have fun, they don’t come back. We have known for years that time is a factor. I am glad the USGA has finally come to this realization as well.

If you haven't seen Golf Channel's Pace of Play Month page, you can find all of their recent (excellent) coverage here, including this piece by Rex Hoggard on the PGA Tour's policy. It included this from Paul Goydos:

“We’ve been plagued by slow play for years, and it turns out it was a 14-year-old that was the problem,” Goydos said. “We should be embarrassed by that. I find that appalling that they did that. He was penalized for not knowing how to beat the system, not for slow play.”

But neither Goydos nor Glover dispute the trickle-down effect slow play in the Big Leagues is having at the grassroots level.

“You have your favorite players, and you want to emulate them. If that player has a two-minute pre-shot routine, that’s what you’re going to do,” Glover said.

NCAA's: Slow Play Penalty Assessed After Hour-Long Detention!

Ryan Herrington reports on the slow play detention session for Cal's Max Homa, Alabama's Scott Strohmeyer and UCLA's Jonathan Gerrick that resulted in Gerrick being assessed a one-stroke penalty after an hour of discussion.

I'm all for slow play crackdowns, but an hour to give one player a shot penalty?

"You sit there and they actually grill you pretty good," said Alabama coach Jay Seawell about the interview process to determine whether a penalty is warranted. "You feel like you're in a Turkish prison."

"I don't know what a Turkish prison is like," Homa noted after his meeting. "But i felt like I was in detention. They had me sit out side and told me to wait with Strohmeyer. It wasn't fun. I wouldn't wish it on anybody."

Turkish prison? Joey...

AJGA Taking A Stand At 4:19

Great stuff from the AJGA magazine on their quest to make time par 4:19 this year and quotes from some of their players and official Benny Kuroshima explaining how it'll be done and what the kids will do with the extra hour should time par be met.

There is also this YouTube video of AJGA grads like Jordan Spieth talking about how slow things got after they left the junior tour.