"I have told the players we are going to make them play faster."

John Hopkins reports on the slow play epidemic, and though he says the final pairing at The Players took only 4:15 (according to some readers it was 4:40), he offers this:

The answer lies partly in easing the set-up of some courses but more in harsh penalties for slow players. The LPGA Tour in the US recently introduced a policy of penalizing players who took more than 30 seconds a stroke and, furthermore, penalized Angela Park when she was only one stroke out of the lead. Compare this with the PGA Tour's policies under which a player has not bee fined for 15 years.

Tim Finchem, Commissioner of the PGA Tour in the US, said in an interview with The Times last week: "I have told the players we are going to make them play faster. I think we owe it the sport, to the players who play at this level and to the fans that we are doing everything we can to analyse and take steps on this issue."

Well, it's something. This isn't so hot:

Last Monday the World Golf Foundation, a body incorporating the United States Golf association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, the professional tours from around the world as well as Ladies Professional Golf Association (in the US), met in Jacksonville. I understand that slow play was on the agenda but nothing substantive was discussed even though slow play was an item on the agenda.

Thankfully, there is great news. According to Doug Ferguson, the big execs in golf are working on the real priorities at the expense of their carbon footprints. What for? To grow the game with 72-holes of stroke play once every four years. 

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem headed for London this week, stopping along the way to pick up USGA executive director David Fay and LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens.

They were to join R&A chief executive Peter Dawson and European Tour chief George O’Grady at a meeting with the International Olympic Committee, the first step toward bringing golf back to the Olympics.

It was not a formal meeting, but no less important to show the IOC a unified front in golf’s desire to be part of the games.

“This will be a protracted process,” Fay said. “But this is an important first step.”

Vital. Just vital.