Yes, I know, these guys have played since they were 2 years old (most of them looked 37), their life is on the line, it's their last/only/best chance, it's the 106/108 holes, give them a break...GIVE ME A BREAK! Align, set up, uh...better align again....align, set up......uh, better align again... Put them on a clock, take away 2 strokes from their score - THEN they will speed up!

College football has done it (and the game is MUCH better): speed up the game. The PGA needs to get a clue.

Slow play is often times self-destructive for the slow player, as well as everyone else. First instincts are usually the correct ones and doubt has too much time to creep in.

i can attest to this, as a former chronic slow player (didn't even know it). i have cured myself and my index has dropped from 7.5 to 4.1 in 1 summer.
just hit it already!!

The final rounds at Q School are always slow. Nerves. Its that simple. When players get nervous, they get tight. When they get tight they get slow and start to doubt themseleves. I don't think the PGA will put guys on the clock at Q School unless it gets really bad. But I can promise you they don't hesitate to at a regular PGA or Nationwide tour event. Been paired with a Ben Crane clone. Not fun. I'm not sure he ever made a stoke within the allowed 40 seconds.

i understand that it is a little slow, but you have to give these guys some slack. You cant tell me that you would not be about pissing yourself if your career was on the line with 1 or 2 to play. I mean I have som good friends who are on tour and I have been told by them, who have been in contention in PGA events, that there is not pressure like q school. From the first hole the first round, to the final hole of round six, its a pressure cooker. So dont complain about slow play, dont watch if it is too slow for you. It just annoys me to hear comments like this knowing what it is like to be in pressure situations. I sure hope that when i get to that stage that I dont have someone complaining about my pace of play, let it go. Well, thats just my 2 cents.

I have to agree with most of you about giving the Q-school players some slack. They have been working there whole lives and they are only holes away to making it on tour. I would probably do that to if I ever have that much on the line. As far as regular tour events go then I would say its different. If its to slow for you to watch the Q-School event then don't watch it, that simple.

It's slow but yeah for some of these guys they really have no backup plan if they don't get there card. Have you ever played with a couple of guys on a weekend playing for just a couple bucks and gotten nervous and played a little slower? Well if not next time you go out leave you wallet home and play for a $10 nassau and see how you handle. give those guys a break. I don't mean to be mean if that how I came off.

I understand pressure making things go slower, but have you ever watched Glen (all) Day...I shaved twice by the time he made it from tee to green. That's not pressure, that's brain lock and it kills any sense of rythym or timing. There's a reason these guys are back in Q school every year or so and it would appear that most of them don't have the psychological make up to handle this kind of pressure successfully. I know I don't which is why I'm here and never play for more than $20.

Well, I started the thread, and no, I give them no slack (or anyone else, either). As far as I'm concerned, you can pick any concern you want about golf - technology, money, general manners, whatever - and all of those problems together don't come close to the problem of SLOW PLAY. It is NEVER excusable because it gradually, inexorably, slow stroke by slow stroke, ruins the game for everyone.

As for the nerves, 1) if this is how they handle a pressure situation now - by playing slow - how are they going to handle the pressure situations they are trying to get MORE of?, and 2) show me some evidence that any or all of that slowness actually helps them score better.

In medical school, tests were timed, and if you couldn't do good work in the time allotted, you didn't belong. I think golf should be the same.

Quote from DrSchteeve:
"In medical school, tests were timed, and if you couldn't do good work in the time allotted, you didn't belong. I think golf should be the same."

IS THERE SOMETHING YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ABOUT Q SCHOOL???? Those that don't belong don't make it. No different from the real world. If you can't deal with it DON'T WATCH. I don't see how there slow play is ruining anything for you. If you want to complain, complain about the hackers you play behind at your Country Club. This is not a regular tour event. Slow play well controlled on the regular tour. It is also very expensive if you are guilty too often. I spent 8 years as a financial advisor before playing golf professionally. I am pretty sure early in my career when my job was on the line, I probably got a little slow and tried to avoid costly errors. I would be willing to bet you did too. Furthermore, until you have gone through it, don't judge it.

So my rant is more about slow play in general, Q-school was just the latest example. And by the way, slow play is NOT well controlled on tour - tour golf is increasingly becoming similarly painful. No, I don't have the statistics to back that up, and yes, I could be dead flat wrong. But I doubt it. Take a look at highlights of Tour matches from the 1960's, then compare them to the 2000's. Players used to step up, hit the ball, step up, hit a putt, move on. They didn't mark 2 foot putts. It was faster, and it was better to watch. No, golf isn't a speed game, but a 3 1/2 hour round is better to play, and watch, than a 5 hour round. Every time.

Back to Q-school: how unfair is it that they don't put anyone on the clock, which makes it impossible for the players who would like to maintain a reasonable rhythym and pace. Why shouldn't the players who can play in 40 seconds per shot be encouraged? Why penazlize them for the sake of the ones who take twice as long? Why select the players that are better at slow play than the ones that are better at reasonably paced play?

We do agree on one thing, slow play is not good. I just felt like you were being a little harsh on the guys at Q school. Golf was definitely faster in the 60's. For one thing there was a lot less distraction on the course. When I was playing mini tour events, we would sometimes get through in 3.5 hours. Nationwide and PGA events are always slower. Sometimes you stand in the fairway waiting to play a shot so that the fans get off the fairway walk-through or the TV cameras get out of the way. In the 60's, guys weren't generally playing in front of 40,000 fans. I don't like slow play either. But I think you will find watching a tour event, the group you follow will play in 4 hours. 4.5 at most. I don't think 4 hours is slow under those conditions.

As for Q school, I agree that the slow play of some does hurt those that can keep pace. Just by watching, I would say most of the really slow guys probably went home. Even the ones that were clear of the -8 mark seemed to melt down. I don't know how they controlled it this year, fortunately I wasn't there. Even when they do hit guys with penalties they usually don't make it public. I will tell you on the Nationwide tour the fine starts at $1,000 and goes up with multiple offenses.

I will say this, as the $$$$ increases and the level of competition rises, I don't see play getting any faster than it is right now, especially knowing every stroke could be worth $XXX or playing status.

Outside of tournament golf, I have no debate for you. Guys that like to get out there and waggle over every shot for 10 minutes should be beaten with a long iron and forced to buy those of us behind them drinks at the 19th. Fair enough?

It's within the rules to play slowly, unless a local rule prohibiting it is in effect. The Tour typically institutes such a rule, but they don't enforce it.

However, if it's a rule (even a local one), players should be expected to self-enforce. If a player can be DQed after an event for not following a rule (and getting caught), why can't a player be DQed for playing slowly, not penalizing himself, and signing an incorrect card?

Slow play seems to be the only rule that players aren't expected to apply to themselves. If the Tour could figure out a way to rectify this, guys would either speed up or not last.

Just thoughts.

Incorrect. It is not a local rule and definitely not within the rules. It is in the Tour handbook. When you fall behind the pace of play you will be put on the clock. Rules officials will time your group. If one player is on the clock, everyone in the group is on the clock. Officials are NOT required to notify you when you are on the clock. Even Tiger's group was put on the clock at the British Open this year. Mainly because of slow play ahead of them and the problem he was having with all the camera phone. This is not a self imposed penealty. Has been the case for a while.

http://pgatour.com/story/6111249

Way fair.