PGA Tour will start “enforcing” new slow play rules

When the PGA Tour kicks off the 2021 season, there will be a new rule that should help make fans, and many players, happy. The implementation and enforcement of a new slow play rule.

Now, we have heard the PGA Tour say this before. That they are going to penalize slow play. Now, it sounds like they are finally going to be implementing rules that will affect individual players instead of the groups that they are with. Heck, I even wrote about it back when it was originally supposed to take place, but was pushed back due to COVID.

This has long been a problem, and a bit of a way for the PGA Tour to not actually do anything about slow play. You can say you are going to penalize the group, but that rarely happens. The idea is sound, in that the players in your group will tell you to hurry up. If there is no one enforcing the rule though, players will stop saying anything, or just not care if they are slow.

Now, each player is going to be tracked individually, and the PGA Tour will be using ShotLink data to do so. If you are taking longer than an average of 45 seconds, a timing limit of 60 seconds will be implemented on you, which can then lead to a penalty. However, if you take longer than 120 seconds you can immediately be issued an excessive shot time.

More from Pro Golf Now

• Golf Rumors: LIV set to sign Masters Champion in stunning deal
• Fantasy Golf: Grant Thornton Invitational DFS Player Selections
• Brutal return leaves Will Zalatoris looking towards 2024
• Stars You Know at World Champions Cup Starts Thursday at Concession
• Fantasy Golf: An Early Look at the 2024 Masters Tournament

It’s going to be nice to see this data, find out who the culprits regularly are, and see if they make changes. Not only that, it will be interesting to see if anything is actually done, as that is the part that I am most interested in seeing.

Imagine, it’s the 13th hole of a major, and someone is making a charge. Let’s just imagine that it’s someone who hits it really far and really likes protein. He has been warned that his average time is well over 45 seconds, and he now has a 60 second window to hit. He walks off a wedge shot, spending well over 60 seconds… and gets a penalty.

Would he blow up? Would he hit his next drive 435 yards? Would the PGA Tour even do anything about it?

Some players have made changes to their games after hearing from the PGA Tour, or from fans and other players, about how slow they are. For as much as I don’t like Sergio Garcia, he has actually listened in this case and sped his game up during the most recent part of his career.

All of these are going to be interesting to follow. I hope that the PGA Tour is very open about it, posting these times for fans to see. It would be incredible to be able to check out a player on the PGA Tour site and see not just their average drive, or SG on putting, but where they rank on the average time for shots also.

Make sure to tune into the Tournament of Champions this week, and maybe you will see the first official PGA Tour warning and enforcement of the new slow play policy.