Pointer for SGU and other competition organisers

PACE OF PLAY CHECKPOINTS
SPEEDED UP ROUNDS IN USGA
CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 2006

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

My thanks to former Scottish Golf Union president and life-long golf enthusiast Hugh Hunter for bringing to my attention an interesting article in the December issue of the United States Golf Association.
It concerns the modern-day curse of all forms of golf – SLOW PLAY.
The USGA has adopted a policy, which is by no means new, but this time it seems to have worked in the 10 national amateur championships it presided over in 2006.
Here is the USGA article. Read and digest … and I may ask you questions about it.

RULES & COMPETITIONS

Checking in with the USGA’s new pace-of-play policy.

By David Shefter, USGA Staff Writer

They are just three simple words but oh how much consternation they create: Pace of Play.
It’s a major concern, whether it’s just a weekly game among friends at the local municipal course or the world’s best gathering for a national championship. For years, the USGA has looked for the right formula to curtail slow play at its competitions.
And it looks like the association has finally come up with a formula that works. While it my not be perfect, the policy adopted in 2006 for all 10 national amateur championships (in the United Sates) seems to have had a major effect on speeding up play.
On average, rounds of stroke-play qualifying (groups of three players) at this year’s (USGA) amateur championships saw an approximate 30min reduction in playing time.
So what caused this transformation? By placing the onus on the players through a series of time-related checkpoints, the USGA made the enforcement of its policy a lot less subjective. No longer do officials have to shadow golfers with stopwatches.
Basically, each group has to hit four checkpoints - generally the fourth, ninth, 13th and 18th holes in a certain allotted time, depending on the course, or stay within 14min of the group in front of them, once the flagstick is put back into the hole.
The first breach is a warning and the second infraction makes the entire group liable for a one-stroke penalty. Once the warning is given by the checkpoint official, a Rules official will monitor the players in the group to see if the culprit is just one player or if the entire group is lagging behind.
ONE-STROKE PENALTIES
At the US amateur championship, a total of 12 one-stroke penalties were imposed, nine in the first round and three more on day two of the stroke-play qualifying . The average times of the championship were reduced by roughly 45min.
“The bottom line is this is the first pace of play policy where we have actually seen marked improvement,” said Mike Davis, senior director of the USGA Rules & Competitions.
“The other method just simply does not work at reducing time as well. Why does this one work? The responsibility is put on the player, not the committee. We give each group times to complete each checkpoint hole. And we are not asking for a ridiculously fast pace. In fact, we were very cognizant of how hard these championship courses would play.
“Pace of play is a Condition of the Competition. Breaching the policy is no different than breaching any other Rule. This new policy is less subjective and deals with pace from the beginning of the round, not when there is already a problem and damaged has been caused.
“The new policy is not perfect and does have a few drawbacks, but, on balance, it does do one thing much more effectively – reduce the time it takes to play a round of golf.”
The Checkpoint Pace Policy is not something a USGA official concocted in a back room at a Rules meeting. The genesis was actually the Vancouver Golf Association. The idea then seeped across the border to the Pacific Northwest and to other state and regional golf associations.
The American Junior Golf Association has been using this policy for the last four years. Arizona, Texas and California are other states that have adopted it as well.
USGA SET EXAMPLE
Now that the USGA has adopted the policy for its championships, Davis expects more and more state and regional associations will use it.
During the 2005 season, the USGA decided to experiment with it at three events – the US junior amateur championship, the US girls’ junior championship and the US women’s mid-amateur championship.
The girls’ junior championship organisers tried it with just two checkpoints (after nine and 18 holes) while the other two employed a four-hole checkpoint policy.
The success was overwhelming and the USGA championship committee voted to use the four-hole checkpoint policy at all 10 amateur competitions in 2006.
The only event where the pace slowed was the USGA senior amateur championship. That was more due to the difficulty of the course, which was one of the most challenging lay-outs the 35-and-over set had ever played, than the actually policy.
“Slowly but surely the players are going to have a better understanding of the policy. The juniors are already used to it from playing in American Junior Golf Association competitions. More of the mid-amateurs (25 and older) and older amateurs had to adjust because they had never experienced it.
But what about the three Opens (under USGA jurisdiction)? Shouldn’t a policy good enough for amateurs be applied to the professionals?
PROFESSIONALS NEXT
That’s something the USGA championship committee will ultimately have to vote on but Davis said the USGA would like to perfect the checkpoint pace of play policy at its 10 amateur events before taking it to the next level.
“Our answer is we are going to go about it slowly,” said Davis. “We want to get it to a place where we are comfortable with it. I don’t think we are ready for the US Open yet but there may be a time when there are several years of proven results that might persuade us to take it to the next level.”

ANY COMMENTS? E-mail them to colin@scottishgolfview.com