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 Amateurs around the world can certainly identify with these problems
as the prospect of a tortuous pace of play has turned more and more
golfers away from the game in recent years.
Many factors are impacting golf's health, from lower participation
and course closures to environmental demands for reduced water use,
and the United States Golf Association has targeted pace of play as
one of three barriers to participation.
"Considerable industry research points to the cost of the game, the
time it takes to play and a general feeling of whether or not golf
is welcoming and accessible," Rand Jerris, the USGA's senior
managing director for public services, told Reuters.
"Those three factors have to be given fairly equal consideration
when we talk about some of the challenges that golf needs to resolve
if it is going to thrive and grow in the future.
"There is also a distinction between slow play and pace of play and
we are very deliberate in the language that we use to talk about the
issues. We focus on improving pace of play, or improving flow on the
golf course."
In February 2013, the USGA launched a multi-faceted program in
partnership with golf industry leaders, allied organizations, media
partners and golf course managers in a bid to resolve the game's
growing pace of play problem.
"What we have come to learn after studying this pretty intently is
that there are five areas that we need to focus on in the industry
when you consider the issue in order to improve the quality of the
experience," said Jerris.
"It starts with the design of the golf course; the way the golf
course is set up and managed; the very important role that is played
by the management of the first tee and starting times; player
management; and then player behavior."
IMPROVING PLAYER FLOW
For Jerris, the overarching goal is to improve the flow of play,
rather than focus on the amount of time it takes for rounds to be
played.
"A lot of golfers have the experience that you can go out one day
and play in four hours but if you are waiting on every shot on the
group in front of you, that's actually a very frustrating
experience," he said.
"You then go play the next day and it may take you four-and-a-half
hours but you may not wait on a single shot and you have a fabulous
experience. The issue is not the length of time, it's about the
experience that we have out there."
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Asked if USGA research had identified any improvement in pace of
play at recreational level over the past three years in the United
States, Jerris replied: "We have seen an incremental decrease on the
order of five to 10 minutes.
"That's good news. When we started this program, pace of play was
listed as a higher pain point than cost and last year we actually
saw that flip for the first time. Golfers are now more concerned
about cost than they are pace of play.
"But by no means is anyone declaring victory yet. What we are
striving for is continuous improvement in pace of play by promoting
the best practices over a long period of time, then we will really
be able to improve the situation."
As part of a scientific approach to the problem, the USGA is
developing a high-tech flagstick tool which will help golf course
operators limit bottlenecks by tweaking hole locations, the routing
of players and even green speeds to improve flow.
"For example, you can study the impact of hole locations on
completion times on a particular hole," said Jerris. "If the hole is
back right versus front left, there could be a significant
difference in the amount of time it takes for groups of players to
move through the hole."
When it comes to participation levels in the United States, Jerris
is encouraged by "some positive numbers" that emerged last year.
"Rounds of golf played were up in 2015 over 2014," he said. "Even
though we saw that decline from 30 million to 25 million in
participation over the last 10 years, that has leveled off and the
latest industry data shows there is a slight uptick.
"There are some promising signs. Certainly the improving economy has
helped, and I really want to believe that some of these industry
efforts to address issues about pace of play and to help control
costs of the game are starting to pay off."
(Editing by Frank Pingue)
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