The Loop

With all due respect, Slugger...

August 20, 2009

Geoff Shackelford appropriately takes exception to PGA Tour rules official Slugger White's quote from Bob Verdi's Grill Room column in Golf World that says this regarding slow play:

"You hear some guys say it's too slow, and the only way to speed it up is by penalizing strokes. But I don't believe you should affect a man's livelihood with a stopwatch. Also, I don't feel play is as slow as some people think. We've had 4¿- hour rounds for 30 years."

Why is a 4 1/2-hour round acceptable, especially on a tour that sets the standard by which the rest of us play, and when there seems to be a consensus that slow play is the scourge of the game and inhibiting its growth?

-- John Strege