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There will be far more significant penalties on the PGA Tour for slow play in 2024, as players will have to fork over money.
Slow play on the PGA Tour has been a hot topic for the last few seasons, especially earlier this year. Players have complained, but those grumblings grew too loud for the Tour not to overlook.
Thus, there will be slight changes in 2024 for those penalized for playing slowly, per Golfweek.
On Tuesday, the PGA Tour informed its players about the changes approved in Monday’s Policy Board meeting.
The Player Advisory Council (PAC) has instituted an Average Stroke Time infraction.
What is this concept?
It means comparing a player’s average stroke time against the field average at the end of a tournament. If that player’s average stroke time is seven seconds or more above the field, that will result in an Average Stroke Time penalty.
This differs from their last attempted resolution at fixing slow play, which came in 2021. Then, the tour instituted the “Observation List,” which focused on changing the individual habits of the slowest players. In the report to the players, they said the Observation list was successful and allowed the rules committee to work with those players to improve the pace of play.
However, it was time to improve how they implemented pace-of-play rulings and eliminate this tactic.
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Rory McIlroy waits on the tee during the third round of the 2023 Travelers Championship.
Hence, the institution of the Average Stroke Time infraction.
These infractions accumulate during the season before any monetary fines are applied. When a player reaches his 10th infraction, he must pay $20,000. After that, if the golfer has 11 to 14 of these violations, he will pay an additional $5,000 for each penalty. A $10,000 fine will be added to his total if the golfer has 15 or more.
If a player has fewer than 10 violations in a season but a ratio of Average Stroke Time infractions to tournaments played of 50% or more, they will be penalized $2,000 per offense.
However, they must play in at least five events.
All Average Stroke Time violations on the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, and Champions Tour will count together. But, the fines will be pro-rated based on the number of occurrences on each tour.
The PGA Tour also updated its rules and regulations, making four small changes to the policy.
There will be no more official warnings.
For excessive shot times, the PAC amended the rule to reduce the time permitted for second or third players to play from 120 to 100 seconds. The time allowed for the first player to hit their shot will remain at 120 seconds.
Additionally, instead of 12 timings, the policy reduced it to 10 before a financial penalty.
Lastly, an exemption from a financial penalty was introduced based on a golfer’s 10-tournament stroke average to recognize the variance in playing levels across the membership.
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The number was 5 seconds above the Tour Average, consistent with the warnings policy. Under the new rule, a player with 10 timings per season will inevitably be subject to a financial penalty.
The last player to receive a penalty for slow play was John Catlin during the first round of the 2021 PGA Championship. However, the PGA Tour did not impose it; the PGA of America did.
LIV Golf issued a slow play penalty at its Valderrama event earlier this year.
The LPGA also penalized one of its players, Solheim Cup hero Carlota Ciganda, for playing too slow. That led to her disqualification at the Evian Championship.
But the PGA Tour seems to struggle to enforce slow play policies. Tour commissioner Jay Monahan followed what Tim Finchem did before him—avoid using the full extent of the pace-of-play rule.
The financial penalties may seem like a lot to some, but for most of these PGA Tour players, it will be purse change for them.
Will this new system help improve the pace of play, or will these slow players pay it and keep their own pace?
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
