This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

My friend George Peper has gone on record again in favor of speeding up the game of golf.

A friend?  Yes.

Truth be told, I don’t know Peoer personally, but he is one of the best golf writers going these days.  He serves now as editor of Links Magazine and, previously, was the long-time editor of Golf Magazine.

Then, he, his wife, and his dog spent two years living on the 18^th tee at St. Andrews Golf Links in Fife, Scotland.  There, he became a member of the Royal & Ancient Golf Links, as well as a member of St. Andrews.

All that sparked a great book – Two Years in St. Andrews – which is one of my favorites.

In the current issue of Links, Peper wrote under this headline:  “It’s time for the PGA Tour to identify, embarrass, and punish its worst offenders.”

Peper wrote on:

“If you’re a major league baseball fan, you’re likely loving the game more than ever this year thanks to a number of innovations, most notably a pitch clock that forces pitchers to deliver their fastballs faster.  The result has been a much swifter pace of play (games this year are finishing an average of 25 minutes sooner than a year ago), a new element of drama on the mound, and, best of all, the chance for kids to watch all nine innings and still get a decent night’s sleep.”

Peper contends it’s time for pro golf to follow suit.

He says that “as every other aspect of modern life speeds up, our beloved game is slowing down — and so is interest in it.  TV ratings for the PGA Tour have been sagging for years and while golf participation is up, much of that increase has come from the popularity of Topgolf and other bowling-alley knockoffs where the uninitiated can hit a few shots, have a few yucks, and go home.”

Peper squarely blames the PGA Tour for the fact that golf is slowing down, not speeding up.

“I put a large measure of the blame on the PGA Tour,” he writes.  “It has long had the power to change the pace of play, not just within its own ranks but, by example, with the general golf populace.

“To date, however, they’ve done nothing—at least nothing positive.”

It may be true that Jack Nicklaus sparked the golf slowdown in the professional ranks many years ago, for he was “good” at pacing off yardages, stepping back from the ball to peer pensively at every shot, and freezing over putts.  And, he was imitated by many others.

Notable footdraggers include golfers Keegan Bradley, Patrick Cantlay, Padrag Harrington, J.B. Holmes, Justin Rose, and Jordan Spieth, the last one once taking nine minutes to figure out how to play a single shot.

At the same time, kudos should go to Matt Every, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler, Max Homa, Chris Kirk, Brooks Koepka, and Rory McIlroy for trying to move the game along.  They often have complained how long it takes to play a round of golf, often more than five hours for 18 holes.

While obviously I am not a golf pro, I am a golfer and, over the years, I have played fast.  I wish others would, as well.

I also wonder about the official golf rule which says that, when players reach the spot of their golf ball and pull a club, they have 40 seconds to play a shot.

Not on the PGA Tour.  The 40-second rule is never enforced.

Peper offers a list of solutions:

1.  Go to Rolex and sell them on the idea of the Rolex Shot Clock.

2.  Post a walking “clock marshal” in every group to operate the stopwatch and ensure timings are fair and accurate. (The Rolex money will more than cover this.)

3.  Equip each player with a stopwatch that mirrors the marshal’s watch as it counts down and has a “vibrate and beep” option for the last 10 seconds.

4.  Give the players a few weeks to get used to the clock, then roll it out for real.  No “warnings” for bad times:  The first violation and each one thereafter brings a one-stroke penalty.

5.  Make the ticking clock an integral part of every Tour telecast, displayed in a box on the TV screen as it is in baseball, basketball, and football.

6.  Promote the clock.  Get Jim Nantz, Dan Hicks, and the rest talking about it, building the drama, and giving everyone another reason to tune in to telecasts.

7.  Make the slow player “observation list” public.  In fact, call it what it is, the Slowest Players on the Tour.

8. Don’t just embarrass the offenders, keep a running “Fastest Players on the Tour List,” and get another corporate angel … FedEx would be a good fit — to fund a bonus pool for those who finish the year among the top 10. (Doesn’t this seem more worthy than the current Player Impact Program, which rewards the guys who do the best job of promoting themselves?)

And, finally, this from Peper:

“A shot clock on the PGA Tour has the potential to do much more than speed up the pros.  It will improve the overall image and appeal of the Tour, add excitement — and viewers — to telecasts, and reward the players who can read situations intuitively and play decisively, with feel and conviction rather than dithering deliberation.

“The biggest winner will be the game of golf.”

From my spot in the cheap seats, I add another idea.  Do what the Europeans did once, which was to station golf carts to follow along with each player group.  Affix a shot clock on each cart.  Start the clock when a player arrives at his golf ball.  Allow 40 seconds to play.  Encourage TV to cover the clocks.

And, if a player exceeds 40 seconds, dole out a one-stroke penalty.  Before long, pros would play faster.

Sounds like a fix to me.