Perspective from the 19^th Hole 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.

• Tom Kim.
• Patrick Cantlay.
• J.B. Holmes.
• Keegan Bradley

Slow play artists, all.

No doubt others could be named because there are so many.  But, for me, these four stand apart.  Enough so that it is hard to watch them play.

Here is how one of my on-line golf magazines, described the situation:

“The PGA Tour has a serious pace-of-play issue that needs to be addressed soon.

“CBS Sports on-course announcer Dottie Pepper scolded the pros for the atrocious final-round pace at the Farmers Insurance Open, calling for the players to be ‘respectful” of the “fans, broadcast, and their fellow competitors.”

“The problem reared its head again on Sunday at Pebble Beach.”

That last sentence pointed to Kim.

“During the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Kim became the latest golfer to face the ire of broadcasters for his slow play.  This time, it was Golf Channel’s Frank Nobilo and others calling out Kim for taking over a minute to hit an approach shot into the par-5 sixth hole.

“Kim wound up wiping the ball into the rock outline and had to take a drop, which led to some jabs from the broadcast.

“’A little less waggle might have helped,’ one broadcaster said.

“’It was not worth the wait,’ Nobilo chimed in.

“Overall, it took Kim over 40 seconds to address his ball and then another 25 to take a swing.”

Under current golf rules, taking that long would be a violation, so Kim should have at least received a warning.  Then, if he took that long again, he should get a penalty.

Imposing penalties is one good way to cure the slow play problem, but, so far, those who lead the PGA Tour have eschewed this simple solution to slow play.

More from my on-line magazine:

“The PGA Tour can work on shrinking fields and condensing tee times, but the easiest fix to the slow-play issue is to start stroking players.  If you hit them on the scorecard and, by extension, their wallet, they will have an incentive to pick up the pace.

“The slog-like rounds and endless waggles will continue until the PGA Tour starts strictly enforcing pace-of-play rules, and their ratings could continue to suffer until they realize that they need to speed things up to succeed in an era where attention is currency.”

Agreed. 

• Regarding Kim:  Just don’t take more than 60 seconds over the ball before hitting – just hit.
• Regarding Cantlay:  Just stop bobbing and weaving before putting…just putt.
• Regarding Holmes:  Just don’t take several minutes to read putts, even very short ones…just putt.
• Regarding Bradley:  Just grab a club and hit it – just don’t dance around, re-gripping the club multiple times.

Playing faster is possible.  I am not a golf pro, obviously, but the course I have the privilege of playing in La Quinta, California, says it should take three hours and forty minutes to play 18 holes.  The message:  Just play.

To achieve this, you don’t have to run.  Just play purposefully.

Of course, we’re amateur golfers here in La Quinta, but the advice works for us.  Such a time goal might not work for the PGA tour, but something approaching four and one-half hours would beat what is normal now – five and one-half hours or more.

So this message to pro tours:  Speed up!