Golf in need of ‘Timing’ along with Precision and Calculation
The first Sunday of August 2010 saw an amazing play by Jeff Overton. He played his final round of 18 holes in exactly two hours and nine minutes at the PGA championship. Poulter broke the record which was formerly held by Phil Backmaar, timed at two hours ten minutes to be exact. Backmaar had attained the title in 1991 at Crooked Stick which amazed a lot of people. Overall, a minute early took the glory out of Phil’s hands.
Golf is all about precision and calculation but the recent events beg us to add the word ‘timing’ in the previous phrase as well. At the opening round of the PGA championship, a total of 78 players failed to finish the play before darkness fell. Of course other than their fault, fog is also to blame as well since it delayed the game for 3 hours at Kohler.
Experts say one of the reasons that paced up Overton’s game is his partner’s absence. However, he did have Ian Poulter with him before his withdrawal due to illness. Overton, like other golfers was playing to win the championship but not all can be accommodated. He may not have won the championship but the golfer did manage to make the record of playing the fastest round in history.
Royal Ottawa faced the same problem as PGA championship, holding the Mid-Amateur Event, the round of players was held between 12:30 and 2:30 and even this was doubtful considering whether the morning round finishes on time or not.
Just as the secret of differential impact lies behind speeding up the golf swing, many experts suggest the slow play penalty, which already exists in the rule book, to speed up the earlier stated problem. They demand an assessment and timely communication of this penalty since only notifying the golfers that they are under the watchful eye never works.
Here is how it will work: If the score is added with a stroke, this would be visible to the obvious leader boards in return and hence the evening summary would eventually lead to various media outlets and also the fans. This might be embarrassing for the players for the time being, but surely not more than what Dustin Johnson faced after he was accused of grinding his club at the bunker where apparently there was a small amount of crowd standing.
Many golfers would want their ball to travel a few yards further down the fairway with finding the lot of their own, but a lot would want them to play quickly. The slow play penalty, and let us imagine it in the high profile PGA championship event, would certainly do the trick. Playing a game that fast may lead to the results not being so attractive, however this does not hold true for Jeff Overton. He may not have played a match winning game but he did manage to finish at 298 which, by far is acceptable.
The 27 year old ended the game at 79 with a 7 which was over par. His score worked better than Nick Watney who ended up at 81. Watney had been the leader of the game at the start of the round. Many wannabe professionals must be made aware of the fact that 5-6 hours of 18 holes is not ok. The number one requirement of a speedy golf is confidence. Increased confidence has a direct and a positive effect on the speed with which golf is played. Having more than two practice swings seems such a waste of time. Analyzing the putts too much is a source of exasperation for many professional golfers and according to critics, coming across at the line up and the slopes is all a player requires.
Tags: