Get on with it! War on slow play in golf intensifies

The R&A and the USGA – golf’s rules governing bodies – are upping the war on slow play, now focusing their attention on the increasingly sophisticated and detailed mapping booklets which players on the main tours use at different tour stops.

In a joint statement on the subject issued yesterday, the R&A and the USGA announced it would be “reviewing” the materials that players have at their disposal when appraising putts, pointing out that “a player’s ability to read greens is an essential part of the skill of putting . . . we are concerned about the rapid development of increasingly detailed materials that players are using to help with reading greens during a round.”

A number of tour players – among them Ian Poulter – have been critical of the detailed maps, which feature complex slope breakdowns, that are used by players and which have noticeably contributed to slower pace of play on the putting surfaces. As things stand, Rule 14-3 limits the equipment and devices a player can use during a competitive round but green-reading materials in the form of booklets have increased in sophistication in recent years.

Poulter is among those who have argued that the art of putting has been “lost” because players are taking too long appraising the material in the booklets rather than assessing the line of their putts on the actual greens. Now, the R&A and USGA look set to move on the issue “in the coming months,” according to the statement.

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Increased scrutiny

Such a new approach won’t, though, be in operation at this week’s tour stops, the Wells Fargo championship on the PGA Tour or the GolfSixes tournament on the European Tour.

Although the Wells Fargo will witness increased scrutiny, given that it marks the return to competition of world number one Dustin Johnson for the first time since he was forced to withdraw from last month’s US Masters after sustaining a back injury when falling down stairs in his rental home in Augusta.

Johnson – who went to the Masters on the back of three straight wins – resumed hitting shots the week after the Masters and is pronounced 100 per cent fit for action in a tournament which features three Irish players. Shane Lowry, Graeme McDowell and Séamus Power in the Wells Fargo, which has moved to a new venue to facilitate the US PGA Championship’s move to Quail Hollow later this season.

All three Irishmen are in need of FedEx Cup points in their respective efforts to move up the rankings, and this week starts an intensive schedule for Lowry. Relatively lightly raced, so to speak, so far this season with only seven tournament appearances, Lowry intends to play 11 of the next 15 weeks in an itinerary on both sides of the Atlantic. He plays Wells Fargo this week and The Players at the revamped TPC Sawgrass next week.

“I really need to get some FedEx Cup points on the board,” admitted Lowry, who is 117th on the standings. “What would be acceptable in the next couple of weeks I’m not quite sure? I’d definitely like to throw a top-10 in and compete at some stage. I feel like I’m playing well.”