The LPGA Isn’t Messing Around with Pace of Play, and We’re Here For It

Back in February, the LPGA announced its new pace of play policy. A fine would be dolled out for players one to five seconds over the allotted time, a one-stroke penalty for players over by six to 15 seconds, and a two-stroke penalty for 16 seconds or more. This new setup is set to go live at the Ford Championship, March 27-30.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda was pretty pumped about the change, saying, “I think that's one of the things that I've just noticed over my time on tour, is that we used to go from five hours, under five hours, to now you it's just five and a half, typically. So I think that implementing harsher rules is going to be good for the game of golf. They were saying at the meeting, at the end of the day, we're a form of entertainment. If we're taking really long out there, I mean, that's not entertaining.”

Now, on Wednesday, the LPGA added another wrinkle into the policy as it continues the fight against slow play. This change will track players throughout the rest of the season, minus a few tournaments: T-Mobile Match Play, U.S. Women’s Open, Dow Championship, and AIG Women’s Open.

Players with 40 or more holes timed will be fined.

“Looking at the data, we concluded that if a player had 40 or more holes timed over the season, that player contributed to a slower pace of play,” LPGA Player President Vicki Goetze-Ackerman said in a release. “We believe that this addition to the policy, along with penalty strokes being issued for plus times of +6 or greater, will increase the number of players who heed the initial warnings, leading to fewer players out of position and therefore timings.”

The LPGA is doing its job, now it’s time to see if the PGA TOUR gets the memo. The only real way to improve pace of play is to implement one- or two-stroke penalties. You have to think the TOUR will get there sooner rather than later.