PGA Tour member on pro golf's big problem: "I find it funny... it's inevitable"

PGA Tour member Michael Kim has suggested slow play is 'inevitable' on the circuit. 

Kim was in the field at last week's American Express and once again the topic reared its ugly head. 

Golf fans on social media were blasting the fact that groups were taking nearly six hours to complete 18 holes. 

Last Sunday, it took the final group - comprising of Sepp Straka, Jason Day and Charley Hoffman - three hours and 50 minutes to complete 12 holes.

One hole even took 40 minutes to play and by the time Straka's final putt dropped they had been on the course for five hours and 39 minutes. 

It wasn't lost on some that Patrick Cantlay was playing in the group ahead. 

Kim offered his thoughts on the topic in his weekly debrief. 

The golfer self-deprecatingly joked that pace of play is much better week-in and week-out when you tee off the 10th hole. 

He added: "I find it funny how every am equates their normal rounds in a golf cart at their home course with PGA Tour rounds.

"Split tees, water all over, and traffic jams will occur, it's inevitable. 

"If all of you were that fast, Wednesday pro-ams wouldn't take over six hours lol.

"Of course many pros are slow and it only takes a few slow ones to slow down the entire course. 

"But the circumstances don't help out either."

What does the PGA Tour currently do to prevent slow play?

The North American has approved a raft of changes that will be enforced from the 2026 season. 

Field sizes will be reduced which, the Tour claim, will prevent log-jams. 

Golfers such as Lucas Glover have said this doesn't get to the root of the problem.

The pace of play policy will also be updated but, interestingly enough, the PGA Tour is set to reduce financial penalties for slow play. 

Fines for 'Bad Times' will be reduced to $10,000 from $50,000. 

'Excessive Shot Time' fines will also drop from $10,000 to $5,000. 

The rules committee has decided to create new policies for 'Average Stroke Time' (AST) and 'Excessive Average Time Stroke' by analysing data from each tournament. 

If players receive 10 ASTs they will be fined $50,000, which is up from $20,000. 

And at the conclusion of each tournament, if a player has an AST of 12 seconds or more or above the field average in all four rounds they will be hit with an additional Excessive Average Stroke Time penalty. 

The first two sanctions will not be accompanied by a fine, but the third will cost them $50,000 followed by $10,000 per subsequent offence. 

Many have suggested that the only real way PGA Tour can deal with the problem is to simply start handing out stroke penalties. 

Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy are just two high-profile players who have voiced support for the idea. 

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