This article previously appeared in The Undercover Pro newsletter, a Golf Digest+ exclusive where we grant anonymity to people in golf who’ve got something to say. Here a current PGA Tour player is interviewed by Senior Writer Joel Beall.
The PGA Tour announced at the Players Championship that it is cracking down on slow play. The tour execs say they are going to publicly release the names of slow-play offenders and even assess penalty strokes. Great ideas, but what hasn’t been said is what’s causing all the five-hour-plus rounds.
IT’S THE SHORT GAME
Ever notice how fans and even some players are quick to roll their eyes when someone freezes over a tee shot? Everybody watching is thinking, Come on, hit the ball already! But put that same golfer on the green and suddenly we’re all patience and understanding. Nobody bats an eye when a guy spends three minutes reading a putt from every angle. Dustin Johnson is the classic example. Tee-to-green, the dude is a blur. He hits before his name’s announced. But hand him a putter? Might as well pack a lunch. When he and his caddie, his brother Austin, circle a green, they look like two guys deciding whether that fender scratch warrants an insurance claim or a police report. Let’s put a shot clock on the greens. That’s where time goes to die.
IT’S WHAT’S ON THE LINE 
Jonathan Bachman
Few guys are truly comfortable out here, which maybe sounds ridiculous given all the extra money we can make now. The pressure of finances, points and status is constant, grinding away at you shot after shot, tournament after tournament. On a tour where 190 guys play the minimum 15 starts for membership, maybe 25 or 30 feel “safe.” The calculations and ramifications can run through your mind over every putt, every chip, every drive. With the more closed nature of signature events and the amount of tour cards being reduced, I can’t imagine pace of play getting any faster. When your livelihood depends on each stroke, deliberation isn’t just understandable—it’s inevitable. The tour’s structural changes have only amplified the pressure cooker that already existed.
IT’S JUNIOR GOLF
Most of the slowest guys on tour are 28 or younger. This new generation was raised in the era of analytics and microscopic dissection of every aspect of the game. These young pros are stepping off yardages for simple 40-yard pitch shots previous generations would execute on feel. They’re having five-minute strategy sessions with their caddies when the right play is glaringly obvious to everyone watching. This approach isn’t entirely their fault. These pups have been conditioned since childhood to trust systems over instincts, data over intuition. Their development occurred in junior programs where every swing was videotaped, every statistical category tracked, every decision scrutinized by hovering coaches, parents and trainers. As a result, the tour is increasingly populated by technicians who play chess while their predecessors played jazz.
IT’S FEATURED GROUPS
You know who’s quietly becoming slow? Scottie Scheffler, and it’s not his fault. Have you ever seen the absolute madness that follows star pairings? One guy hits one ball slightly offline and watch what happens. It’s like herding cats trying to clear everyone out. If you think playing with these guys is tough, try going directly in front of or behind them. You’re standing over a par putt while 50 people are stampeding past you to get into position to see the marquee group.
more from the undercover pro 
Inside the ropes Getting fired by a player’s wife 
Inside the ropes Tipping is getting worse 
Undercover Pro Should I give a lesson to both a member’s wife and his mistress? IT’S AIMPOINT 
Harry How
Sorry to Lucas Glover, Max Homa, Keegan Bradley, et al. I don’t care what the studies say. If I’m playing with an AimPointer, I know I can go ahead and cancel dinner reservations.
IT’S THE CULTURE
I played a few rounds with Tom Kim before he came to the PGA Tour. The transformation is striking—while he wasn’t exactly a roadrunner before, he certainly wasn’t the tortoise he’s become. After competing on three major tours worldwide, I can tell you with certainty that American professional golf is the slowest. What’s fascinating is how it spreads. That one group moving at a glacial pace creates a bottleneck that ripples backward, hole after hole, and nothing—absolutely nothing—infuriates professional golfers more than waiting. The irony is that our instinctive response to combat this slowness is to unconsciously adopt it ourselves. Suddenly, you’re taking those extra practice swings, that additional read from behind the ball, one more visualization before pulling the trigger—all because you’ve got nowhere else to go while waiting for the group ahead. Before you realize it, you’ve absorbed the very behavior you despise. My closest friends flew from Europe to Austin a few years back to watch me at the Match Play Championship. Their verdict after following me for 18 holes was, “When did you get so damn slow?” The American tour had rewired my golf brain without my even noticing.
IT’S GAMESMANSHIP
I’ve played with Jason Day in a non-tournament round. That man can move. Come tournament time, he’s as methodical and unhurried as a wedding where both families brought their extended relatives. But while he’s walking along at a snail’s pace, he might suddenly speed up when it’s your turn, moving just enough to break your focus. It’s not just him. Dozens of guys have this same curious habit, and if you’re not expecting it, the move can get just enough under your skin to cause a problem. We will call each other out for quick-triggering, but a warning from a competitor is a small price to pay for getting inside his head.
IT’S THE COVERAGE 
Charlie Crowhurst/R&A
The Open Championship is always among the slowest tournaments of the year. It’s such a different game with the wind, the ground and the setups. When a seemingly perfect drive can bound into a pot bunker or a gentle breeze can transform into a sideways gale, every shot demands careful consideration. Despite the deliberate pace, I consistently hear from friends that The Open is their favorite broadcast. When international feeds take over from American production, gone are the excessive pre-taped biographical packages, footage of players marking two-foot putts and relentless commercial breaks. Instead, viewers are treated to what they crave: an uninterrupted symphony of pure golf shots. When viewers can witness more golf from more golfers, the perception of slow play diminishes. The game itself becomes the focus rather than the waiting. Perhaps the “slow-play problem” isn’t about pace at all but rather about how we choose to frame and present those inevitable pauses in the broadcast. —WITH JOEL BEALL
MORE: The Undercover Pro: The frustration of finding out your news on TV
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
