The iron 7 solution

Golf has its own soundtrack, sounds distinct from the sport. There’s the roar, like the one Matt Fitzpatrick heard a year ago at the Country Club after a dramatic bunker shot on the 72nd hole won him the U.S. Open. There is universal begging – from scratch players to weekend hackers – as a tee shot on a par 3, pure and true, makes its descent. Close your eyes and you can hear yourself or your play partners saying, hoping, praying: “Come in!” » – as he prepares to land.

There is also another type of sound, less favorable but oh so common. It’s a low growl, a deep breath, an annoyed sigh. It’s not because you left a 15-footer for a birdie short. It’s not because the bullet found the pipe – no, we would never type the word itself or say it out loud.

That sound is saved for the moment when you get to your ball in the fairway or walk to the next tee and see the painful sight of another group standing still. This means it’s going to be a long day.

Few, if any, things in this game detract from the golfer’s experience more than slow play. The problem is not discriminatory – it annoys professionals and
amateurs, men and women, young and old.

Circumstances differ of course. The pros really play a different game than the rest of us.

“We don’t play against the local muni that the average Joe compares our time to,” Xander Schauffele said. “We’re also playing for $3.6 million (first place money). If you want to spend an extra minute to make sure you’re in the right place, we’ll do it.

Being realistic is important, especially when it comes to, say, the US Open.

“If you’re thinking about putting 156 people on a golf course, playing for $20 million, and you think they’ll play in three hours and 55 minutes, you’re wrong,” the USGA CEO said, Mike Whan.

Yet even for the best in the world, pace of play remains a problem – a big problem.

“It’s absolutely dreadful,” Fitzpatrick told Sky Sports earlier this year. “The problem is this conversation has been going on for years and no one has ever done anything, so I feel like it’s almost a waste of time to talk about it. I have strong opinions, but no one is going to do anything about it.

Well, that part isn’t true – not even close to the truth, at least on an amateur level.

“I’ve been talking about this topic for eight years,” said Matt Pringle, executive director of the USGA Green Section. “It’s a simple problem of math and traffic flow.”

Over and over again he hears the same thing.

“Golfers end up blaming the group in front of them,” Pringle said. “As travel times increase from 4 hours to 4.5 hours, then from 5 hours to 5.5 hours, they continue to blame the group in front of them – knowing, of course, that the group in front of them is doing the same thing .

All of this has a negative impact on golfer satisfaction, which has inspired the extensive work and research conducted by the Green Section, led by Pringle and David Pierce, USGA Director of Research. It turns out there is a solution to improve the golfer
experience – rather simple.

While there are many factors that affect pace of play – course design, layout, tee intervals – there is one factor entirely within the golfers’ control. It’s a question asked before the opening drive: “Which tees do you want to play from?”

The answer is usually wrong.

According to a USGA study, 57 percent of players choose tees that are too long and 10 to 20 percent choose tees that are too short.

“Choosing the right tees is a great way to put it,” Pringle said. “It’s not just about choosing, you know, forward tees, because if you’re too far forward, you can actually negatively impact the pace, because then you might find yourself waiting to hit the par 5s in two, or par 4s passable.”

So how to make the right decision? The answer lies with one club. Surprisingly, it’s not the driver, but the 7 iron.

According to research, the distance a player hits a 7-iron determines which tees to choose.

“I didn’t really know until the research team explained it to me,” Whan said. “At first I thought it didn’t make any sense.”

Seems weird, right?

In fact, it makes perfect sense. Ask a player how far they hit the driver and they are either exaggerating or the margin is significant. But almost every player — from a single-digit handicap to a 20-something hoping to break 100 — knows how far they’ve come from the 7-iron.

“With the driver, I’m probably 20 yards or so,” Whan said. “If I say I hit 240, I know I can hit 260. And I know there are a lot of 220s in my bag. So if you ask me how far someone hits their driver, you get the answer 220, you get the answer 240, you get the answer 260. Now ask how far I hit my 7 iron, and I I’ll tell you 160. You ask any player, and they’ll give you a definitive answer.

And that simple answer – how far you hit the 7 iron – can have a positive impact not only on the golfer’s experience, but also on the time it takes to complete 18 holes. You don’t buy it? Let Pringle explain, based on responses the USGA got when it surveyed more than 20,000 golfers.

“What’s fascinating about this research is when we asked them, ‘What’s too short, what’s too long, and what’s best for you?’ “, Pringle said. “We found consistently, within a pretty narrow range for most of those 20,000 players, that if you divide those distances by their 7-iron, you still get the same answer. People will say – it doesn’t matter if they hit their 7-iron from 100 yards or 180 yards – the nicest holes are the par fours where they hit the driver and then the 7-iron.”

At one Florida club, according to the USGA, pace of play improved by 15 minutes when a tee selection system based on 7-iron distance was instituted.

“The USGA, along with several industry partners, is currently field testing an innovative system to provide personalized, accurate tee selection advice to all golfers playing on any golf course to improve pace game and provide a better overall experience,” Pierce said.

Of course, there are players who want to go beyond what the 7-iron formula tells them. There are those who want to see how they would do at 7,300 or 7,700 yards. There are people who show up at Bethpage Black in New York and ignore the warning sign on the first tee that says “The Black Course is an extremely difficult golf course that we recommend only to highly skilled golfers.” They don’t just want to play the US Open host course twice, they want to play it where the pros play.

“If that’s how you want to play the game, then that’s how you can play the game,” Whan said. “It will be slower, it will be more difficult, it will definitely be more frustrating. And if that’s what you signed up for, that’s what you come to the golf course for, okay.

But choosing the right tees, by changing the distance slightly, could completely change the experience.

“I think there’s about a 90 percent chance that the golfer will leave the golf course saying it was a better day because of the tees he chose and the pace of play,” Whan said .

These small differences – the decision in many cases will be between 300 and 400 total yards – add up (360 equals 20 yards per hole).

“First, it takes time to make a shot,” Pringle said. “It takes time to walk (or ride) those extra 400 meters, so that adds up. If I wasn’t embarrassed, even if I was the first group out in the morning, it would increase the time spent on the course, walk further and hit more shots.

“Let’s say because of the tees I chose, from the time the group in front of me hits the green, it takes me 11 minutes to complete the hole. What if the tee time interval was 10 minutes, but it takes me 11 minutes to clear the green, then I’m going to add a minute. Wait a minute…it doesn’t matter, right? If this continues for 40 groups, that’s 40 minutes.

The USGA Green Section provided the research and evidence. But how is it implemented? Who is responsible?

“I have said many times that the pace of the game is completely resolved at many local institutions,” Whan said. “It’s just a matter of whether or not you want to solve it.” The pace of the game is really in the hands of the people who run their facility.

“You can go to the most high-end clubs in the world. And the members will tell you, we’re going to finish this round in four hours. I’ve been to Merion before where the member said on the 17th, “Hey, we have to go.” »

The pace of play impacts the overall golf experience. If you like a restaurant, you’ll probably come back. But if the service isn’t good, you probably won’t do it, no matter how good the food is. If you like a golf course, you’ll probably come back. But not if it takes 6 hours to play.

“We spent a lot of time talking to people who understand the hospitality industry very well,” Pringle said. “They’ll talk about the features of a hotel that satisfy and delight their guests, and then talk about features that, if you get it wrong, will frustrate and dissatisfy their guests. In golf, when you spend a lot of time waiting, it detracts from the experience and leaves players frustrated and less likely to return.

“Research conducted a few years ago showed that golfers are willing to pay more to improve their pace on the course. »

Those who are paid to play golf, the professionals, are also frustrated.

“We’ve had a problem with pace of play since I’ve been here,” said veteran Tour pro Billy Horschel. “I don’t think we should ever take more than five hours to play. In my years here, what I’ve seen is guys just aren’t ready to play when it’s their turn, it’s as simple as that.

Only their solution can be more complicated.

” What is the solution ? » asked Horschel. “I don’t know. We increased the fines. We didn’t fine anyone or penalize anyone. We didn’t take away any FedExCup points.

Fans, who try to squeeze in the weekend, are frustrated. The solution at the amateur level, however, starts with focusing on your 7 iron.

“Little things matter when it comes to pace of play,” Pringle said.